{UAH} Singing for Pope Francis is a break for Ugandans from election mud-slinging

Singing for Pope Francis is a break for Ugandans from election mud-slinging

Tabu Butagira

Whether or not the pontiff addresses the controversies surrounding Museveni, millions of Catholics in this deeply religious country are proud to receive him

 A woman waits for Pope Francis's arrival in Kampala. 'Four in every 10 of the 35 million Ugandans are Catholics. The pope is coming to a country where, unlike in the west, his flock is growing.' Photograph: Edward Echwalu/Reuters

Friday 27 November 2015 18.27 GMTLast modified on Friday 27 November 201519.36 GMT

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Pope Francis arrived in Uganda today to pomp he probably doesn't enjoy and a security lockdown Kampala's residents certainly don't.

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The official purpose of the pope's visit is to commemorate 24 young converts killed in the 1880s for defying a traditional ruler's edict for them to renounce Christianity. Twenty-two of them were canonised as martyrs in 1964, two years after Uganda won independence from Britain, and the remaining two were declared blessed in 2002.

With 24 Catholics and 25 Anglicans recognised by the church, Uganda prides itself as the "land of martyrs". Thousands of foreign and local pilgrims travel to the Uganda Martyrs' shrine at Namugongo, outside Kampala, every 3 June – a date on the Catholic calendar to celebrate the martyrs. The religious shrine is now a foreign exchange earner and will be even more so tomorrow, when an estimated 1.5 to 2 million people are expected to converge there for an open-air mass given by the pontiff.

Uganda is a deeply religious country. Fewer than 5% confess no religion or are atheists. Four in every 10 of the 35 million Ugandans are Catholics. The pope is coming to a country where, unlike in the west, his flock is growing.

Here, he will find widespread poverty, suffering and deprivation – things he grew up experiencing and has openly spoken out against. And so his message, which the local church leadership says will focus on care for nature and providence for the poor, will resonate with a population thirsty for hope.

The visit itself is in the third week of a bitterly fought presidential campaign that pits President Museveni, who is seeking to extend his 29-year rule, against his former prime minister Amama Mbabazi, and Kizza Besigye, a doctor and former army officer.

The contest has become dirty, with Mbabazi threatening to spill cabinet secrets after Museveni told the press he sacked him as prime minister a year ago for incompetence. Besigye, who is running for president for a fourth time, has declared the ruling government a dictatorship and promised to run a campaign of "defiance, not compliance" .

In a country where most of the presidents since independence have been deposed, uncertainty abounds over its future; Museveni said in 2008 that he was "going nowhere".

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So, for most Ugandans, the pope's visit is a welcome distraction from the political rhetoric, especially as the leading candidates have suspended their campaigns to join in welcoming the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. They will all be at the open-air mass on Saturday, together for the first time in many months.

Museveni revealed, quite uncharacteristically, that he will use his one-on-one meeting with the pontiff to implore him to promote Uganda's tourism abroad. If he succeeds, more outsiders could begin flying in, turning the national parks and other tourist sites into hard cash. But only, of course, if the government improves infrastructure and reins in a repressive police force , whose brutal assaults on opposition politicians and their supporters regularly get national and international coverage.

Despite pleas from Besigye for the pope to encourage Museveni to hand over power peacefully and prevent Uganda from plunging into war again, and hopes from average Ugandans that the pontiff will implore their leaders to stop the mayhem, it is a minefield that he is unlikely to walk into directly. The pope is likely to stick to the message of mercy for the underprivileged, talk broadly about reconciliation and pray for a peaceful vote in Uganda next February.Uganda

Whatever Pope Francis says or doesn't say, his visit alone is historic and a source of pride for Ugandans. We live in one of only three countries that the pope is visiting on his maiden trip to the African continent since his 2013 election. While many of Africa's 54 countries have never hosted a pope, Francis will be the third to visit Uganda, after John Paul II and Paul VI in 1993 and 1969, respectively. This is why two other presidents, Salva Kiir of South Sudan and Rwanda's Paul Kagame, are expected at the weekend papal mass.

This is an opportunity for Uganda to be seen at its best, so despite the inconvenience of enormous infrastructure upgrades and the excess of long drawn-out rehearsals by uniformed choirs, all Ugandans are not just bearing with the chaos but greeting it with palpable excitement.

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Gwokto La'Kitgum

"Even a small dog can piss on a tall Building", Jim Hightower

"But this I know, UPC believed and still believes in

very high education. We can call Obote all bad names we have, but the bottom line remains that he got more scholarships for Buganda than all previous Uganda leaders combined. That includes Sir Edward Mutesa, President Lule, President Binayisa, up to and into Ssabasajja Mutebi. Who all happen to be Baganda leaders." Mulindwa

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