{UAH} THIS IS A CHURCH EVENT. IT IS NOT A POLITICAL RALLY
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By Amos Kasibante
THIS IS A CHURCH EVENT. IT IS NOT A POLITICAL RALLY
During the preparations of the Uganda Martyrs Day at Namugongo on June 3, the President of Uganda was going to be present at the Anglican site. There were also pilgrims coming from the rest of Uganda as well as East Africa. Many came from Tanzania in buses. The late Deputy Inspector General of Police, Andrew Kawesa, was in charge of security at Namugongo. In the planning meeting with the clergy on the site, he ordered that for reasons of security all the buses must park at Kireka and the pilgrims should walk from there to Namugongo. It was not so much to ease parking as to ensure the security of the President and other dignitaries.
One of the priests suggested to the Deputy IGP that requiring the buses to park at Kireka would be very inconvenient for pilgrims who would have come from as far as Tanzania and that it would be even more inconvenient if it rained.
Mr Kawesa insisted that that was security (and it does often seem as if "security" either has the last word or is the incontrovertible reason for doing things). But the priest who is known to me told him calmly but firmly, "Sir, this is a church event; it is not a political rally". There were other senior police officers present. One of them later asked the priest who he was and where he had been brought up. He did so because although some of the police officers did not like the Deputy IGP's instruction, none of them would dare oppose him.
There is a tendency for "security" to take over or be overbearing at church events. Don't misunderstand me. Security is necessary not only for reasons of safety but for order as well. But "security" must know the nature of the function at which they are deployed. A church function turned into a securitized event rubs people the wrong way and ruins the function for everybody.
This kind of overbearing has not only taken place in the last couple of years. One of the occasions when a church function was overwhelmed by "security" was the installation of Yona Okoth as Archbishop of the Church of Uganda at Namirembe Cathedral in 1984. President Obote was to attend the ceremony. Security was so tight and so rough that even clergy going to attend the service were roughly handled. True, there was an insurgency in the country at a climate of insecurity, but it might have been better for the President not to attend in person if the security was to take the form that it did. The excessive security provoked a reaction and a letter appeared in the Church of Uganda Newspaper, the Century, captioned, "The Archbishop of a few". I will spare you the details about the turmoil that took place in the editorial offices of the paper and the subsequent fall out in the Church of Uganda, even among the Bishops themselves.
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-- THIS IS A CHURCH EVENT. IT IS NOT A POLITICAL RALLY
During the preparations of the Uganda Martyrs Day at Namugongo on June 3, the President of Uganda was going to be present at the Anglican site. There were also pilgrims coming from the rest of Uganda as well as East Africa. Many came from Tanzania in buses. The late Deputy Inspector General of Police, Andrew Kawesa, was in charge of security at Namugongo. In the planning meeting with the clergy on the site, he ordered that for reasons of security all the buses must park at Kireka and the pilgrims should walk from there to Namugongo. It was not so much to ease parking as to ensure the security of the President and other dignitaries.
One of the priests suggested to the Deputy IGP that requiring the buses to park at Kireka would be very inconvenient for pilgrims who would have come from as far as Tanzania and that it would be even more inconvenient if it rained.
Mr Kawesa insisted that that was security (and it does often seem as if "security" either has the last word or is the incontrovertible reason for doing things). But the priest who is known to me told him calmly but firmly, "Sir, this is a church event; it is not a political rally". There were other senior police officers present. One of them later asked the priest who he was and where he had been brought up. He did so because although some of the police officers did not like the Deputy IGP's instruction, none of them would dare oppose him.
There is a tendency for "security" to take over or be overbearing at church events. Don't misunderstand me. Security is necessary not only for reasons of safety but for order as well. But "security" must know the nature of the function at which they are deployed. A church function turned into a securitized event rubs people the wrong way and ruins the function for everybody.
This kind of overbearing has not only taken place in the last couple of years. One of the occasions when a church function was overwhelmed by "security" was the installation of Yona Okoth as Archbishop of the Church of Uganda at Namirembe Cathedral in 1984. President Obote was to attend the ceremony. Security was so tight and so rough that even clergy going to attend the service were roughly handled. True, there was an insurgency in the country at a climate of insecurity, but it might have been better for the President not to attend in person if the security was to take the form that it did. The excessive security provoked a reaction and a letter appeared in the Church of Uganda Newspaper, the Century, captioned, "The Archbishop of a few". I will spare you the details about the turmoil that took place in the editorial offices of the paper and the subsequent fall out in the Church of Uganda, even among the Bishops themselves.
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"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives"
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