Minister Babalanda Urges Faithful to Combine Prayer With Hardwork To Defeat Poverty

What the report says

In Kamuli District, Minister for the Presidency Babirye Milly Babalanda closed a week-long Seventh-day Adventist camp retreat at Kiige SDA Church and used the occasion to encourage worshippers to pair prayer with practical effort in the fight against poverty. Watchdog Uganda reported that she was joined by hundreds of SDA faithful from across the district for the spiritual gathering, which focused on prayer, Bible study and fellowship.

Babalanda, who also serves as MP for Budiope West and director for the Busoga SDA Women field, delivered greetings from President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, First Lady Janet Museveni, and senior Office of the President officials. She praised the church for promoting moral values and said religious leaders should help mobilize communities for government wealth-creation programmes. Among the initiatives she mentioned were the Parish Development Model, Emyooga, Youth Livelihood, Operation Wealth Creation and GROW.

She urged residents to embrace Museveni’s 4-Acre Model as a route to rural transformation, describing a mix of cash crops, fruits, food crops and livestock support. She also called for backyard income projects and repeated the president’s message on fighting corruption and working hard. According to the report, she contributed 100 bags of cement toward construction work at Kiige SDA Church.

The address reflects the government’s continued effort to link faith-based outreach with household income generation. In Uganda, such messaging is often used to promote agricultural and small-enterprise programs, particularly in rural districts where poverty reduction remains a major concern.