BY JOACKIM KULE
Religious institutions in Kasese District have raised concern over the people’s failure to protect the environment through garbage management, tree planting and protection of water bodies.
The concerns were raised yesterday morning during a function in which the Diocese of Kasese was launching the tree planting campaign in the entire diocese at Uganda Martyrs’ Nyakasanga Catholic Church in Nyamwamba Division of Kasese Municipality.
The campaign, which is among the preparatory activities for the celebrations of the 2026 Uganda Martyrs’ Day, is a fulfillment of the Late Pope Francis’s call for environmental protection which is described as Laudato Si’ in the Latin language.
Rt. Rev. Francis Aquirinus Kibira, the Bishop of the Diocese of Kasese who was the Chief Forester, noted that he was concerned about the way people have ended up encroaching on water bodies and cover on the Rwenzori Mountains.
According to Kibira, when he paid a visit to the landing Site at Kayanja in Nyakiyumbu sub-county, he realized that the waters were nearly extending to the communities because the people had frequently dumped plastic garbage into the water body, forcing it to come to their settlement areas.
Kibira noted that such human activities if not stopped have the potential to cause climate change which results into disasters, calling on the people to embrace environmental conservation and protection measures including tree planting, proper garbage disposal and water bodies’ protection.
The South Rwenzori Diocesan Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Nason Baluku, who also attended the launch, stressed that as the Anglican Church in the Kasese District, they had resolved that tree planting was a core value to the Christians.
He revealed that they do not give the sacrament of baptism to children whose parents have not proved having planted a tree either at their homesteads or church compound, as one of the measures for environmental protection.
The Kasese Municipal Senior Environmental Officer, Evelyn Mugume, cautioned against encroachments on swamps, and soil exhaustion in an attempt to create way for crop growing and restoration of normal temperatures.
Rev. Fr. Anyasio Mbusa, the Director of Caritas Kasese, called for the growing of fruit trees, noting that they provide food, shelter and socio-economic empowerment to the people.
ENDS