Deal firmly with rogue pastors

The country has witnessed an increase in scandalous acts in churches and the matter requires urgent attention. There is also general concern in the public about the unethical conduct of some pastors and church leaders.

Currently, some of them have very big churches and congregations but are selling prayers, miracles and health to people who have followed them out of despair.

They take advantage of so many Ugandans who have lost a sense of purpose in life due to social and economic challenges, something that has amplified the need for spiritual inspiration.

In the last few months, several video recordings have emerged, especially on social media, showing some ‘pastors’ conjuring miracles under the pretext of healing their ailing followers.

There have also been accusations of some so-called pastors using electric gadgets to shock the faithful.

Last weekend, NTV and Daily Monitor carried an investigative story in which a 36-year-old Latvian tourist accused a pastor at one of the Pentecostal churches in Uganda of rape.

With these and many other accusations, the church in Uganda needs urgent shakeup to rid it of rogue preachers, some of whom are living very large at the expense of their poor and gullible followers.

Genuine mainstream and Pentecostal religious leaders should also be concerned that the many wolves in sheep’s clothing are critically hurting the image of the Church in this country.

The wolves have become so greedy and are misusing the gift, given that they have the power to convince some people that black is white.

There is an urgent need to regulate faith-based organisations to nip in the bud rogue pastors who have become purveyors of a false gospel and steal from their flock by faking miracles.

If left unfettered, religion may morph into a potent form of fanaticism in this country.

We should learn from what happened in the past when unregulated religion offered breeding grounds for cults such as Joseph Kibwetere’s where the latter and his acolytes on March 17, 2000 locked believers in a church in Kanungu District that was incinerated in a fire, resulting in the death of more than 700 people. Alice Lakwena and Joseph Kony rebellions also bear the hallmarks of religious fanaticism.