Motion to Introduce Regulations on Religious Organizations Withdrawn

Manjiya County Member of Parliament (MP), John Baptist Nambeshe has withdrawn the motion seeking leave of the House to introduce a private member’s Bill titled ‘The Religious Organisations, 2019’.

The Bill that received stiff resistance from several legislators on Wednesday sought to among others regulate religious institutions in the country.

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The object of the Bill was to harmonize several regulations against the religious practices and activities in the country without contradicting with one’s freedom of worship.

On Wednesday, Nambeshe told legislators that there was need to consolidate, amalgamate and modernize the law relating to the establishment and management of all religious institutions in Uganda as well as the need to bring it in line with current trends.

Whereas the matter was differed due to lack of quorum, Nambeshe, in an unprecedented move on Thursday told Parliament that he had reconsidered his decision and asked to withdraw the motion.

“I exhaustively conducted consultations with the principal stakeholders and even if it is a fact that this Bill is not a destute of merit because of the distortion in the misinterpretations by the collegues that contributed to this motion, I have considered withdrawing the bill until further notice,” Nabeshe submitted.

Among the legislators that had put up resistance against the Bill was Kassiano Wadri and Ibrahim Semujju Nganda.

Arua Municipality MP, Wadri in his submission on Wednesday argued that the Roman Catholic Church in Uganda can’t allow to be subjected to any form of registration.

On his part Kira Municipality MP, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda who termed the Bill as “Satanic” noted that he could not support a motion that would introduce a Bill only to disband the Muslim faith.

“As a House, we must be very cautious, let us not abuse our own rules. If the rules allow you to present private Bill, you shouldn’t present one that seeks to abolish Parliament simply because you have the right,” Semujju said.