KAMULI: Minister for the Presidency and Budiope West MP, Babirye Milly Babalanda, has urged Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) faithful to complement prayer with hard work, saying faith alone cannot overcome household poverty.
Babalanda, who also serves as Director of the Busoga SDA Women’s Field, made the call yesterday while closing a one-week SDA Camp Retreat at Kiige SDA Church in Kamuli District.
She conveyed greetings from President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports Janet Kataaha Museveni, the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President Hajji Yunus Kakande, and staff of the Office of the President.
Babalanda commended the SDA leadership in Kamuli for dedicating the week to prayer, Bible study and fellowship, describing the activities as an important foundation for strengthening families and communities.
“This is the kind of moral foundation our nation needs. But faith must go hand in hand with work,” she said.
She said the Government recognises religious institutions as important partners in national development, unity and moral transformation, adding that freedom of worship has enabled churches to contribute to the social and economic wellbeing of communities.
Babalanda challenged pastors and other church leaders to use their platforms not only for spiritual guidance but also to mobilise their congregations to participate in Government wealth-creation programmes.
She cited the Parish Development Model (PDM), Emyooga, Youth Livelihood Programme, Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) and GROW as initiatives intended to help households improve their incomes and create employment.
“Our role now is to ensure these resources are used with integrity, unity and hard work to create wealth and jobs at the household level,” she said.
The Minister particularly encouraged residents of Kamuli to embrace President Museveni’s four-acre model as a strategy for diversifying household production and strengthening rural incomes.
Under the model, she explained, one acre can be dedicated to coffee or cocoa for long-term cash income, another to fruits such as oranges, mangoes and passion fruits, while the third can be used for food crops including maize, beans, cassava, sweet potatoes and vegetables.
The fourth acre, she said, can be used for pasture to support zero-grazing dairy farming.
Babalanda also encouraged households to take up small-scale enterprises such as poultry and piggery as additional sources of income, urging families to choose enterprises that suit their circumstances and markets.
She rallied the faithful to embrace President Museveni’s call for greater efforts to fight corruption and promote hard work.
“This term, the President has tasked us with two things: fighting corruption and working hard. There must be ‘no sleeping’. As Christians, our hands must work as much as our voices praise. That is how we shall defeat poverty,” she said.
As a contribution towards the church’s development, Babalanda donated 100 bags of cement to support the ongoing construction of Kiige SDA Church.
The week-long retreat brought together hundreds of SDA faithful from different parts of Kamuli District for prayer, Bible study, fellowship and spiritual renewal.
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