The Bishop of Mukono diocese, Enos Kitto Kagodo has charged Christians to stop looking on idly as church land continues to be grabbed.
Bp. Kagodo said it is useless for the Christians to behave like the saints while the church land is gradually being taken.
To call on the Christians, the man of God was reacting to a report by Buikwe Parish Priest, Rev. Dawson Kakooza where it was noted that many churches have failed to make headway in development for lack of land on which to conduct development activities.
The report noted further that unnamed non-Christians occupying church land have blocked church projects from taking off.
The bishop angrily noted that it is unfortunate that although many reports have been to police over church property maliciously destroyed in addition to assault on church ministers by land grabbers, no help has been forthcoming.
This was revealed during the Bishop’s pastoral visit which took him to St. Luke’s Church in Buikwe parish, in Ngogwe Archdeaconry where he also confirmed 94 Christians.
Bp. Kagodo also noted that encroachment on church land is very rampant in the entire diocese, and that almost in all parishes he visits, he is given such reports.
“Time is now to react, we can no longer accept to continue to be treated with spite; let us get on the defensive because land grabbers are not relenting,” he said without elaborating.
The Parish Priest Dawson Kakooza appealed to the bishop to let the diocesan land office work in hand with the parish priests in the parishes where the land is already in dilemma, saying that short of this, the church may be left with no land at all for its own projects.
Kagodo said, “Many of our ministers have sustained injuries at the hands of encroachers, and there are many unsettled police cases and files in courts of law, but nothing positive is in sight, and yet land grabbers continue to attack us unabated.”
“Time is soon coming when we shall have no single piece of land left because land grabbers have targeted land belonging to our churches, schools and hospitals; we do not know how much more patient we have to be.”
In his sermon, he appealed to Christians to love and care for their children, give them requirements and education, saying this will add value to the children so that in the parents’ old age, they will benefit from their children.
And the prelate’s wife, Catherine Kitto advised churches with some land to put up some form of projects as a means of blocking land grabbers from stealing it.
She said land grabbers may find it rather difficult to encroach on land where their plantains, buildings or some other form of projects.
In hier address, Buikwe district chairmanship hopeful, Caroline Karungi appealed to the newly confirmed Christians to keep away from all unreligious conduct, and reminded them after the confirmation sacrament, they had become children of God.
The service was also attended by Rev. Can. Justus Miwanda of Namirembe Diocese.