By KT Reporter
Pastor Joseph Sserwadda, whose annual passover prayer festival that has always been held at Namboole through the night of 31st December was frustrated and disallowed at the last minute, has intensified on his anti-regime rhetoric while placing some of the blame on Sports Minister Peter Ogwang.
Sserwadda says that he met Ogwang after the 23rd December fiasco which saw a previously very friendly gateman at Namboole chase away his assistants who had gone there to commence preparations for his 31st December prayer festival which he has been holding at Namboole for more than 15 years now. That he subsequently sought audience and sat down with Ogwang who gave him hard conditions and in the process complicated his preparations.
Sserwadda, who these days can only seek out a State Minister like Peter Ogwang as an indication that he is no longer valued inside the system (in the past he would directly speak to the President or someone else big inside State House), says that Ogwang was shocked to learn that the man who has been critical of the regime over rampant corruption and deliberate attempts to mismanage the coffee sector in order to keep Kabaka’s people in perpetual poverty, was planning to host up to 45,000 worshippers at Namboole that very night.
Sserwadda adds that he told Ogwang he had no problem limiting access to the sitting pavilion to just 35,000 and then arrange alternative virtual access points to other worshippers outside the stadium who would follow the proceedings through projectors. However, the organising committee members realised that this would be costly and yet even time wasn’t on their side.
Sserwadda says that the indifference with which Ogwang spoke to him and the rudeness with which the gateman changed and started being harsh towards his assistants involved in the organising of the event, indicated to him there was an invisible hand that didn’t want his Victory Church to host their end of year prayers at Namboole. That it has proved to him how his country Uganda is these days full of injustices which he is now prepared to pray to God to take away.
The same preacher, who recently prayed during a public function in Masaka and called on God to enable President Museveni rule Uganda for an eternity, added that he has a running 15 year contract with Namboole stadium management whose decision making powers he says have now been hijacked and its now about nothing but order from above.
Quite opportunistically, Sserwadda thanks the Buganda Kingdom and his neighbours at Pope Paul and those managing Kabaka’s Lake for allowing him have a plan B of some sort. That this is how he has been able to have alternative plans with a venue being donated to him near Kabaka’s Lake.
That he also spoke to the Katikkiro of Buganda who he says ordered part of Kabaka’s Palace to be allocated to him to enable those coming for his passover festival prayers have where to park thousands of their vehicles. This is coinciding with Enkuuka entertainment carnival which the Buganda Kingdom annually organises to usher in the new year.
Sserwadda, who hasn’t ruled out dragging Namboole and their employer the GoU to court over clear breach of contract, says the incident has made him totally forget and develop extreme hatred for that place and some of the people responsible for high level decision making in this country of ours called Uganda. That he will never consider going to Namboole again.
BROADER CONTEXT:
But Peter Ogwang’s actions also ought to be understood in the context of the upcoming AFCON tournament matches which the newly reconstructed Namboole will be hosting in months’ time.
Its understandable that the government of President Museveni, who Sserwadda still supports, wouldn’t like to risk such large gatherings because of the potential of damaging key infrastructure that has just been put in place.
And besides, Sserwadda isn’t the only nor first one to have had his prayer event at Namboole disallowed. His adversaries like Aloysius Bugingo and Jackson Ssenyonga have also endured this frustration before over similar concerns.
Pastor Tom Mugerwa of Mutundwe was also last year locked out and chased away from Kololo Ceremonial Grounds at the last minute, something that jeopardised his end of year prayers last year.
Aloysious Bugingo saw far when he concentrated on his Canaan Land along Sir Apollo Kaggwa to be the host for his Vision Night which ushers in the new year. Pastor David Kiganda was also years ago blocked from using Nakivubo stadium for his prayers of 31st December. He these days uses Old Kampala SS playground.
BUGINGO PAYS WELL:
In a related development, outspoken senior Daily Monitor journalist Gabriel Buule took to social media a while ago and praised Pastor Aloysius Bugingo of House of Prayer Ministries International for being different and for deliberately setting the bar so high by being the only Born Again Pastor and significant media owner who prioritizes timely, prompt and adequate payment of journalists working for his vast TV and Radio empire.
His Salt Media, which has existed for the last 10 years, employees significant numbers of journalists and broadcasters who are paid well and always on time. Bugingo equally accepts the duty bearing and consistently complies when it comes to paying staff remuneration-related statutory obligations relating to URA’s PAYE and monthly contributions to NSSF, which is important for staff’s post-retirement welfare and sustenance.
Buule says that in a Kampala where equally powerful and well earning Pastors are insensitive and take years without paying stuff or even facilitating work, Aloysius Bugingo’s exemplary conduct deserves commendation and emulation. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
