Why Ugandans are refusing to believe Pastor Bugingo’s story

Pastor Aloysius Bugingo, who heads the House of Prayer Ministries International, has been the trending topic on social media since he was shot at on January 2 in an attack that, sadly, claimed his bodyguard, Cpl Richard Muhumuza. Assailants opened fire on his SUV, a white Lexus with a customised licence plate with the words “PRAIZ  GOD”, as he was heading home in the evening.

Police called the attack at Bwalakata junction in Rubaga Division an attempted murder of the pastor — a tall, pot-bellied, dark-skinned man with close-cropped hair.

He is popular among impoverished Christians and has lately dabbled in politics, albeit indirectly, often leaning towards the MK movement of Muhoozi Kainerugaba and making cheap jibes at NUP president Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine. 

Bugingo’s bodyguard belonged to the Special Forces Command (SFC), the elite unit of the UPDF, which protects President Museveni.

At the time of writing this article, a week after the attack, Google Trends showed interest in “Pastor Bugingo shooting” was 100 in the central region, where the incident happened, which is the peak popularity for a search term.

Ugandans struggle to see holes in religion and its outlandish claims of God’s existence, but since the tragic news broke, they have asked many pertinent questions, suggesting that they remain sceptical of the pastor’s account of the incident. 

A key question many have asked is how — “despite sustaining injuries during the attack”, as the police said — Pastor Bugingo had the presence of mind to drive his Lexus, with a dead man, to Mulago Hospital. A trained soldier with combat-operations experience can, but Pastor Bugingo is a preacher.

To be fair, Pastor Bugingo, 51, cannot be accused of any wrongdoing or complicity unless there is direct, incontrovertible evidence linking him to the attack. Cpl Muhumuza probably knew what happened before the attack, but he is dead and buried. Nobody will ever talk to him and ask what really happened on that fateful Tuesday evening.

Nonetheless, it is curious that Ugandans are having difficulty believing a religious leader. How come that a pastor with a large following is struggling to get people to believe the simple fact that he was attacked?

Maybe past developments can help us understand this better. 

Ugandans who watch closely what religious leaders are doing and have done do not trust them anymore. They read stories about men of God and shake their heads in disbelief.

In April 2023, for example, Daily Monitor reported that Pastor Dennis Ssenyonga of God Holy Ministry International was facing charges of defrauding a US couple of Shs500 million.

Retired Archbishop Stanley Ntagali, a married man, had an affair with a church leader’s wife, made her pregnant and apologised for his adultery. In 2013, Father Anthony Musaala called for the end of celibacy in the Catholic church, saying Catholic priests were romantically involved with not just parishioners’ wives but also nuns. He cited cases of priests “offering money for sex”.

Pastor Bugingo’s critics say he has failed to build the church he promised those who make financial contributions. And his association with a government that seems to condone criminality complicates matters. Criminality? Yes. There is a photo on the internet of a powerful NRM politician meeting an alleged robber who is currently languishing in Luzira Prison.

That alleged robber, whose real name is Charles Olim but is widely known as Sipapa, was once guarded by soldiers — a fact that was confirmed by Brigadier Felix Kulayigye. When a pastor has strong ties with a regime like the one we have, it creates suspicion that is hard to dispel.

Mr Namiti is a journalist and former Al Jazeera digital editor in charge of the Africa desk
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