The scramble for Minerals in Uganda: Karamoja leaders accuse First Family of land-grabbing

Karamoja leaders accuse First Family of land-grabbing

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Karamoja+leaders+accuse+First+Family+of+land+grabbing/-/688334/1410032/-/q4jf50/-/index.html

By MERCY NALUGO 

Posted  Monday, May 21  2012 at  00:00

State House at the weekend denied claims by some politicians from Karamoja on Friday that “members of the ruling family” are involved in a land-grabbing racket in mineral-rich parts of the sub-region.

President Museveni’s press secretary Tamale Mirundi said the MPs who made the allegations are being used by what he called “some vultures inside government” whom he promised to name at a later stage. “There is excitement about the discovery of oil across the border [with Kenya] in Turkana and the political vultures want to seem like they are the saviours. We know them very well and they are rearing ugly eggs in Karamoja,” said Mr Tamale.

He added: “The minister for Karamoja (Janet Museveni) has been there for nine years now, why is it that it is only the Karamoja sub-region MPs making noise. Why don’t they talk about cattle rustling and who defeated it. The President knows very well who is using them and if he fought cattle rustling then he can handle them.”

Incitement

He said the “vultures” are inciting the Karamoja population against the President and challenged them to name who is grabbing land there. He, however, noted that all minerals belong to the government of Uganda. “Such an area is gazetted but residents can get dividends after the exploration,” Mr Tamale added.

The Karamoja Sub-region Parliamentary Caucus while addressing journalists at Parliament on Friday said there is an ongoing ploy to grab their mineral-rich-land, although Daily Monitor has not been able to obtain independent corroboration of the allegation that members of the first family may be linked to the mischief.

The leaders also threatened to abandon the NRM party after they accused the government of failure to address their concerns that range from bad roads, collapsed bridges and poverty.

Sold land

The MPs claimed that 6,130 hectares of land measuring 15,325 acres located at Kimacharin, Moruita Sub-county, in Nakapiripirit District, have been sold and leased to a company called Feronia Uganda Limited while 2,001 hectares have been sold and leased to another entity, Pro-Solutions Limited, at Shs140 million without the consent of the customary land rights owners.

“It is alleged that the above companies belong to members of the ruling family but we shall divulge more details later,” said Moroto Municipality MP Simon Peter Aleper, who chaired the Friday press conference.

Doctored minutes

He claimed that the minutes of the district land board were forged by some members of the district land board. “We have now asked local government to tell us who gave them the land. There is a process on how land can be acquired but this was not adhered to. These companies are fraudsters,” said the MP who, however, did not say what exact connection exists between Feronia, Pro-Solutions and the first family.

The Karamoja sub-region MPs’ remarks come amid long-standing fears within the community that minerals are being mined and spirited away with the alleged collusion of certain elements within the army’s Special Forces Group that is deployed in the sub-region. SFG units guard the President and his family.

For long, vast tracts of Karamoja have been open to fortune hunters who exploited the lawlessness brought on by armed intra-clan cattle rustling to engage in illegal mining of gold and other gems.

Petitions

Documents presented before the press indicated that a pressure group, Karamoja Human Rights Activists, have petitioned the Principal Private Secretary to the President, the Minister of State for Minerals, Mr Peter Lokeris, the Minister for Karamoja Affairs, Ms Museveni, Ethics Minister Fr Simon Lokodo, Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga and the House Natural Resources committee for appropriate action.

“When we called Minister Lokeris over the matter, he said he was not aware of the said transactions and that those were criminals trying to grab land in Karamoja,” said Mr Aleper.

The legislators said in Moroto District, through the Karamoja 50-year Master Plan, a design was prepared by what they called “self-centred forces” in Uganda to steal 1,500 acres of land in the mineral rich Rupa Sub-county. Also, in 1998, the people of Katikekile Sub-county lost land with quality marble rock deposits to investors.
mnalugo@ug.nationmedia.com

Army, oil firm cited in L. Albert killings

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Army++oil+firm+cited+in+L++Albert+killings/-/688334/1410030/-/8aas5o/-/index.html

By Taimour Lay   

Posted  Monday, May 21  2012 at  00:00

In Summary

In September 2007, the UPDF, on request by Heritage Oil, allegedly opened fire on a Congolese ferry and no investigation has ever been done. But the army denies such.

LONDON/KAMPALA

Five years since the killing of six Congolese, including a three-year-old child on Lake Albert, new information published today shows Heritage Oil and Gas, a company which was once the biggest operator in Uganda’s fledgling oil sector, played a key role in triggering the fatal UPDF operation which led to their deaths.

The Ugandan army has always denied there were civilian deaths, insisting even last evening that this was an operation in which its forces exchanged fire with Congolese troops.

But two previously unreleased photos – showing bloodied civilian casualties in a wooden boat, and six coffins - start to tell the story about what may have happened on September 24, 2007.

The incident, in which the Ugandan army opened fire on a Congolese passenger ferry, was a direct consequence of the British oil company making a request for military assistance after its Ugandan exploration team had strayed over the DR Congo border.

Despite the controversy over what happened on September 24, 2007, no full investigation was pursued by Heritage or Uganda.

Corporate Watch, a UK research group, is today publishing material that exposes a likely attempt at a cover-up and raises further concerns over oil production in the Great Lakes region.

But when contacted yesterday, Army Spokesman Col. Felix Kulayigye rejected the information provided in the new report as false. “It is twisting the facts to suit interests that are only known to the writers and I condemn it with the contempt it deserves,” Col Kulayigye said in a telephone interview.

“If we were the ones in the wrong, the standard procedure is that we promise an investigation into the matter, and still produce the findings of the investigations to the affected parties.”

Col. Kulayigye also said he does not remember any civilian deaths but he will have to “cross check with the records to see if there were any.” The UPDF has, in public, said it was attacked by two Congolese army soldiers on the ferry who refused to give up their AK-47s and disputed that anyone had been killed. But Congolese witnesses have accused the UPDF units which reportedly arrived in three patrol boats of firing indiscriminately almost as soon as they arrived.

A UN fact-finding report, seen by Corporate Watch, also reveals that a three-year-old child was among the dead. The Ugandan military is reported to have confirmed to the UK High Commission in Kampala at the time that its soldiers were on a “rescue mission” to help the Heritage team when it encountered the Congolese boat, according to a British foreign office email sent by a Mr John Hamilton in 2007 and obtained through a Freedom of Information request by oil watchdog, Platform.

Leaks to public

Mr Hamilton was the second secretary at the UK High Commission at the time in Kampala.The email was the first public revelation of information reportedly exchanged between the British government and the Ugandan military about the incident.
Yesterday, an information officer at the UK mission declined to comment, saying he would pass on Daily Monitor’s request for an interview to his superior. No response had been received by press time.

A September 26 leaked US diplomatic cable released by whistleblower website wikileaks also confirms Heritage “mistakenly thinking that the approaching (UN) boats belonged to ‘negative forces’ put out an SOS call to which the UPDF’s patrol boats responded”. The cable also quotes information about a high ranking Uganda military officer directing the UPDF patrol boats not to approach Kasenyi.

The new evidence directly contradicts Heritage’s claim at the time that the deaths were a “separate, unrelated, isolated incident” involving “no employees or subcontractors” of the company.

Oil production is due to begin later this year after a decade of controversial exploration. Heritage’s former partner, Tullow Oil, was a 50-50 partner in Block 3A when the incident occurred, raising questions about what representations they made to Heritage, which was the operator on Block 3A, after the deaths became known.

When contacted, Tullow Oil, which took over operations from Heritage in 2010, distanced itself from any wrongdoing at that time, and in that particular incident.
The oil company’s spokesperson, Mr Jimmy Kiberu, told Daily Monitor from Nairobi that at the time the incident happened, “it was entirely Heritage in that area because we had not acquired its rights and our operations were entirely distinctive from theirs.”

Tullow and Heritage were also joint signatories to a 2006 Production Sharing Agreement on the Congolese side of Lake Albert. Tullow made no public comment after the deaths and did not publish any consideration of the risk of the exploration project.

Events unfold

The chain of events that led to the Lake Albert killings began when a Heritage Uganda exploration boat, which had illegally entered Congolese waters, was escorted to the DR Congo shore by a UN patrol trying to establish the identity of the rogue vessel at around 1pm.

The Heritage crew made the “rescue mission” call to the Ugandan army, which sent three military boats. Almost half an hour later, one of those boats opened fire on the ferry. A joint investigation by the UN Mission in Congo (Monuc) and a Congolese team concluded that the UPDF had “started firing indiscriminately” at the ferry.

It said “six people died, five were wounded,” their report added. “Three critically wounded children are being evacuated to MSF / Bunia [nearest Medicin Sans Frontieres clinic]. One and half year old child, among the wounded, lost his mother in the shootout.”

The internal Foreign Office email sent from Kampala on September 25, 2007 confirms that Uganda had indeed reacted following a Heritage request for military assistance.
Before the release of the Heritage team by the UN, the Ugandans had moved into action.
The FCO emails reads: “In a version of events which the Ugandan military spokesperson has subsequently confirmed to us, a UPDF ‘rescue mission’ is said to have encountered a FARDC [Congolese army] vessel while investigating the disappearance of the Heritage Oil boat.”

Routine checkup
In its only comment on the L.Albert fiasco, buried in a drilling report dated September 25, 2007, Heritage claimed the UN boat that made contact with its vessel was “a routine check, not hostile” and that its vessel was “within Ugandan waters in the process of lifting cables to mark the completion of the seismic survey”.

The company said this month it had “no further comment to make”. “Heritage called in the cavalry, and six civilians were killed,” Mika Minio of Platform said. “The company’s close cooperation with the UPDF in militarising Lake Albert clearly led to this tragedy, even though Heritage later colluded in covering up the events.”

The panic on the day may have been caused by a similar incident the previous month.
Witnesses say at 1.30pm, halfway through the passenger ferry’s journey, a dozen soldiers from the UPDF suddenly pulled up alongside in a military boat, guns at the ready. Soon after, the shooting started.

A senior UN source said Ugandan claims that the passenger ferry was in fact a Congolese army boat are “complete nonsense” and that it was Heritage’s mistaken panic over the fate of its party that triggered Uganda’s military escalation.

The US cable also says Lt. Gen. Katumba Wamala, commander of land forces, was in “real-time” radio contact with one of the UPDF boats, raising questions about who knew how the firing started and when.

Rukwanzi residents told Daily Monitor on a visit to the island in 2009 that the families of the deceased had been promised $100 in compensation by the Congolese authorities but they never received the money.

Additional reporting by Isaac Imaka
editorial@ug.nationmedia.com

Church leaders in Uganda are praying for Museveni’s exit: This time round even Pentecostals such as Pastor Joseph Serwadda are saying ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Church leaders in Uganda praying for strongman to go

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/16/church-leaders-in-uganda-praying-for-strongman-to-/#.T7UCn5YGFiI.facebook

By Ioannis Gatsiounis - Special to The Washington Times

Wednesday, May 16, 2012 

KAMPALA, Uganda — Influential church leaders are calling for an end to the 26-year rule of President Yoweri Museveni, who is resisting efforts to restore term limits on his office and is facing record-low public-approval ratings.

Catholic Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga urged Mr. Museveni to retire after the end of his current term in four years.

“The best present Museveni can give to Ugandans in 2016 is peacefully handing over power,” he said at an Easter Mass.
Zac Niringiye, an assistant Anglican bishop in Kampala, has been crisscrossing the eastern African nation, seeking support for the restoration of term limits that were scrapped in 2005.

“The time has come to imagine a different future,” said Bishop Niringiye, who added that his life has been threatened since he started his campaign for term limits.

“I hear security forces are plotting against me, but this is part of God’s ministry,” he said.

The Rev. Joseph Serwadda, a Protestant pastor of the Born-Again Faith Federation, recently called for Mr. Museveni simply to “step aside.”

Christians make up more than 80 percent of the population of 36 million, but Muslims, who compose only 12 percent, have also complained that Mr. Museveni has been meddling in Islamic affairs.

The criticism from the prominent religious leaders is reflecting the feelings of a growing number of Ugandans dissatisfied with more than a quarter century under Mr. Museveni.

A recent public opinion poll found that 74 percent of Ugandans think the country is heading in the wrong direction one year after Mr. Museveni was re-elected.

Inflation has soared to more than 20 percent. Police have killed unarmed protesters in demonstrations, and some of the president’s closest associates have been accused of corruption but sheltered from prosecution.

The combination of criticism from religious leaders and the decline in popularity has the Museveni regime on the defensive.

Mr. Museveni, in a television interview last week, warned the church officials: “When you go in public [to criticize the government], I will one day also give you a counter-lecture.”

Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi recently told the religious critics that they are as ill-equipped to get involved in politics as “a doctor [is] to assume a role of a teacher.”

Mr. Museveni came to power in 1986, after years of guerrilla warfare that first overthrew dictator Idi Amin and later Milton Obote. He created a transitional government and established stability after years of civil strife.

Mr. Museveni won the presidency in 1996 with 75.5 percent of the vote in an election that foreign and domestic observers declared valid.

He was re-elected in 2001 with 69 percent of the vote and should have left office after that second five-year term under the limits established in Uganda’s 1995 constitution.

However, Mr. Museveni’s ruling National Resistance Movement allegedly paid members of parliament $2,000 apiece to amend the constitution and eliminate term limits in time for him to run for a third time in 2006. His winning margin declined to 59 percent.

He won a fourth term last year and improved his victory margin to 68 percent of the vote.

The last two elections were marred by widespread allegations of ballot-box stuffing, illegal campaign spending and intimidation of voters and opposition candidates.

Mr. Museveni has mostly dealt with religious leaders through persuasion rather than brute force like Amin, who executed church critics and banned Pentecostals from practicing their faith. Mr. Museveni has also given religious leaders gifts like cows and cars.

In response, the clergy has mostly refrained from opposing his policies until recently.

Nevertheless, Ugandan Anglican Archbishop Luke Orombi has not backed the term-limits campaign of his Kampala bishop.

The country’s most popular born-again pastor, the Rev. Robert Kayanja, who attracts thousands of viewers to his weekly televised worship service, has voiced no criticism of Mr. Museveni and is widely thought to be a close ally of the president’s.

The influential Inter-Religious Council of Uganda also discourages religious leaders from weighing in on term limits.

“The [dialogue] should not be about Museveni stepping down, but about establishing institutions that promote good governance and democracy,” said Joshua Kitakule, the council’s secretary-general.

However, Bishop Niringiye predicts more religious leaders will join the call for term limits after key interreligious meetings in the spring and summer.

“They know the longevity of Museveni isn’t good,” he said, “but they’re waiting for things to happen.”

Also see

Are State vs Religion conflicts escalating in Uganda? Plans to frame critical church leaders leaked

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/05/are-state-vs-religion-conflicts.html

Court Maneuvering Exposes Uganda’s Hidden Agenda: Evading ICC Jurisdiction

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/05/court-maneuvering-exposes-ugandas.html  

Bishop David Kiganda’s preposterous wealth gospel : If wealth and poverty are buses taking people to hell, where wealth takes 10 people to hell, poverty takes 60.

⁵ Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. ⁶ Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.(Proverbs 30:5-6)

"YE SHALL NOT ADD unto the word which I command you, NEITHER SHALL YE DIMINISH ought from it . . ." (Deuteronomy 4:2) 

IF ANY MAN SHALL ADD unto these things. . . And if any man shall TAKE AWAY FROM THE WORDS of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life. . ." (Revelation 22:18,19)

For a couple of weeks now, I have been listening to Pastor Kiganda’s summons on Kingdom FM at 4:00 o’clock every morning . During these summon Pastor Kiganda claims that he is waging war against poverty because he believes that poverty sends more people to hell than wealth. According to him where 10 people go hell because of wealth, 60 people will go to hell because of poverty. He believes that Jesus’ primary mission was to eradicate poverty and he quotes Luke 4:18 to defend his erroneous view. According to Pastor Kiganda, when Jesus said, the spirit of the lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, that gospel has to do with getting the poor out of material poverty. Can you Imagine!!!

Pastor Kiganda’s wealth gospel is an attack on the Lord Jesus Christ and the word of God. There is absolutely no scripture in the new testament that says that it is difficult for a poor person to enter heaven. There is absolutely no scripture in the new testament that says that without money there is no gospel. Therefore pastor Kiganda’s gospel is simply a figment of his own imaginations. This kind of gospel shows how apostate Uganda’s prosperity gospel is.

Million Dollar Questions for Pastor Kiganda.

a)      Did Lucifer loose his place in heaven because of poverty(see, Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28)?

b)      If poverty takes more people to hell than wealth, how did the poor Lazurus who ate the crumbs from the rich man’s table end up in heaven??

c)      If poverty takes more people to hell than wealth, how comes St.Paul, St. Peter and even Jesus never preached about this. Are you more annointed than them?

d)     Non of the Apostles of Jesus Christ died a wealth man,  so, did they end up in hell?

e)      Norway  has been ranked number one, as the best country to be according to the human development index. How comes very few people care about God in Norway? How comes you have more African coming to Christ as compared to wealth Norwegians.

God’s Holy word renders Pastor Kiganda’s money Gospel Nonsensical: Check out the following:

¹⁰ We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. ¹¹ Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; ¹² And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: ¹³ Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day. ¹⁴ I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. (1 Corinthians 4 )

¹⁹ There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: ²⁰ And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, ²¹ And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. ²² And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; ²³ And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. ²⁴ And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. ²⁵ But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.(Luke 16)

My kingdom is not of this world(John 18:36) 

27Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. John 6:27

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.(Matthew 6:19-12)

1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth(Colossians 3:1-2).

(15) Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
(16) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
(17) And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
(18) Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.(1 John 2:15-18)


(4) Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
(5) Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?(James 4:4-5)

Also see, 

Ugandan pastors’ love for America

http://www.sundayvision.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=7&newsCategoryId=132&newsId=647156

Ugandan Gospel Musicians have been blamed for participating in secular music concerts but aren’t they putting into practice the greed that their prosperity pastors have taught them over the years???

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/05/ugandan-gospel-musicians-have-been.html

Ugandan Gospel Musicians have been blamed for participating in secular music concerts but aren’t they putting into practice the greed that their prosperity pastors have taught them over the years???

My analysis

Of recent Gospel musicians in Uganda have been greatly criticized for performing in bars and participating in secular music concerts. In fact Pentecostal radio stations such as Kingdom F.M recently gave the gospel musicians an ultimatum to register all their songs that have not been copyrighted with the station. The musicians have been warned that failure to register these songs will imply that their songs will not be played on the station. Some Ugandan gospel musicians are so drunk with the prosperity gospel that the poor can no longer afford to attend their Album launches. In order to attend these launches you need 5,000 Uganda shillings if not 10,000 or more.Some of them have already sold their ‘God given’ albums to secular persons such that if you play their songs, you risk being sued by these secular guys.   

Many people have blamed these gospel artists. In fact pastors such as David Kiganda have been on the fore front of the campaign against these gospel musicians. However, our blame of  these musicians is not focused. Gospel musicians in Uganda are behaving the way they are doing because of the rotten prosperity gospel being preached by Ugandan pastors such as David Kiganda. The prosperity Gospel can produce nothing other than a rotten fruit. Pastors have taught these musicians to love materialism, money, above anything else by the gospel they preach. The pastors in Uganda pray for people for money and like wise gospel artists demand money from people in exchange for their songs. Either way it all about selling the gospel for filthy lucre’s sake .

Therefore unless there is a paradigm shift from the prosperity gospel to the gospel of repentance, Gospel musicians will continue to look for money and prosperity in secular concerts and bars. They are doing exactly what the pastors have taught them to do i.e. to love and pursue materialism, power, wealth, money, fame etc.

FIRST READ:

Bishop David Kiganda’s stinking Prosperity Gospel: Money in one hand and the bible in the other

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2010/07/bishop-david-kigandas-stiking.html

Uganda's Rotten Prosperity Movement

http://takeheedafrica.blogspot.com/2008/03/ugandas-rotten-prosperity-movement.html

Pastor Franklin Mondo Mugisha attacks Uganda’s Prosperity Gospel on NTV: Advocates for the gospel of Righteousness

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/05/wind-of-change-or-change-in-wind-pastor.html

A SCRIPTURAL REBUTTAL OF THE PROSPERITY GOSPEL

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2010/07/scriptural-rebuttal-of-prosperity.html

Prosperity Gospel: A gospel from hell

http://arthurgraph.wordpress.com/category/antichrist-prosperity-gospel/

Prosperity Gospel : A Gospel of the Antichrist

http://sites.google.com/site/gloryofhiscross/antichrist

 

Temugendera ku bigambo bya bisopu Kigganda- basumba

http://www.eddoboozi.co.ug/index2.php?page=article.php&x=542

Abasumba b’amakanisa g’abalokole bawabudde Bisopu David Kiganda owa Christianity Focus Center -Kisenyi era nga y’omu ku beebuuzibwako ku nsonga z’eddiini y’obulokole ku ky’okuvumirira abayimbi b’enyimba ez’eddiini okuyimbira mu bivvulu by’abayimbi ab’enyimba ez’ensi.

 Gye buvuddeko, Bisopu Kiganda yategeezezza nti kivve nnyo abayimbi b’enyimba ezitendereza omutonzi okuyimbira mu bivvulu by’abayimbi abatali nga bo kubanga kiweebuula eddiini yaabwe.

Paasita Wiberforce Samanya owa Joint Christian Ministry ku luguudo lw’e Ntebbe  yagambye nti, “Ekigendererwa ky’enyimba z’eddiini eziyimbibwa abalokole kya kubuulira njiri era tetusobola kuzibuulira nga tetulumbye bantu.”

Wabula Samanya yategeezezza nga bwatakkiriziganya na bayimbi kuyimbira nsimbi naddala mu bifo ebyensi olwensonga nti omulamwa gw’okuyimba gubeera tegukyagasa.

Paasita Solomon Male owa Arising for Christ yagambye nti, “Kyannaku okulaba ng’abasumba bakyeyagaliza bokka, mu kiseera kino abayimbi kye bakola kye kimu n’abasumba kye bakola bwe bategeka enjiri mu mabala ne basoloozaayo ensimbi. Bwe baba baagala abayimbi basigale nga bayimbira mu makanisa, babasasule.”

Male alaze obutali bwenkanya olwengeri abalokole gye bagaggawalamu kyokka ng’abayimbi abayimbira mu makanisa gaabwe ba mpaleenyweranamuguwa.

“Abayimbi n’abasumba bonna banoonya ssente naye abayimbi bwe bayimbira mu makanisa tebaweebwa nsimbi. Abasumba bazzezza bokka ne bazimba amayumba agatalina alina n’okugejja embuto kyokka nga bonna bakola omulimu gwa ttendo mu kubuulira enjiri,” Male bwe yagambye.

Paasita Sserwadda yalagidde abayimbi abayimba enyimba z’eddiini okwewandiisa kibasobozese okuleeta ng’enyimba zino ku leediyo zaabwe okuli eya; Kingdom, Family leediyo, Top ne Impact, okuzikwatanga ku ntambi ku bwereere kibasobozese okuzifulumyanga nga tebazisaasaanyizaako nsimbi yonna.

Wabula Male agambye nti, “Abasumba tebasobola kugamba nti enyimba z’abayimbi zaakutandikibwa kuyimbibwa bwereere ate nga waliwo essaala ezimu ezisabibwa abasumba eri endiga nga basoose kuwaayo nsimbi.”

Kiteeberezebwa nti endiga zibadde zitandise okwesalako okujja mu makanisa olwabayimbi b’enyimba z’eddiini okutandika okulabikiranga mu bivvulu by’abayimbi b’enyimba z’ensi ne kitabatwalira budde kugenda mu makanisa gano, ekisuubirwa nti kisazeeko ku birabo ebiweebwayo mu makanisa gano.
 MUKASA IVANIE MALE

Abasumba beesimbye mu Pr. Bugembe, Babirye ne Samalie Matovu

http://www.bukedde.co.ug/news/63071-Abasumba-beesimbye-mu-Pr--Bugembe--Babirye-ne-Samalie-Matovu.html

Apr 13, 2012

Kampala

Bya Josephat Sseguya
WABALUSEEWO obunkenke wakati w’abayimbi abalokole abayimba ennyimba z’eddiini n’abasumba b’Amakanisa g’abalokole  abagamba nti bangi ku bayimbi bano ettuttumu baliggya mu makanisa kyokka ate ne balyeyambisa mu ngeri enkyamu omuli n’abamu ku bo okukung’anga abantu okugenda mu zi ttabbulu ezitegekebwa abayimbi be bayita ab’ensi.

Olutalo luno lwatandikibwa omuyimbi eyeeyita Nabbi Omukazi (Maggie Kayima) kyokka kati luyingiddemu abamu ku basumba abanene nga bagamba nti wateekwa okussibwawo amateeka agabafuga baleme kuva ku mulamwa.

Kino abayimbi kibasattiza nga bagamba nti kigenda kubaavuwaza kubanga mu bivvulu bye bayita eby’ensi gye basinga okuggya akasente ate nga mu ngeri y’emu nayo baba bakolerayo omulimu gw’okubuulira enjiri.

Mu bimu ku bigambibwa nti abayimbi bano babikola mu bukyamu mwe muli okukunga abantu okugenda mu ttabbulu nga eya Bobi Wine ku mwalo e Busaabala gwe yatuuma  One Love Beach.

Kuno kwe bagatta okuyimba mu bivvulu bye bayita eby’ensi, okuyimba n’abayimbi b’ensi, n’ okuyimbira mu mabaala.
Kyokka abamu ku basumba bwe baatuukiriddwa ku nsonga eno baajoogeddeko mu ngeri ez’enjawulo.

Omusumba David Kiganda ow’ekkanisa ya Christianity focus center mu Kisenyi yategeezezza nti kituufu waliwo ensonga abalokole abayimba ennyimba ezitendereza Mukama ze balina okugonjoola. N’agattako nti yabayise mu lukiiko ku Lwokuna e Nakasero bateese ku bintu bo ng’abasumba bye balaba nti abayimbi bano bandibadde bakola okusobola okutwala omulimu gwabwe n’ekitone mu maaso obulungi.

 “Ensonga ez’enjawulo zo weeziri naye siyinza kuzigamba mwe b’amawulire nga bannanyinizo abakwatibwako tebannazimanya. Katusooke tutuule nabo nammwe munaazimanya oluvannyuma.” Kiganda bwe yategeezezza ku ssimu ku Lwokusatu.

Kyokka ensonda zaategeezezza nti ssente z’abayimbi bano nazo zibatabula n’abamu ku bakulembeze b’abalokole. Bagamba nti ssente ekibiina kya (Uagnda Performing Rights Society) UPRS kye zisolooza ku zi leediyo ne tivvi z’abalokole olw’okukuba ennyimba zaabwe ku mikutu gino nnyingi kyokka ate ng’okuzikuba abayimbi bano tebasooka kubasasula.

Abakulembeze kwe kusalawo babage ekiwandiiko abayimbi bonna bateekeko emikono nga balaga nga bwe batasasula kukuba nnyimba zaabwe ku mikutu egyo kisobozese abakulembeze okukakasa aba UPRS nti tebalina kye bafuna ku bayimbi n’emirimu gye bakola gya bwannakyewa olwo babasonyiwe ssente ezo.

Ensonda zaategeezezza nti, ssente zino aba UPRS bazigabanyaako abayimbi era abayimbi zibayamba okugenda mu situdiyo okukwata ennyimba ekitegeeza nti tebayinza kukkiriza kuteeka mikono ku kiwandiiko ng’ekyo.
Kyokka omu ku basumba abalina emikutu gy’amawulire eyasabye amannya ge gasirikirwe yategeezezza nti abayimbi abo si benkanya kubanga babakubira ennyimba zaabwe ku leediyo ne ttivvi nga tebasasudde kyokka ate ne baagala bo abasumba babasasule (kubanga abasumba bwe basasula UPRS baba ng’abasasudde abayimbi).

Ensonga endala ensonda gye zaawadde kwe kubeera nti abayimbi babafuuwa ssente bwe bayimba mu makanisa kyokka abakulira amakanisa gano ne bazitwala nga bagamba nti si zaabwe.

Wabula Pasita Bugembe, bwe yatuukiriddwa yagambye nti kituufu y’omu ku bayimbi abalokole abaasooka okugenda mu bivvulu eby’ekika ekyo era ekigendererwa kyali kya kusaasaanya njiri okugituusa mu bantu ab’ekika ekyo.

Yayongeddeko nti Abasumba bwe baba bakirinako obuzibu bayinza okuba nga balina ensonga, kyokka eky’ennaku tannatuulako nabo kumutegeeza buzibu buno.
Abayimbi abali ku lukalala:

Kuliko Judith Babirye, Pasita Wilson Bugembe ow’ekkanisa ya Light the World e Nansana, Samalie Matovu eyali ayimbira mu kkanisa y’Omusumba Imelda Namutebi nga kati ali mu Kream Productions,  Hanson Baliruno, Wisdom Kaye, Simon Mirembe eyayimba ‘Nali mmanyi’, Julie Muteesasira, Silver Kyagulanyi, Jacky Ssenyonjo, Dangello Busuulwa, Exodus, Ken Miziki n’abalala.

Ebibonerezo bye babataddeko:

1. Okubagoba obutaddamu kuyimbira mu kkanisa zaabwe n’ebikujjuko bye  bategeka ng’omwaka guggwaako mu bisaawe eby’enjawulo n’enkung’aana z’enjiri endala.
2. Okulekera awo okukolagana n’abantu abakolagana n’abayimbi bano.
3. Okuboolebwa mu balokole kubanga baba beefudde ng’abantu abalala.

Abakoze ennyimba n’abayimbi ab’ensi

Bino we bijjidde ng’Omusumba Bugembe yakola oluyimba ne Bobi Wine lwe bayita ‘Ojjanga n’osaba’ era atera okuyimbira ku bbiici ya Bobi Wine e Busaabala. Kati ategeka kukola ne Bebe Cool wamu n’okubatabaganya mu kivvulu ekituumiddwa ‘The Battle of Champions’ ekigenda okubeera ku Rugby Grounds e Lugogo.

Samalie Matovu naye yakoze oluyimba ne Bobi Wine.
Maggie Kayima eyeeyita Nabbi omukazi yakola oluyimba ne Jose Chameleone kyokka ye tebaamutadde ku lukalala. Ono ye yatandika olutalo ne Bugembe ng’agamba nti ayimba n’abayimbi b’ensi wamu n’okuyimbira mu biduula ebirimu abatamiivu n’abanywi b’enjaga.

Abasumba baagala abayimbi abalokole beeyise nga Betty Nakibuuka gwe bagamba nti ayimbira mu makanisa mwokka.  

Abayimbi boogedde;

Wisdom Kaye, Ssentebe w’ekibiina kya  Uganda National Gospel Artistes Association ekigatta abalokole abayimba ennyimba z’eddiini agamba nti Yesu teyabayita kuyimbira balokole bokka. Ne  Baibuli etulaga Yesu mu kkanisa emirundi ebiri: Ogwasooka yagenda kweyanjula nti mwoyo wa Mukama ali ku ye wabula tebaamutegeera.

Ogwokubiri yagenda kugoba baali basuubuliramu biyiibwa n’abakuba kibooko. Ebbanga lyonna yalimala abuulira b’asanga mu byambyone. Kikola amakulu okugenda mu Silk ne tuyimbirayo kuba abagendayo be basinga okwetaaga ekigambo lwakuba abasumba tebakitegeera.


Judith Babirye
Bw’otunuulira minisitule ya Yesu, yali asinga kunoonya boonoonyi ababuulire kubanga kye kyamuleeta. Banabbi abaayogeranga ku kujja kwa Yesu ku nsi mu Isaiah, baagambanga nti agenda kujja kujjanjaba abalina emitima egimenyese, abazibe balabe n’ebirala era kye yakola.

Nze mmaze akaseera nga nneetegereza ekitone kyange ne nsalawo nti Yesu teyantuma mu kkanisa mwokka wabula n’ebweru mu bantu abalina emitima egimenyese nga Yesu gye yabasanganga. Wabula ne mu makanisa abafalisaayo baabeerangayo naye ate yabalekangayo n’anona ab’ebweru. Abantu baagala ennyimba zaffe nga tebakakiddwa era buno nabwo bulokozi eri Katonda. Y’akikola si ffe tubakaka.

Abayimbi abalala bawanda muliro

Hanson Baliruno
Nze sirina mutawaana ku bya kugenda mu bivvulu bino ne bwe kuba kuyimba na bayimbi nga Chameleone. Ndowooza ffe tulina okunoonya abeetaaga mwoyo so si bo kutunoonya. Era bwe tugenda eyo tuba tutwala butukuvu gye bali balokoke kubanga mu kkanisa batyamu.


Samalie Matovu
Buli omu yajja mu nsi ng’alina omulimu Katonda gwe yamutuma. Ate buli omu alina ekitone Katonda kye yamuwa akozese. Kati tolina ngeri yonna gy’oyinza kuziyiza muntu kukozesa kitone Katonda kye yamuwa okuyamba abalala era ng’enda kwongera okuyimbira abantu.


Dangello Busuulwa
Ono ye yayimba ‘Omwaka guno ne ‘Sijja kubizzaayo’. Ekintu kino kyanyumidde nnyo ne kinsesa n’abaakireese gye baakiggye. Nneewuunya, abantu abali mu mabaala be tulina okuyimbira balwadde bamyoyo abavudde ku mulamwa. N’abasumba bennyinni bagenda mu butale, mu bbaala ng’awabeera ‘Embaga y’Embaata’ wooteeri n’ebifo ebirala ebisanyukirwamu ne babuulira enjiri naddala mu biseera by’amalya g’ebyemisana. Olwo bbo baba banoonyayo ki?

Exodus
Amannya amatuufu ye George Lubega eyayimba I gwe. Katonda yasindika Yesu ku nsi eri aboonoonyi abatuukirivu n’abaleka mu ggulu.

Naffe kye tuva tugenda mu mabaala nga tuzudde nti amakanisa galimu abamanyi Yesu.
Nze nali muyaaye naye era enjiri eyagimbuulira gye yansanga ne njaagala nange gye mbasanga ne mbawa ekigambo.

Abayimbi ng’enda kubayita twogere - Kiganda

Abasumba boogedde

David Kiganda akulira ekkanisa ya Christianity Focus Centre mu Kisenyi yategeezezza nti, kituufu abayimbi bano balina okukkaanya ku nsonga ez’enjawulo ku ngeri gye balina okukolamu emirimu gyabwe.

Agamba nti waliwo ensonga ze baludde nga baagala boogereko kyokka babadde tebannafuna budde wabula kati bakkaanyizza okusisinkana. Yategeezezza nti yabayise bonna basisinkane e Nakasero mu lukiiko bateese ku nsonga ez’enjawulo kyokka n’agaana okwogera ensonga zino okutuusa nga zoogeddwaako mu wiiki eno nga tennaggwaako.

Omusumba Imelda Namutebi Kkula
Yagambye nti eby’okugoba abayimbi bano tabiriimu wabula n’awa amagezi nti bandibalese ne bayimbira yonna gye baagala. Ekya Samalie Matovu okuva mu kkanisa ye mwe yali ayimbira n’agenda mu  Kream Productions teyakyogeddeko ng’agamba nti buli omu y’amanyi bw’akola emirimu gye.

Omutume Alex Mitala
Akulira ekibiina kya National Fellowship of Born Again Christians bino teyabigaanyi  ate teyakkirizza wabula yasabye asooke ategeezebwe abayimbi abaabadde beemulugunya nti bagenda kuboolebwa alyoke abyogereko.


Omusumba Joseph Sserwadda Ono ye nnannyini kkanisa ya Victory mu Ndeeba. Yagambye nti eky’okulabula abalokole abagenda mu biduula by’ensi takiwulirangako n’agamba nti tayinza kukotoggera bantu ba bitone byabwe. Wabula kye yandisabye abayimbi abo kwe kwawula ennyimba ezikwata ku by’ensi n’ezikwata ku Mukama. Oluvannyuma eza Mukama basobola n’okuzitwala ku leediyo zaabwe kyokka ezitakwata ku by’ensi tebasobola kuzikuba.

Abayimba ennyimba z’eddiini bagaanyi okwewandiisa

http://bukedde.co.ug/news/63153-Abayimba-ennyimba-z-eddiini-bagaanyi-okwewandiisa.html

Apr 17, 2012

Kampala

Bya Josephat Sseguya

ABAYIMBI b’ennyimba z’eddiini Abalokole batuuzizza olukiiko olw’amangu omwetabye n’omuwandiisi w’ekibiina ky’abalwanirira eddembe ly’ebiyiiye, ekya UPRS ne basalawo nga bwe batagenda kwewandiisa ng’Abasumba baabwe bwe baasazeewo nti balina okuteeka emikono ku kiwandiiko mu wiiki bbiri ekiraga nti leediyo zaabwe ne ttivvi tebazisasula okukuba ennyimba zaabwe.

Ekiwandiiko kino kye kiwolereza abalina leediyo zino ne ttivvi baleme kusasula Gavumenti misolo gya kukuba nnyimba zaabwe.

Abayimbi abaakulembeddwa ssentebe w’ekibiina ekigatta abayimbi b’enyimba z’eddiini Abalokole, Wisdom Kaye baasisinkanye omuwandiisi w’ekibiina kya UPRS, James Wasula ku wooteeri ya Serena eggulo ne basalawo nti
bakugira nga balinze okwewandiisa nga bwe baaweereddwa ebibiina eby’enjawulo amagezi.

Abayimbi abalala abaabadde mu lukiiko mulimu Judith Babirye, Hanson Baliruno n’abalala abaategeezezza nti balinze wiiki bbiri ezaabweeereddwa balyoke balabe ekiddako.

Kaye yategeezezza nti, ekimuluma n’abayimbi abalala kwe kubeera nti Abasumba kino baakifudde kya busumba nti abayimbi be bakiteekako bateeke emikono ku kiwandiiko kino, balina okufuna ebiragiro bino ne bakkiririzaawo kubanga abaabibawadde Basumba so ng’eno bizinensi.

“Bwe tukola konsati mu kkanisa tusasula ssente eziri mu 500,000/- ne bw’oba muyimbi mu kkanisa ng’ogenda kuwasa oba kufumbirwa era osasula ez’ekkanisa. Lwaki batussaako etteeka lino. Leediyo zeetaaga ennyimba zaffe kubanga wadde zituyamba okuzimanyisa abantu naye ne leediyo zeetaaga ennyimba zino abantu banyumirwe bongere n’okuziwuliriza.”

Wasula yategeezezza nti leediyo zonna ne ttivvi zeetaaga okukuba ennyimba z’abayimbi ziryoke zifune abaziwuliriza zifune ebirango kazibe nga zibuulira njiri, zeetaaga abaziwuliriza n’olwekyo eky’okugamba abayimbi bewandiise balemese leediyo zino okusasula ssente kiba kikyamu.

Wiiki ewedde, Omusumba David Kiganda yasisinkanye abayimbi b’ennyimba z’eddiini n’abalagira beewandiise mu wiiki bbiri.

 

Court Maneuvering Exposes Uganda’s Hidden Agenda: Evading ICC Jurisdiction

http://www.blackstarnews.com/news/135/ARTICLE/8207/2012-05-11.html

[Not Above The Law]

The international Criminal Court (ICC) is in the news again in East Africa. This time, the East African Legislative Assembly, which is the East African Parliament, seeks to block the trial of four Kenyans at The Hague. The process adopted is flawed but the East African Parliament is still determined to proceed with the futile task.

Separately, the ICC is also in the news at the continental level. The African Union (AU) has directed its legal committee drawn from Malawi, Gabon, Uganda, Liberia and Libya to review the Africa-ICC relationship with a view to expanding the jurisdiction of the African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Court) so that the court can have jurisdiction over international crimes.

In both instances, Uganda is playing a pivotal role in the effort to deny jurisdiction to the ICC to prosecute serious crimes committed against the African people by their rulers. In this process, Uganda has adopted a two-pronged approach: expanding the jurisdiction of the East African Court of Justice and that of the African Court with the sole purpose of opting out of the ICC jurisdiction.

Under the first prong, Mr. Dan Wandera Ogalo, a Ugandan member of the East African Parliament recently moved a motion seeking an adoption of a resolution demanding a referral of the Kenyan cases, also known as Ocampo 4, from the ICC at The Hague, to the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) at Arusha. The cases are all for alleged crimes against humanity committed in 2007-2008 after the Kenyan elections.

The case against Ocampo 4 is premised on individual criminal accountability and has nothing to do with the responsibility of Kenya as a state or that of its government, the East African Community, Ogalo or Uganda. Indeed, Ogalo, the Republic of Kenya and its government or the East African Community are not party to the proceedings at the ICC and they have no right to appear before the court except as victims or friends of the court (amicus curiae) and only after an application to appear as such is granted by the Trial Chamber.

However, the East African Parliament proceeded to adopt the Ogalo motion and resolved to have the Kenya cases at the ICC transferred to EACJ after appropriate amendment of the EACJ statute. 

This futile attempt must be put in context. Mr. Wandera Ogalo, a 1980 law graduate from Makerere University is a practicing advocate before the courts of Uganda. As an experienced lawyer and a member of the East African Parliament, he is expected to be conversant with the laws of the East African Community, the court’s statute and its rules of procedure and evidence. He must also know, or at least is expected to know, that the EACJ has jurisdiction only over interpretation and application of the East African treaty as provided under its Article 27.

The court has no jurisdiction to try international crimes. Further, the EACJ has no investigative and prosecutorial capacity; it has no standing before the ICC and it has neither the capacity nor the expertise to entertain international criminal matters.  So, why did Mr. Ogalo introduce a motion seeking the transfer of the Ocampo 4 from the ICC to the EACJ – a court that has no jurisdiction?  Additionally, even if the EACJ statute is amended as outlined in the motion, it may take several years before the court becomes operational and long after the trial of Ocampo 4 have begun or concluded. So, why did the East African Parliament support such a reckless move? 

The answer lies in the motives of Uganda in seeking amendment to the EACJ statute. The objective of the amendment of the court’s jurisdiction is not to "help" the Ocampo 4 but to protect the National Resistance Movement (NRM) leadership. Mr. Ogalo, while nominally a member of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), has often, in the name of bipartisan politics, worked very closely with the NRM leadership of Uganda. Moreover, he is a member of the East African legislative body on behalf of Uganda not the opposition.

In case the East African Community route fails, Uganda intends to achieve a similar objective through the African Union. In a bid to block the ICC from handling cases from the continent, a team of legal experts are tasked to recommend a common position to be taken by the AU towards the Hague-based court notwithstanding that not all members of the AU are party to the Rome Treaty. Under the guise of universal jurisdiction, the AU, spearheaded by Uganda in the legal committee of experts, is determined to evade the long arm of the ICC jurisdiction by seeking to establish an African Court that can be manipulated by national governments through the appointment of judges, control over prosecutorial activities and providing a limited budget.

A weak and compliant court is in the best interests of leaders who fear they may be prosecuted at the ICC. The Ugandan leadership has good reasons to fear such prospects.  As the evidence unfolds at the trials at the ICC, witnesses will disclose the participation of individuals, including those who supported the various militias during the armed conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). 

The recent judgment in the Thomas Lubanga case has forced the leadership of a number of armies that fought in the DRC to re-examine their roles, re-assess or re-evaluate their culpability and determine whether the crimes they committed fall within the temporal jurisdiction of the ICC and if so, what possible defense can they put forward. Again, with the ongoing ICC trial of Jean Pierre Bemba, there must be some soul searching going on in Uganda and elsewhere in Africa. Additionally, the Case Concerning Armed Activities in the Territory of the Congo/DR Congo v Republic of Uganda (Judgment of 19 December 2005) is particularly disturbing for Uganda. Top NRM international criminal lawyers, including those representing Uganda on the AU’s Legal Committee of Experts, must be studying this judgment very closely as well as following the Bemba trial at The Hague.

To compound Uganda’s anxiety, there are credible evidence suggesting that Bemba’s army (MLC), which allegedly committed crimes in the DRC and later, went on to commit serious crimes in Central African Republic (CAR) received critical support from the Uganda leadership and the UPDF. Professor Filip Reyntjens in his book The Great African Wars: Congo and Geopolitics, 1996-2006, (Cambridge University Press, 2009) discusses the role played by Uganda's army, Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF) senior officers including support Uganda extended to Bemba in Ituri in the DRC. The officers included  individuals such as Gen. Salim Saleh, who had a close business and military relationship with Bemba; and Brig (now Lt. General and Inspector General of Police) Kale Kayihura who was the UPDF Commanding Officer in Ituri region of DRC, the epicenter of international crimes committed by MLC and UPDF at the relevant time. 

When Brig. Kale Kayihura and his troops were surrounded and then captured in Ituri, it was Uganda's Gen. James Kazini, now deceased, with the support of the Bahema militia, who rescued him. During and after the Kayihura rescue, the Bahema militia massacred the Balendu as the UPDF looked the other way.

Further, as documented by Reyntjens, the Uganda’s occupation of the Ituri region led to armed conflicts between Bahema (of Ugandan origin and a close ethnic group to Museveni’s Bahima) and the Balendu who have been living in the region longer than the Bahema.  The UPDF’s support of the Bahema against the Balendu was critical in the massacre of thousands of Balendu ethnic group.

It is against this background that the Ogalo motion and Uganda’s objective to extend the jurisdiction of the EACJ must be viewed. Similarly, it is in the same context that Uganda’s role in the AU’s Committee of Legal Expert tasked with creating legal conditions to block the ICC from prosecuting the NRM leadership must be appreciated.  

As a Ugandan, I urge the NRM leadership not to fight the ICC in my name and in the name of other Ugandans who do support the court.


Dr Obote Odora is consultant in international criminal and humanitarian law

ALSO SEE,

UPDF in Kony hunt accused of rape, looting in Congo

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/03/updf-in-kony-hunt-accused-of-rape.html  

The Curse of Gold 

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/drc0505/7.htm#_Toc102992134  

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/drc0505/index.htm   

Does God Need Your Car? Ms Frances Adroa’s story as an exposition of the extortion antics of Uganda’s Prosperity Gospel Movement

Does God Need Your Car?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glenna-gordon/does-god-need-your-car_b_49417.html

Posted: 05/26/07 01:20 PM ET

"If you have it in your heart to help, then please give. Who can give 50,000 shillings?" called out Bishop Gilson Costa of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.

"Jangu!" called out the man translating the Bishop's sermon.

"Who can give 40,000?"

"Jangu!"

Who can give 30,000?"

"Jangu!"

The calls continued to ring out through $1.3 million church until each and every congregant had donated some shillings. Bishop Costa stood behind a cut out sign "Jesus Christ is the Lord," illuminated by blue neon, complimented by a large neon cross in a matching blue hue. The semicircle of hard wooden chairs surrounding the podium were filled with mainly women and some few men, dressed well, dressed poorly, but all willing to give. Their prayers rang out above the electric keyboard creating the sounds of a synthesized organ, as some spoke in tongues, some wave their arms, and all were moved.

"Pastor Gerald always said, 'Are you ready to give everything to God? Everything?' But Jesus shed his blood for us - there's no bigger sacrifice," says Frances Adroa, a former member of UCKG now in the middle of a media frenzy over an unusual case against the church.

Adroa is HIV positive. Last year, the leadership at UCKG promised her that if she made a "sacrifice" during their Mount Sinai campaign, her prayers would be delivered to the holy site and she would be cured of the disease wracking her body.

At the time, Adroa had no assets to give but her car.

"I put my car keys in the sacrifice envelope and the pastors took me home," Adroa explained during a recent interview.

"They said all of our problems would be over," says Adroa.

When her HIV status had not changed, Adroa decided she wanted her car back. She is now pursuing a lawsuit with the help of John Kaggwa and Associates.

"God owns everything in this world, so why does he need my car?" asks Adroa.
---
The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God came to Uganda just two years ago, but has been operating worldwide since 1977. Not, however, without problems. Founder Bishop Edir Macedo, whose personal fortune is estimated to exceed $100 million, was arrested in 1992 for charges of fraud. He even brought almost $10,000 illegally across the border hidden, of all places, in the Bible. The church, which has over 8 million members worldwide, is said to bring in excesses of $1 billion annually through the aggregation of small contributions from mainly people too poor to be separated from their money.

In Uganda, the first pastor of UCKG was arrested on charges of sodomizing a young boy, and the second pastor for running a brothel out of a rented space on Entebbe road.
"Those pastors were here and they made mistakes, but they're no longer pastors," says Costa in defense of his church. A Brazilian man in Uganda, his salt and pepper hair and neat tie set him apart from his congregants but not from his Brazilian counterparts.
Investigations are being conducted world-wide against UCKG's activities, in Brazil, Japan, Mexico, and the States, where branches are all operating with dubious conduct.

Costa says the $1.3 million to build the Kampala branch of UCKG came from the church in Braziel. "Our intention is not to show people that we are rich but that God is great. People here are so poor we can't just talk about God being great, they have to see it," says Costa, who defends the Church building amidst its congregants' struggles and poverty.

"People hide behind the bible when they are conning others," says Moses Solomon Malay, an evangelist and director of Arising for Christ, one of the organizations attempting to help Adroa in her battle.

Costa, however, when asked about Malay, responded with unfounded allegations: "He's been financed by Muslims to damage the name of Christian pastors. His problem is not against UCKG but against Christians."

Malay insists he is only out to help Adroa recover her rightful property.
---
"A desperate person will not use rational judgment," says Malay. "Critical ability is minimal when hope is promised. The sick are giving everything they have for miracle healing."

"One day I was driving when I heard these people calling to me over the radio, to bring my problems, and they would solve them. It was late in the day and I was heading home so I told myself I'd go there the next day," says Adroa on how she joined the church.

She'd already been feeling ill and losing weight, and soon after, Adroa went for an HIV test. After the devastating news that she was positive, Adroa decided to go to church, the one place she's always found comfort.

"I came to church that very day and during prayers I broke down and cried so much. We were all praying and all standing and I was crying," she says, tears coming the surface of her almond shaped eyes but refusing to drip down her cheeks.

She's already cried about this too many times.

The campaign for Mount Sinai began a few weeks later. The pastors promised that if "sacrifices" were made, then prayers would be taken to Mount Sinai and promptly answered.

While she was at first reluctant to donate, Adroa says the pastors told her, ­"'The devil is going to try his level best to keep you from sacrificing.'" Adroa didn't tell her family of her plans to donate the car, or anyone for that matter, because the pastors at UCKG had so thoroughly convinced her they would act as the devil trying to stop her.

Additionally, within the congregation, there was great secrecy about who was donating what and why. One of the signs of a cult, a word often used in conjunction with UCKG, is the willingness to isolate its members from their families and each other - both things that fit UCKG perfectly.

Eventually, frustrated and still ill, Adroa decided to leave the church.
---
Bishop Costa maintains that he and UCKG have never forced anyone to do anything and they are not in the wrong in Adroa's case.

"She was deceived by God and not by me, since the scripture says, 'I am the Lord who heals,'" says Costa.

Malay and Adroa's lawyer John Kaggwa insist that UCKG opportunistically took advantage of Adroa's illness to finagle a way into her assets.
It isn't surprising that Adroa was taken in by UCKG's promises. Their brochure promises that if you come to the "Prayer for the Sick" every Tuesday, "even if the doctor cannot help you, the Lord can."

Adroa insists that the pastors didn't care about her health - just her car. When she fell truly ill, they didn't even visit her. "If the pastors don't care for me, who was sick, dying, will they care about other people's problems?" she says.

Though Adroa has gotten her car back, it has incurred over Ush 2 million ($1,000) in damages under unclear circumstances while the church possessed it. She's now fighting to get them to pay the bills.

Adroa is now on ARVs and her health is improving.
Says Bishop Costa, "I'm worried about her salvation. She needs to stop lying."

Woman Accuses Church of Extortion

The Monitor, Uganda/April 26, 2007

By Rodney Muhumuza

http://www.rickross.com/reference/universal/universal55.html

 

Kampala -- A woman who offered her car to a local church as a sacrifice for "good health" has threatened to take her pastors to court for alleged extortion.

Ms Frances Adroa, a self-confessed Aids patient, says senior pastors at the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG), a Kampala church which she joined in June 2005, obtained possession of her car by pretending that they would reverse her health status if she invested in sacrifice.

In an affidavit she swore before the Chief Magistrate's Court of Buganda Road, Ms Adroa said the pastors took advantage of "my distress".

She claimed the car, Reg No. UCQ 676, was handed over to the church's leadership on July 11, 2005, less than a month after a pastor, Patrick Maselela, had persuaded her to give it up.

"I Frances Adroa ...do solemnly declare that with the full knowledge of my distress and broken heartedness, the pastors launched the campaign of Mount Sinai to which all members were required to give sacrifices and write prayer requests to God, which they claimed would be taken to Mount Sinai," the April 10 affidavit says.

"That to further coerce me to give, they showed us a documentary of their worldwide leadership on Mount Sinai [in Israel] performing rituals similar to what they had promised us."
Yesterday, at a Wandegeya garage where the church's leadership was to officially hand over the car to the claimant, Ms Adroa pointed to a battered car parked in line with others of its kind-crashed saloon vehicles that looked like relics from the past.

Although the handover did not happen, as the UCKG pastors never showed up, she spoke bitterly of how she had been taken for a fool.

It was still unclear how the car had been crashed in the front, but Ms Adroa and Mr Solomon Male, a Kampala pastor who acts as her adviser, said they did not rule out malice.

Documents seen by this reporter show that when Ms Adroa tried to get back her car mid last year, after her illness intensified, she was told by her pastors that she had no valid claim on it.

However, she was later given one condition. "The UCKG has nothing against giving you back your car, which you voluntarily gave as an offering to the church, since you are now claiming it back," UCKG's letter to Ms Adroa said. "However, note that the church has incurred a lot of expenses in trying to bring the car into good condition as it now is."

The letter, signed by Pastor Gerald Nyaki, said she would need to pay Shs2 million, a sum that had allegedly been invested in reconditioning the vehicle.

In a separate affidavit the church signed before the commissioner of oaths, Mr Nyaki said Ms Adroa had willingly signed documents transferring ownership of the vehicle, a claim not denied by Ms Adroa.
Mr Male, a tenacious cleric known for his controversial exposés on vices in the Church, said Ms Adroa had been "persuasively coerced" at "her hour of need". Ms Adroa said she has not lost faith in the church "because there are a few bad guys messing up God's name".
Efforts to reach UCKG pastors were futile.

      Church sues HIV-positive ex-member

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/645168

Publish Date: Aug 18, 2008

By Moses Mugalu

A CHURCH in Kampala has sued a woman living with HIV/AIDS and a pastor for defamation.


Last year, Frances Adroa and Pastor Solomon Male accused the Universal Church of The Kingdom of God of taking Adroa’s car with promises of healing her but her condition did not change.


Adroa was member of the church on George Steeet, while Male heads Arising for Christ Ministries.


Male, an outspoken pastor, has been critical of many of the mushrooming born-again churches.


He has blamed a number of pastors for engaging in ungodly practices and defrauding the faithful they lead.


Magistrate Jolly Nkore of Mengo Court yesterday set September 9-10 for the hearing.


The church’s leaders, Gilson Costa and Gerald Nkayi, were not in court but their lawyer Deepa Verma Jivram said Adroa and Male caused publication of defamatory statements which injured the status and character of her clients.


Jivram submitted some of the newspaper articles published last year in which Adroa claimed that her car, a Hyundai, was taken during faith healing sessions by the pastors, who said she would recover.


But Adroa’s status never changed and she demanded a return of her car, which she said had been damaged beyond repair.


Jivram said they would also produce television footages and radio recordings.


She also submitted a log-book and transfer form signed by Adroa


Adroa and Male are represented by David Kaggwa.


Male, who attended the court, later told The New Vision that he was approached by Adroa to investigate her case and presented the outcome to the media. He vowed to submit more evidence.


The case comes after several claims by followers, mainly in born-again churches, that their pastors had ripped them of cash with promises of being healed of AIDS or getting fortunes that never materialise.

Church loses libel case

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/723550

Publish Date: Jun 22, 2010

By Andante Okanya and Abou Kisige

THE Universal Church of the Kingdom of God last week lost a defamation and libel case against ex-member Frances Adroa and Pastor Solomon Male, who heads Arise for Christ Church.

The case arose after a story in the Daily Monitor of April 26, 2007.

Adroa, a self-confessed AIDS patient, claimed that senior pastors at the Kampala church, which she joined in June 2005, tricked her into giving them a car, with promises of healing her.

The implicated pastors were Gilson Costa, Gerald Nkayi, and Patrick Maserere.

Male was also sued following remarks he allegedly made about the entrenched fraud and false teachings within some churches after Adroa sought his guidance.

However, the Mengo Court grade one magistrate, Jolly Nkore, said: I accordingly found that the statement did not affect the plaintiff. The plaintiff was not affected by the article.

Nkore asked the parties to bear their own costs in the suit.

She dismissed the counter-claim by Adroa for the church to pay sh3.9m to enable her repair the damaged car, saying it was given out voluntarily.

Nkore said accepting the counter-claim would create a tricky precedent where people would start claiming for their donations from churches in the event that their prayers yield nothing.

Believer loses case of 'sowing' car to God

http://www.sunrise.ug/subscription/809-believer-loses-case-of-sowing-car-to-god.html

Written by Administrator Thursday, 24 June 2010 13:20

he Chief Magistrates Court in Mengo has dismissed a case in which a woman was claiming compensation for a car she earlier willingly gave to a pastor as a seed.

Frances Adroa, the woman, had been sued along with Pastor Solomon Male, a religious activist, for defaming the leaders of The Universal Church for the Kingdom of God (UCKG) whom they accused of duping Frances to give her car to the church with a promise that they would then pray for her and have her healed of HIV/Aids.

Court heard that in 2005, after losing her husband to HIV/Aids, Frances Adroa went to the church (UCKG) to be healed through prayers. The pastors apparently told her to 'seed' or give her car to the church if she wanted to be healed in a programme which they referred to as 'the Sinai event'.

The pastors had reportedly told Adroa she had sacrificed the car to God. The pastors took the car, a Hyundai Accent Reg. No 676 UCQ but the woman didn't get healed as promised.

Frustrated, Adroa tried in vain to get her car back until she contacted the outspoken Pastor Solomon Male to help her.

The pastor's intervention eventually compelled the UCKG pastors to surrender the car to Adroa but it was in a bad mechanical condition making Male to describe it as "a dilapidated piece of iron mongery" hence the counter claim for compensation of Ushs 3million.

But magistrate Nkore dismissed Adroa's claim for compensation reasoning that she had given away the car at her own will. The judge said: "It's not practical for Ugandans to start claiming back gifts they have given to the church if their expectations are not met."

Meanwhile, the judge also ruled that UCKG pastors could not bring defamation charges against Adroa and Male since the story they quoted had been published in the Monitor Newspaper.

UCKG lawyer Deepa Verma had argued that Male had caused the publication of the story through his constant media involvement. But Justice Nkore argued that there was no evidence that the story published by the Monitor journalist Rodney Muhumuza in June 2005 was in any way influenced by Pastor Male and therefore the defamatory case against him could not stand.

Both parties were told to meet the costs they incurred in the court process.
But the ruling appeared to shock Adroa who had earlier had assurance she would receive  compensation for her car. Represented by David Kaggwa of Kaggwa & co Advocates, Adroa was inconsolably in tears saying she had gone through a lot of financial difficulties and had been bed ridden for sometime.

On the contrary Pastor Male was in a jolly mood citing the fact that he had survived the defamation case against him.

Pastor male further claimed that the Mount Sinai programme used by UCKG was not anywhere in the bible. Male is one of the prominent campaigners against issues of immorality and values which some Christians allegedly follow or practice but are not so stipulated in the Bible.

By Brian Muhumuza

Alse see, Who is Pastor Solomon Male?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Male

 

Scandals of the Universal church for the Kingdom of God

http://www.rickross.com/groups/universal.html  

Woman accuses Universal Kingdom of God Church of extortion

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2007/04/woman-accuses-church-of-extortion.html