{"id":13604,"date":"2024-03-06T13:55:16","date_gmt":"2024-03-06T13:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/?p=13604"},"modified":"2024-03-06T13:55:23","modified_gmt":"2024-03-06T13:55:23","slug":"ugandan-government-proposes-oversight-on-religious-contributions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/?p=13604","title":{"rendered":"Ugandan Government Proposes Oversight on Religious Contributions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"950\" height=\"496\" src=\"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/28916-church-gettyimages-drewbuzz_source_file.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13605\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/28916-church-gettyimages-drewbuzz_source_file.jpg 950w, https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/28916-church-gettyimages-drewbuzz_source_file-480x251.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 950px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Ugandan government is considering a policy that would require religious organizations to report all contributions made by their followers, including offertory, according to reports in local media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Daily Monitor newspaper revealed that the policy has been in development by the Directorate for Ethics and Integrity (DEI) within the president&#8217;s office since 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alex Okello, the permanent secretary at the directorate, was cited as stating that the new draft policy emphasizes transparency in the management of public resources within prayer centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"275\" height=\"183\" src=\"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/images-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13606\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The biggest confusion that has been circulating throughout the country is the misconception that a policy equates to a law. The policy simply advocates for transparency within religious institutions. How this transparency is implemented within each institution is at their discretion,&#8221; he clarified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Regarding concerns about taxation, he emphasized that the proposed &#8216;National Policy for Religious and Faith Organizations (RFOs)&#8217; does not necessarily involve taxing religious institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Religious leaders have expressed interest in taxing the money. However, our aim is not to impose taxes but to ensure that the resources contributed by believers are utilized appropriately,&#8221; he explained. &#8220;Government taxes taxable income, and contributions made in churches or mosques are not considered income but rather developmental funds.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Canon Aaron Mwesigye, the director for Ethics and Religious Affairs at the directorate, emphasized that the policy aims to prepare religious leaders to collaborate with the government for national development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He highlighted that the policy will establish mechanisms that churches or mosques can use to proactively identify and address corruption within their ranks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ugandan government is considering a policy that would require religious organizations to report all contributions made by their followers, including offertory, according to reports in local media. The Daily Monitor newspaper revealed that the policy has been in development by the Directorate for Ethics and Integrity (DEI) within the president&#8217;s office since 2016. Alex [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":13606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/images-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13604"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13607,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13604\/revisions\/13607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}