Of bulldozers stuck in the river of a Church’s tears
The bishop spoke in a calm, measured tone. His words were seemingly simple but they fell heavy, laden with a range of emotions for which the English language may not have a ready name. Only hours before, St Peter’s Church Ndeeba had been razed to the ground.
Amid all the anguish, the Bishop of Namirembe, the Rt Rev Wilberforce Luwalira, had to address the body of Christians on the occasion of the sad demise of a church that had stood for more than 40 years. The months and years of struggle and the fatigue of battle were evident in the bishop’s voice.
Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu has been to the scene of the destruction and although he too spoke in mild tones, he was none too happy about the desecration and demolition of the church. While the leaders were putting a brave face on the tragedy, the Ndeeba parishioners wept openly and so did many other peace-loving and God-fearing people around the country.
While it is clear (from emerging documents) what transpired in the courts regarding this church land, it is surprising how suddenly everyone is up in arms trying to find solutions after many, yours truly included, watched in fascinated horror as this story unfolded over months and years. We had ringside seats as the Church and the other land claimants battled it out. It would be hypocritical for me to claim that I didn’t see this coming.
Could this have been prevented? I am not sure. Over a radio broadcast in the wake of the demolition, one of the church leaders even spoke about being arrested and detained in the course of trying to save the church. Up until this point, I had not realised how nasty the battle had been.
Perhaps this case should have been more in the spotlight before the demolition. Although to be fair, we might have let our guard down because for a moment, it felt safe under the umbrella of the minister of Kampala’s suspension of evictions during the lockdown.
However, given the trend of impunity in the country, maybe we should have known that someone, together with accomplices from security agencies, would not have any qualms about violating the nationwide curfew in order to raze the church down. We should have learnt from the numerous cases that came before this one. When things like this happened in the past, which left people homeless and in tears, we made small noises and moved on.
The broken house of God in Ndeeba is a symbol of what is wrong with our land registration and land dispute resolution mechanisms. The church demolition may not be the last horrific act we have witnessed. Yesterday it was someone else and today it is the people of Ndeeba, their church leaders and well-wishers who are in tears.
In a country whose motto is “For God and My Country,” we never imagined that we would live to see a church brought down so callously, but some will tell you that the law is the law.
The other factors remaining constant, I wouldn’t mind spending half a day inside the heads of the masterminds of this eviction, just to understand a few things: Did they imagine that they could demolish a 45-year-old church overnight and then wake up to business as usual in the morning? How did they hope to establish themselves and their new enterprise in the neighbourhood where they had quarrelled with and broken the hearts of all the residents? Did they think they could bulldoze their way through the deep, dark valley of the church’s grief?
Ms Nampewo is a writer, editor and communications consultant
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