Kampala, Uganda, Aug 31, 2011 / 00:58 am
Rampant inflation and other severe economic troubles are threatening to close seminaries in Uganda, despite the growing number of priestly vocations in the country.
Monsignor Cosmas Alule, rector of Alokolum Major Seminary, said that increasing fuel prices have driven up the cost of food with staple commodities quadrupling in price over the last year.
Since August of 2010, the rate of inflation has risen from 1.7 percent to approximately 19 percent.
“We can hardly meet the costs of our basic needs, despite the fact that we grow rice, beans, maize and vegetables in our gardens in order to reduce our food costs,” he told the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.