UGANDA: Church to Put up National Television

KAMPALA, JUNE 26, 2018 (CISA)-The Episcopal Conference of Uganda has declared an intention to put up a new National Catholic Television to promote the work of evangelization and integral human development in the country.

“We take this opportunity to announce that as a Catholic Church, after getting a license from the Uganda Communications Commission, we are now in the process of establishing a National Catholic Television called Uganda Catholic Television (UCT),” said the Bishops in a press statement signed by the Chairman of the Conference Archbishop John Baptist Odama and released after their annual Plenary Assembly in Kampala.

In their statement, they criticized National Sexuality Education (NSE) Program saying that it fails to answer some crucial questions about the family and further does not adequately address some important issues in the society.

“We point out, among other aspect that; the vital role of family, especially in the early ages is ignored in this document  and that it exposes children ages 3 to 5 years to content and life skills which are not appropriate for their age,” the statement reads.

NSE is a curriculum that gives guidelines to schools on the content and the various age brackets when sexual information and life skills are to be taught to pupils.

The bishops further said that the information and life skills provided for upper level students are, “… open to interpretation and practices which may be contrary to moral Christian values.”

They argue out that the program does not provide, “…provisions or guarantees that school teachers are prepared and able to teach in a balanced and proper way such delicate and emotionally charged topics.”

The bishops also called upon the Ugandan Government and all security agencies to step up their efforts in protecting the lives and property of its citizens amid rising cases of kidnappings, organized crime, and killings in the country.