The Minister for the Presidency, Member of Parliament for Budiope West Constituency and Director for Busoga SDA Women field, Hon. Babirye Milly Babalanda has hailed President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for honouring a petition by the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church to have the National Cleaning Days aligned with their Sabbath observance.
The Minister issued the vote of thanks during an inter-ministerial meeting on the National Cleaning Day held at the Prime Minister’s Office in Kampala Today.
The Minister’s remarks were in response to a confirmation by Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja that the President had granted the SDA Church leaders’ request to have their members exempted from participating in National Cleaning Day activities on Saturday, which is their holy Sabbath.
According to the Prime Minister, the President guided that SDA members carry out their National Cleaning Day obligations every last Sunday of the month, in respect for their Sabbath observance on Saturday — the Government’s officially designated cleaning day.“
In recognition of the Sabbath observance of the Seventh-day Adventist community, and following guidance by H.E. the President, the Seventh-day Adventists will remain at home during the designated cleaning time. However, they will be required to undertake their National Day Cleaning activities on the following day, i.e. Sunday,” Nabbanja said.
She, however, noted that, to ensure that SDA faithful also participate in the important Government programme, their leaders would oversee the cleaning activities and ensure that prayers begin after 10:00am.
“This arrangement ensures that the SDA participate fully in the national programme while respecting their day of worship,” she said.Babalanda thankful, tasks RDCsIn response to the Prime Minister’s remarks, Minister for the Presidency Milly Babalanda appreciated the President for the compassionate and religiously inclusive gesture, saying it entrenches freedom of worship, which was restored and upheld by the NRM revolution.
“In a special way, Rt. Hon. Prime Minister, I want to thank H.E. the President for considering the SDA fraternity to worship their God as established by God Himself,” Babalanda said.
The Minister, whose ministry supervises Resident District Commissioners (RDCs), appealed to them to massively mobilise Ugandans to participate in the mandatory national cleaning exercise.“As supervisor of the RDCs, RCCs, Deputies and Assistants, I call upon all the RDCs to mobilise the communities, map out areas to be cleaned, make arrangements for cleaning materials to be available at the sites and communicate clearly, at least one week in advance,” Babalanda said.
The National Cleaning Days initiative was announced by the Prime Minister on July 23, 2026, as a Cabinet resolution aimed at instilling discipline among Ugandans, while improving sanitation and environmental awareness and protection.Flanked by Health Minister Dr. Chris Baryomunsi, the Prime Minister announced that the exercise would commence Saturday July 25, 2026 and was mandatory for every Ugandan; enforced by local leaders, the police and other sister security agencies.According to the guidelines, the exercise would be held every last Saturday of the month between 7:00am and 10:00am, during which time a traffic curfew would be imposed, with movement limited to essential service providers and emergencies.
However, the choice of Saturday drew concern from Seventh-day Adventist Church faithful, who noted that it clashes with their observance of the holy Sabbath, which lasts from Friday evening to Saturday evening. Through their Archbishop, Samuel Kajoba, and notable Church members, including Ministers Milly Babalanda and Cissy Mulondo, the SDA fraternity, in a July 24, 2026 letter, petitioned the Government to exempt them from cleaning on the Sabbath and allow them to undertake the exercise on another religiously convenient day.On Tuesday, the SDA leadership, led by Archbishop Kajoba, met with Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, leading to an agreement to shift their cleaning duties to Sunday, following acceptance and guidance by H.E. the President.
It is this position that the Prime Minister communicated at Wednesday’s meeting at her office.The meeting was attended by Ruth Aceng, the Government Chief Whip; Third Deputy Premier Rukia Nakadama; State Minister for Local Government Justine Nameere; and representatives from the Ministry of Health and KCCA, among others.
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