Kampala, Uganda
A group of pastors in Uganda have denounced one of their colleagues who abandoned his wife after 29-years of matrimony and married a young woman under the Uganda customary law.
Pastor Aloysius Bugingo, of House of Prayer Ministries in Kampala, was denounced by the National Fellowship of Born-Again Pentecostal Churches on 9th December in a statement issued two days after Pastor Bugingo was formally introduced to the family of his fiancée Suzan Makula.
“We hereby denounce and dissociate ourselves from Pastor Bugingo’s practices, outbursts, behavior, and doctrine,” the pastors declared in the statement signed by the association’s General Overseer Bishop Joshua Lwere. “We, therefore, do not recognize his ministry until we see repentance and acceptable change.”
They also noted that the matter relating to Pastor Bugingo and his marriage has escalated to a level that concerns every cleric and member of the public in Uganda.
Pastor Aloysius Bugingo and Suzan Makula during their first official visit to her parents on 26th November. PICTURE: Courtesy of Pastor Bugingo’s family.
In 2019, Pastor Bugingo abandoned his official wife, Teddy Naluswa, and their four children after he fell in love with Makula who was a member of his flock.
“As brothers, ministers of the gospel, elders and leaders of the Church, we felt the obligation to intervene in this grave matter based on Mathew 18:15,” the statement said. “On May 14, 2019, Bishop Lwere, the General Overseer of the National Fellowship of Born-Again Pentecostal Churches of Uganda, accompanied by three elders; Apostle Alex Mitala, Peterson Sozi and Bishop Morris Bukenya met and admonished Pastor Bugingo to stop using the pulpit and media to settle his family and marital issues. We told him it was unethical and unbiblical to discuss his wife in public, and advised him to separate church and family matters. He promised to stop and it was agreed that we would observe him for three months.”
The statement added: “Unfortunately, to our dismay and disappointment, he has continued abusing, degrading and shaming his family and wife over matters, which any husband, believer and pastor ought never to say about his wife. This is contrary to Christian ministerial ethics and practices.”
In 2019, after abandoning his wife, Bugingo sought divorce on grounds that Naluswa had a health problem (menometrorrhagia) that had stopped him from enjoying his conjugal rights for a number of years. He made complaints on different media platforms in Uganda. However, Naluswa denounced the divorce on grounds that she made a Biblical marriage vow “till death do us part” and that she was not ready to break it.
In 2020, Pastor Bugingo told his flock during a church service that the Christian marital vow “till death do us part” is not Biblical. He said it was a creation of the Catholic Church.
“I have not seen a quote in the bible saying “till death do us part. The marriage vow has confined couples in satanic traps, yet satan came to kill and destroy,” he said in January 2020.
“You find that, when a couple realises it is no longer compatible to stay together in marriage, one will find a way of killing the other, in order to move on,” he said, sparking counterfire from the leadership of the Anglican Church in Uganda that accused him of making unfounded statements.
Bishop Johnson Twinomujuni of the Anglican Diocese of Ankole rebutted that Pastor Bugingo’s “yearning soul is in a desperate need for justification over his prejudiced separation with his bona fide wife.”
He added that Bugingo could not get the divorce by “virtue of moral objectivity, he is deliberately misinterpreting the Bible, so he can justify his act.”
Bugingo insisted that he would marry Makula, whether or not Ugandans approved of his action. However, as Bugingo was with his bride, Makula at their introduction ceremony, Naluswa (his first wife) addressed the media in Kampala and maintained that she was still the official wife of Bugingo since marriage is a permanent union.
High Court Judge, Justice Joseph Murangira, had in April, 2021, advised Bugingo and Naluswa to explore the option of mediation before their divorce case could be heard in court. But, the mediation stalled and the judge has now set 25th January next year as the date to start hearing the case.
