Government cannot legislate against emerging Pentecostal churches

There are three groups that have been involved in a simmering battle to control the growing evangelical church movement in Uganda. As long as they fought independently, their efforts amounted to little. But the three groups have now found a way to work together and the result of that cooperation is the proposed policy to regulate Religious Faith-Based Organisations. It is being drafted by the Directorate of Ethics under the Office of The President. If passed, the policy will effectively put a leash around the necks of Born-Again churches and, by extension, on their faithful.
At the apex of this scheme is an invisible hand; a top politician who sees the Born-Again churches as a political base. Consequently, his (or her) intention is to cluster them together so that they can be swung one way or the other to suit his (or her) political whims. Many top pastors are in his (or her) good books and openly court his (or her) favour. At the intermediary level is a church in Nakasero, which is dreadfully scared of losing its congregants to other worship houses. This church has friends in high places who are helping it fight its battles.
At the bottom of the rung is a pastor who has struggled for years to be seen as the Eminence of the Born-Again faith. He prefers to call himself Presiding Apostle, whatever that means. His ruthless thirst for power would make some career politicians cringe. His church suffered when his deputy left with a big chunk of the congregation and started a separate ministry, which is thriving in Bwaise.
What forced the three groups to form a united front is the emergence of midweek fellowships, which they consider to be existential threats. These Fellowships, the biggest of which is Zoe, led by Prophet Elvis Mbonye, attract thousands of faithful on weekdays and are threatening the traditional Sunday church culture.
If the controversial policy is passed, the Fellowships will ultimately be dismantled through denial of license to congregate (that is the intention) and the three protagonists will have vanquished their common enemy with one legislative blow.
The politician will have his (or her) constituency, the church in Nakasero will hope that its congregants return to their Sunday routine, and the Presiding Apostle will finally be accorded full recognition as head of a religion and given all the emoluments that come along with that; probably a Land Cruiser and the chance to say official prayers at national functions.
But for the policy to be passed, the public must be stupefied. That is why the media is suddenly awash with stories of pastors fleecing their followers, burning Bibles, even the ghosts of Kanungu have been unmummified 17 years after they were buried.
The truth is the proposed policy is a political ploy crudely disguised as a response to public outcry. That is why it is swathed in contradictions and its architects wanted to pass it stealthily. That is why it purports to cover all religions yet in reality, it is aimed at only Evangelicals. That is why the Directorate claims to be doing consultations across the country but is underhandedly threatening people who signed a petition to stop it.
That is why, when my petition landed on his desk, Canon Aaron Mwesigye, Head of Religious Affairs at the Directorate, called me to say: “You are wasting your paper and ink…this policy came as a directive from the President.”
If it indeed came as a directive from the President (which I highly doubt), then shouldn’t we conclude that the ‘consultations’ are just a mockery? Granted, there are so many bad apples in the pastoral basket, but the truth is that government does not need extra legislation to apprehend criminal actors within the church. Some have already been charged in courts, many others can still be, using the existing laws.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states in Article 18 that: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”
There is no conceivable way in which government or any of its arms can legislate against emerging weekday fellowships without taking us back to the days of Idi Amin when certain faiths were banned. But here we find ourselves in a position where a Catholic priest and an Anglican Prelate think they can (mis)use their positions at the Ministry of Ethics and Integrity to force believers back into their denominational churches. That is not going to happen.

Mr Kabuleta is the founder of Watchman Ministries based in Kampala