Archbishop Lwanga speaks on bribery allegations over Museveni term extension proposal

Catholic archbishop of Kampala Dr Cyprian Kizito Lwanga has expressed his disappointment over those claiming he was bribed to sell a proposal to call off 2021 elections and extend President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni to 2023.

Recently, Archbishop Lwanga, the chairman of the Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC), announced the recommendations for poll and term of office extension over Covid19 and electoral violence.

The suggestions have been opposed across the political divide, with both ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) and opposition rejecting them.

Preaching at Rubaga Cathedral on December 25, Lwanga decried the infodemic on social media, denying claims that he had been bribed.

“There is an outbreak of misinformation on social media. I was a victim of this infodemic, they were condemning me, claiming I was bribed. Can you present proof that I was bribed? That on a particular day, I was bribed with so much? I ask you ladies and gentlemen who use social media to tell the truth,” the cleric said.

He further explained that the statement on poll and term of office extension was not his alone but of leaders of three denominations that fall under UJCC.

“The Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC), which comprises Catholics, Anglicans and the Orthodox, and for which I am chairman, sat and agreed on the statement. My role at the press conference was to just read the statement. Those who attribute the statement to Lwanga don’t understand what they are talking about,” he submitted.

“This was not my proposal; it was a proposal of UJCC which I’m the chairman, with the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Dr. Samuel Kaziimba Mugalu and the Metropolitan Yona Lwanga. But I have been demonized on social media. This is our suggestion not an amendment, anybody is free to come up with their own proposals.”