Prof. Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba has urged church leaders to dedicate at least some percentage of the tithes to the vulnerable communities in order to curb diseases and hunger affecting the people.
PLO Lumumba, the keynote speaker made the urge while addressing people at the National HIV/AIDS symposium under the theme “Ending inequality among adolescent girls, young women and boys” held at Makerere University Business School in Nakawa.
Lumumba said that the churches should be so impactful in changing the lives of people since religion in Africa has been so based on moral values and behavioral change.
“Tithes and offerings are given to churches. But how much do they contribute to the noble cause of eradicating HIV? Let us give back to these communities in order to stay relevant,” Lumumba cautioned.
He has also called on the government to set up the HIV/AIDS trust fund to end reliance on dwindling funding from development partners. Apparently, the country’s HIV funding deficit stands at 450 billion shillings according to Uganda AIDS Commission.
“Create a single fund for a purposeful use to fight HIV/AIDS. We made commitments that 15% of our budgets be dedicated to the health sector and therefore by extension HIV must also be on radar,” Lumumba said.
He added, “funding of HIV must have a regional perspective. The president has recognised that the impact of HIV is not only on the health sector but also on the economic kind, political kind and social kind,”
“We cannot win the fight against HIV in spite of regional inclusion, there is a need to have other regional countries involved in the response,” he noted.
He also said that research in Africa is not at the level which one desires it to be. The universities and other institutions of higher learning are doing their own things, not research.
“In Africa we don’t have researchers. The ones we have are mainly good at writing proposals to donors in Sweden, Canada,” he said.
He further urged the citizenry to hold the authority accountable and always speak the truth to power. Adding, “In Africa, when politics fails, everything fails.”
