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Use existing laws to regulate churches

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Author: Agnes K. Namaganda 
 

Uganda grapples with a host of human rights issues, including police brutality, and curtailing of political freedoms of the Opposition. In the top 10 documented human rights violations in Uganda, the extortion of Church members by their leaders is not among them.

Yet, as Uganda joined the rest of the world to celebrate the International Human Rights Day on December 10, 2024, the Executive Director of Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) Mariam Wangadya, appealed to government to expedite laws to regulate evangelical churches. According to Wangadya, of all the blatant human rights abuses, the abuse of followers by evangelical church leaders is worth attention.

Apparently, UHRC has received complaints about evangelical leaders for crimes such as rape and defilement, sexual abuse, exploitation of women, and manipulation of vulnerable believers. This article ran in the Monitor online paper on December 2, 2024 under the headline “UHRC boss asks govt to expedite law to regulate evangelical churches.”

Now, these abuses, are not limited to evangelical churches leaders. All these crimes already have existing penalties laid out in the Constitution. These laws apply to all Ugandans regardless of tribe, creed or profession. This implies that enacting fresh laws that apply to only evangelical leaders is not only wasteful of government resources but also discriminates against them. Honestly, why should we have a different set of laws for one group of Ugandans for the same crime? Time and again, we have seen Ugandans who have committed similar crimes, successfully getting prosecuted.

Recently, Hajjat Zurah made headlines when she had her husband Ali Mwizera, arrested for the alleged defilement of their 14-year-old daughter. This means that UHRC simply needs to intensify its sensitisation efforts of these crimes among Pentecostal congregations. UHRC should also encourage victims to report these crimes. The argument by UHRC is that Pentecostal Churches are loosely organised, making believers vulnerable to abuse and manipulation, unlike Muslims, Anglicans and Catholics who have established mechanisms for dispute resolutions. The Constitution is enough to address any injustices committed against any Ugandan.

UHRC needs to realise that there is a reason why the 2024 UBOS figures suggest that born again churches are the fastest growing Christian religious group. In 10 years, the number of born-again Christians has risen from 11.1 per cent in 2014 to 14.7 percent percent in 2023. An official at UHRC rightly indicated that when Africans face problems, they often turn to churches and traditional shrines in search of divine intervention.

As we speak, some of the challenges that Ugandans are facing include a high cost of living in the face of unemployment, with a seeming hopeless future ahead. When such issues are not addressed, the pain and heartache leads families of such victims to churches to seek for divine comfort and justice. These churches are offering a service that very few government agencies can provide. It is unfortunate that in the process of providing this valuable service and counsel, some religious leaders take advantage of their flock. While they need to be held to higher moral standards because of their status in society, they are still human and not gods.

In summary, the purported manipulation, extortion and deceit within religious institutions, shouldn’t be giving UHRC a headache since these crimes already have stipulated sentences in the Constitution. As we head into elections, UHRC should concentrate on making sure that previous broad daylight human rights violations against Opposition politicians and activists are addressed. This will give the public confidence in their mandate instead of majoring in the minors.

Ms Namaganda is a human rights activist
[email protected]