Dear brothers and sisters,

We congratulate you all upon reaching 60th Anniversary of our independence. We thank God for the protection and contributions by various stakeholders. We thank Him for protecting us from the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. We take this opportunity to renew our growth, guided by sacred scripture; and the National Constitution.

In 2012, during the 50th anniversary of Uganda’s Independence, we published our Pastoral Letter, titled, “Fifty Years of Independence: Celebrating Our Heritage.” In that letter, we identified the journey that our country had gone through, marked with successes and failures, opportunities, and challenges. We called upon every citizen of Uganda to contribute to the overall growth and development of our country in order to take the destiny of our country as a collective responsibility.

This Year 2022, we are celebrating sixty years of self-rule. In the last ten years, our country has continued on a positive trajectory in many ways. From a faith point of view, our nation has continued to be an oasis of faith in a world that continues to become more and more secular, seeing little or no need for God. Our churches and mosques continue to fill up with the faithful on days of worship. Religion has continued to be clearly articulated in the public square with no fears of reprisals or persecution or even feeling out of place. For this we thank God and continue to pray that this nation will continue to be the shining star on top of a hill that is becoming more and more secular. Remember our national motto: “For God and my Country”.

Economically in the last ten years, we have continued to notice positive signs of growth. The government has continued to attract new investors in the country and more and more industries continue to crop up in the country. Different industrial parks have continued to grow, and the song of value addition is being sung everywhere in the country.

Agriculture, which is the backbone of our economy in the last ten years has seemed to be given center stage with focus on mechanization and adding value to our raw materials through the establishment of processing centres.

Other sectors of life have continued to show positive signs

Unfortunately, as we mark 60 years of self-rule, the last ten years have also shown us a lot of dark spots that call for our attention and action as citizens of Uganda. Some of these dark spots have been our own making, while others have been caused by factors beyond our control.

The last two years of the ten years have been characterized by the global pandemic of Covid-19. Like the rest of the world, our country has been and continues to be affected by the effects of Covid-19. We cannot fail to mention the terrible consequence of Covid-19 to children who lost out a lot on their education. More so, many girls got pregnant and became children-mothers themselves. There is need to reach out and offer psycho-social support to these girls whose trauma will last for many years.

Currently, either because of the lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, or probably the unfortunate war of Russia against Ukraine, our economy seems to be in a free-fall. Many businesses are at a standstill; the prices of basic goods are skyrocketing with no end in sight and global inflation is the cry of everyone in the world. Fuel prices are choking every sector of the economy, and these are indeed uncertain times for our country that need serious attention. With a failing economy, come the vices of insecurity, robbery and bribery that have risen everywhere in our country.

The last ten years have also been marked by an increase in land-grabbing which is very worrisome. Download..