Gulu | Dr. Kenneth Omona, the state minister for northern Uganda, has urged religious leaders in the region to prioritize household management in their preaching.
Dr. Omona spoke at the International Peace Day 2024, with the theme “Cultivating a Culture of Peace,” at Kaunda grounds in Gulu City.
Omona urged religious and cultural leaders to begin preaching God’s words that teach young children how to keep a household when they marry.
He stated that such prayers will reduce the number of child mothers in Gulu City, which is fueling the plight of many street children. However, some argue that the region’s insurgency has created “burdens of conflict.”
According to the minister, church leaders should be interested in teaching young children how to generate income from projects so that they can be transformed earlier in life and avoid frustration.
The region’s minister criticized some parents who abandoned their children, claiming that this has resulted in a high level of household conflict.
Parents, he advised, should become interested in promoting informal education for their children much earlier than waiting for formal education.
Archbishop Emeritus John Baptist Odama said he prays every day for all of the country’s leaders to guide the people in the right direction. “As church leaders, we will continue preaching the words of God that addresses household keeping for our young children.”
Odama said his message for 2024 is to encourage all Ugandans to promote peace and love for all people, as well as to eliminate violence in society. This, he said, comes from our homesteads as we build peace.
He urged that Jesus Christ was born to bring peace, transform people’s lives, and establish unity between God and humanity. “We cannot deny preaching words that will shape young people in a household.”
Lino Owor Ogora, chairperson of the Foundation for Justice Development Initiative, stated that Uganda has approximately 62 different types of conflicts registered. According to him, the northern war disrupted household peace and put children in peril.
Owor stated that the war in northern Uganda ended in 2006, but many vulnerable victims are experiencing economic hardship and a medical crisis, prompting them to take to the streets, begging for shs500 for medical treatment.
He said that a portion of the money is used to support the vulnerable individuals’ everyday needs.
“For many years, we have struggled to raise concerns with the government about victims’ reparations, with no results. We will never tire of complaining about our victims; the day will come when the head of state will apologize to the people of northern Uganda for putting them in IDP camps and failing to protect them and their property from LRA attacks,” he said.
Owor urged the government to designate a day to honor all war victims rather than waiting for the designated International Peace Day. He said that the local Day will bring peace to the country.
The United Nations General Assembly established International Peace Day in 1981 through a resolution.
The day commemorates and strengthens the ideals of international peace.
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