By Naboth Isaac Niwagaba
President Yoweri Museveni has commended the Catholic Church for its remarkable contribution towards the fight against illiteracy in the Kigezi Sub-Region.
The President was the invited chief guest at the ceremony to mark 100 years of Rushorooza Cathedral Parish in Kabale Municipality. The ceremony attracted several dignitaries, and it started with a church mass presided over by the Apostolic Nuncio Luigi Bianco, who was assisted by Kabale Diocese Bishop Callistus Rubaramira.
In his speech read by Vice President Rtd. Maj. Jessica Alupo on Sunday, President Museveni narrated about the 1909 arrival of the White Fathers at Nyarushanje in Rukungri to launch a spiritual and economic drive that established education and health centers, which stirred social and economic transformation in the Kigezi sub-region.
The President congratulated Rushoroza Cathedral Parish on clocking 100 years and contributed Shs. 50 million towards the cathedral’s renovation project. Maj. Alupo also contributed Shs. 15 million towards the re-innovation project.
State Minister of Finance Henry Musasizi Ariganyira led the politicians from Kigezi Subregion in a series of tributes to the Kabale Diocesan leadership and conveyed special thanks to President Yoweri Museveni for his continued financial support towards the Annual Bishop’s Annual Appeal Fund (BAAF) and the ongoing construction works aimed at tarmacking Rushoroza Road that links the Kabale Diocese Headquarters to Kabale-Katubna Road.
Minister Musasizi used the same platform to announce that the government had successfully distributed up to 99% of the PDM funds released in the last financial year to the target beneficiaries.
Bishop Callistus Rubaramira said that the ceremony to celebrate 100 years of Rushoroza Cathedral Parish was a symbol of thanksgiving for the achievements the church has registered, thanks to the previous church leaders led by Bishop Henri Streicher of Rwenzori, who sent the first priests to start the church in Kigezi.
Other dignitaries at the ceremony included State Minister of Industry David Bahati, Deputy Director General of the Internal Security Organization Lt. Col. Emmanuel Katabazi, Ndorwa East MP Wilfred Niwagaba, Kabale Municipality Mp. Dr. Nicholas Kamara, Kabale District Woman Mp. Catherine Ndamira, and Bufumbira South MP Alex Niyonsaba, among others.
During the ceremony, the Chairperson Construction Committee revealed that they were mobilizing for 501 million shillings for terrazzo and chairs in the first phase of the Rushoroza Cathedral Parish re-innovation project.
