President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has cautioned religious leaders against conducting fundraising events, saying that they partly contribute to the promotion of corruption in the country and poverty among young leaders including Members of Parliament.

President Museveni said that although fundraising in churches and mosques is not the main source of corruption and poverty, but it’s also a contributing factor.

“The fundraising culture is very dangerous especially for you church people. The young politicians are intimidated by you the religious leaders. They think they will go to heaven if they please you,” he said.

President Museveni made the remarks on Friday, December 8, 2023, during the End of Year National Thanksgiving prayers held at State House, Entebbe.

He explained that whenever religious leaders organize fundraising events, it is mostly the young politicians who suffer since most of the people they lead are poor and have nothing to contribute to the cause.

“You organize a fundraising event, then the community has not been mobilized to create wealth, so, they don’t have money but just come, and the only person who has some money is the MP. This puts these young people under pressure to go into debts by borrowing and getting involved in corruption. This should stop,” he asserted.

“Fundraising is wrong, it is premature. If villagers have not been mobilized in wealth creation and they don’t have money, stop this fundraising because it is a means of extorting money from these young politicians who are dishonest; they don’t want to tell you that they don’t have money. Now, because they are supposed to do the oversight role of Parliament, they cannot do it because they are looking for money to go and bribe people in the constituency by fundraising and giving bursaries. You are not the government. How can you give out bursaries?” President Museveni wondered.

The President also reiterated the government’s commitment to fight corruption in the country.

“We the farmers, the manufacturers are the ones who suffer from this corruption. If you build a bad road because you have diverted some of the money, where will our crops pass? We are mobilizing ourselves, and we are going to crush it because it is going to derail us,” he noted.

On the other hand, President Museveni commended the religious leaders for finally listening to the teachings of Jesus Christ concerning preaching the right gospel of unity and hard work (wealth creation), adding that, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government has been preaching that ideology all the time.

“For us, we say everybody should be a wealth creator. If you create wealth in the four sectors of commercial agriculture, industry, services and ICT, you will be implementing what the preacher has been telling you,” he said.

He partly attributed the creation of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) terrorist group to the original members (children) who were sent to Egypt to study religious education and speak Arabic.

The President added that, when the original members got done with their studies, they came back to Uganda looking for jobs in line with what they studied but were not successful, yet they didn’t know how to work with their hands in agriculture, artisanship, industry, and services.

“The original members started staying in Nakasero Mosque, praying for miracle wealth, and that is how some of them got disoriented and created these problems. Therefore, it is very crucial that first of all the parents but also the religious leaders, modern churches and mosques, to please integrate part of our heritage and see how you can bring it in. Churches and Mosques should analyze the issues of wealth creation to enable believers create prosperity,” he stated.

On the issue of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, the President reassured Ugandans not to be intimidated by anyone who thinks by doing so, they will change their stance over the matter.

“Don’t be intimidated by all those fellows. If there’s someone who doesn’t want to respect our sovereignty, we pray for them, they can go. We have the capacity, we don’t lack anything, and the economy is growing. So, we shall be able to sustain ourselves,” he noted.

The President further challenged the religious leaders especially the Muslim clerics to sensitize believers to embrace the Parish Development Model (PDM) and Emyooga, explaining that the government poverty alleviation programs are not interest (riba)- oriented as some people perceive them.