By Joseph Ssemutoke
“There was a time in this country when professing and practicing Pentecostalism (denomination of Christianity) was a crime and it was the reason many were put in prison or even killed merely because of their religious beliefs. The bitter truth is there is no leader in modern Uganda who has promoted religious freedoms like President YoweriKaguta Museveni has done.”
Those were the words of decorated lawyer and preacher Sam Mayanja at the 2nd graduation ceremony of the Ugandan chapter of the North Western Christian University (US) at Serena Conference Center, in September 2020. And indubitably the words of the seasoned lawyer and preacher capture a sentiment that more or less remains unchallenged in all informed and rational quarters of Uganda.
Uganda’s long history of religious conflict/religious repression prior to 1986
Anyone who endeavours to peek into the religious history of Uganda will come face-to-face with the fact that from its earliest days (created as a “protectorate” of the British colonialists in 1893), the East African country has been haunted by religious conflicts arising from the failure of those in authority to acknowledge and uphold the religious rights of every citizen.
In his book “Uganda Since Independence: A Story of Unfulfilled Hopes”, historian Phares Mutiibwa notes that right from the pre-colonial era when Kabaka Mwangaordered the killing of Christians in 1885 (after he saw his absolute power come under threat from the converts to Christianity that had been shortly before brought by missionaries), every subsequent political leadership of Uganda has attempted to purposely control the people’s religious activities. Mutiibwahighlights the fact that the colonialists employed religious divisions to successfully govern Uganda when they established an order that had Anglicans at the top, followed by Catholics and then Muslims. Needless to say that African Traditional religion was simply outlawed in the Law that the colonialists’ established to govern Uganda.
Mutiibwafurther notes that the efforts to directly control religion remained part of the authorities’ machinations after independence, with the Obote 1 regime that ruled between 1962 and 1971 intervening in the people’s religious affairs for undisguised political reasons of diving the people in order to rule them. The historian cites the example of President Obote I’sgetting his cousin and Culture minister Abubaker Adoko Nekyon to form the National Association for the Advancement of Muslims (NAAM) in 1964 to challenge the Muslim titular leadership of Badru Kakungulu at Kibuli Mosque.
Idi Amin’s broad-daylight, heavy abuse of Ugandans’ religious freedoms
The reign of President Idi Amin Dada remains the apex of the abuse of citizens’ religious rights in post-independence Uganda. Amin sought to strictly oversee Ugandans’religious activity by conferring recognition on only three major religions –the Anglicans, Catholics and Muslims–in the process banning a host of religious and quasi-spiritual groups and sects such as the emerging Pentecostals (Balokole), Baha’i faith, the seventh Day Adventists and the Orthodox, among others. Many religious leaders, not only of the outlawed religious groups but even of the recognized mainstream faiths, were either killed, fled the country or were imprisoned. These included such names as then Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, JananLuwum who was killed; Pentecostal Pastor Joseph Sserwadda who was imprisoned until Amin’s overthrow; and Anglican bishops Yonah Okoth and Festo Kivengere who fled for their lives into exile.
The amin regime’s official regulations stipulated tight government control over every aspect of religious existence, dictating acceptable practices and even going as far as imposing boundaries for acceptable religious doctrines for the three recognized religions.
Change comes with Yoweri Museveni and the NRA/NRM regime in 1986
At the coronation of the present Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Rev. Stephen KazimbaMugalu, on March 1 2020, President Yoweri Museveni affirmed: “The NRM believes in the freedom of worship of all religions, that is why in Uganda today, conflicts in regard to God are no more.”
Indeed it is widely held by people from all walks of life that President Museveni’s regime brought change to Uganda’s religious terrain by promoting a freedom of worship that had not been precedented before.
“When he came to power in 1986, President Museveni immediately abolished Idi Amin’s 1976 religious policy which had stipulated religious standards to regulate religious organisations and their leaders,” Pastor Joshua Lwere notes. “In the same vein he abolished President Amin’s Ministry of Religious Affairs to make sure government was not in any way interfering with religious organizations and their work. In every military barracks Amin had set up a house of worship belonging to one of the three religions his government had recognized, but president amin on coming to power abolished all of these houses of worship so that under his leadership the state would not make an opinion of preference in favor of any religious beliefs, norms or groups over others. By this soldiers too got back their freedom of worship.”
“Under the NRM, those clerics who have not openly opposedthe government have found it relatively easy to operate without intervention or restraint,” wrote social critique and scholar Dr. James Spire Ssentongo in a paper he co-authored with H. Avalas about the NRM regime’s relationship with religious leaders.
“President Museveni made it very clear that under his leadership the state shall not make an opinion of preference in favor of any religious beliefs, norms or groups over other groups whether an old or new religion adopted by citizens,” says Pastor Joseph Sserwadda. “He allowed us the Balokole of what was then known as Biwempe (papyrus) churches to operate freely, where Amin had outlawed us.”
It is on record that besides the Born-Again (Balokole) movement, other religious denominations and groups that had remained somehow under the radar before 1986, such as the Orthodox and Seventh Day Adventist churches, now found a new and free lease of life and emerged into full-bloodied activity. The Pentecostal/Born-Again movement’s love for President Museveni on the grounds that he allowed them space to operate is rather public knowledge. So many Pentecostal leaders are on record thanking/extolling the president for having allowed them their freedom to worship their way when the leaders of the more traditional religious denominations pressurized him to ban the Pentecostals on the grounds that they were not organized.
Analysts have generally observed that the change in the religious terrain brought by President Museveni and his NRA/NRM regime was that whereas the governments before limited religious freedom, NRM’s approach was to accommodate everyone. Even if it meant letting a religion split up if that’s what some of the faithful wanted under the auspices of their religious freedom, the NRM regime has let everyone act within their freedom of worship and religion. It’s under the NRM regime that different denominations of the Muslim faith have been left to freely operate, as well as break-aways from such churches as the Catholic church.
Perhaps President Museveni’s commitment to religious freedom was best exhibited in 2018, when a dispute arose between sections of the Born-again (Balokole) movement and the Ministry of Ethics and integrity which was suggesting a policy of regulating church ministers by establishing licences to be given only to those with formal theologial training. Speaking to the disputing camps at aworkshop, President Museveni said:
“Simon Peter had never been to the seminary. He was a fisherman who was called by Jesus. St. Paul, who prosecuted the church, later joined it. This is, therefore, the foundation of the church. I will call you, Father Lokodo and all other religious leaders and we discuss. Should we emphasize rituals and formalization or take advantage of the calling on people’s lives?”
