By Charles katabalwa,
NATIONAL
The Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) has organised a three-day national prayer event scheduled for January 9–11, 2026, aimed at seeking divine guidance for peaceful general elections.
The IRCU chairperson, Archbishop Samuel Kazimba Mugalu, announced the initiative during the Council’s engagement with opposition political parties ahead of the polls. He said prayer was essential to safeguard Uganda’s stability, economic growth and democratic governance during the electoral period.
According to the programme, Muslims will lead prayers on January 9, the Seventh-day Adventist Church will pray on January 10, while Christians will conclude the interfaith prayers on January 11.
Archbishop Mugalu urged all Ugandans to participate in the prayers, stressing that credible and peaceful elections are critical for the country’s future.
However, during the engagement, opposition politicians raised concerns over alleged mistreatment by security agencies.
The Deputy President of the National Unity Platform (NUP) for Northern Uganda, Dr Lina Zedriga Waru, accused security forces of shifting from their mandate of maintaining peace to harassing and intimidating opposition supporters.
“Many NUP supporters are living in a lot of fear and may even miss the opportunity to vote because they are afraid of being arrested,” Zedriga said.
Similarly, Mityana South MP Richard Lumu faulted the Electoral Commission (EC) for failing to adequately sensitise voters on the use of voter verification machines.
“Most of my supporters do not know how these machines work, and I wonder how they are expected to use equipment they have never seen,” Lumu said.
He called on the EC to explain how the machines operate, disclose where they were procured from, how much they cost and who will be held accountable in case they malfunction on polling day.
