Kampala, Uganda
Religious leaders in Uganda have asked government to tighten the supervision of churches in a bid to reduce the growing cases of criminality sweeping the institution.
The request follows the disappearance of a pastor and his flock last week. Police announced on Monday that they were investigating circumstances under which Pastor Samuel Kalibala of Mityana District in Central Uganda disappeared with a section of his flock.
Uganda Police spokesperson Fred Enanga. PICTURE: Courtesy of Uganda Polcie Force.
Fred Enanga, the Ugandan Police spokesperson, said at a press conference in Kampala on Monday that the missing persons included seven members of a family.
Police identified some of the missing persons as Jesca Namuwaya, Shakim Ssekyewa, 19, Shifrah Nampeewo, 17, Muhammad Muteesasira, 10, Muhammed Ssenabulya, eight, Angel Nakintu, four, and Mable Uwuzeeye.
Enanga said it was unfortunate that the pastor had misled his flock.
“He used his ‘divine powers’ to manipulate them,” Enanga said, assuring Ugandans that they will trace the location of the pastor and bring him to book.
“We are following leads after one of the missing persons, established contact with her daughter, whom, she left behind. I want to assure the families of the missing people that we shall get the pastor.”
Police said, three of the pastor’s accomplices were arrested and identified them as Harriet Kajubi, 53, Harriet Nalweyiso, 62, a midwife, and Shakim Ssekyewa, 18, a student. It is not clear yet why the pastor vanished with a section of his flock, although some sources have linked him to Boko Haram militants in Nigeria.
A police source said that Kalibala was affiliated to Salem Missions, an entity that identifies as an indigenous Christian, non-profit organisation operating inside and outside Uganda, before he recently parted ways with the organisation and started preaching his own unique gospel that discouraged western education and technology.
This incident has stirred serious concern among Ugandans and rekindled memories of a massacre that took place at a church in Kanungu District, Western Uganda, in 2000. Leaders of a religious cult herded 700 members of their flock into a church building and set it on fire killing all of them. The dead were members of a movement called the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God – a doomsday cult that believed that the world would come to an end at the turn of the millennium.
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A recent BBC exclusive investigation published in April, 2022, revealed that rogue pastors in Uganda were exploiting the trust and belief of their followers for profit and power. The clergy in Uganda are now asking government to tighten security supervision within particularly the Pentecostal churches.
Pastor Moses Solomon Male, an evangelical preacher in Uganda and the executive director of Arising For Christ Ministries as well as an outspoken critic against corruption in churches, told Sight that due to high levels of poverty in Uganda, many Christians are desperate for miracles from their Pastors, who end up exploiting them.
“You will discover later that the missing pastor took the women to use them as his wives,” Pastor Male said before urging the state security apparatus to play its role in fighting crime within the church. He suggested that most of those who claim to be pastors in Uganda, but are unaffiliated with any mainstream churches, are actually cult leaders.
Rev Dr Grace Lubaale of Kyambogo University told Sight that the only way government can deal with criminality in the church is to initiate a government regulatory body that plays an oversight role to all the religious institutions in the country.
“The body should be in charge of licensing religious leaders in Uganda,” Lubaale said.
