Details emerge on priest linked to taxman’s death

Rt Rev Damiano Guzzetti, the bishop of Moroto Catholic Diocese, last evening confirmed to Monitor that he suspended the priest from pastoral duties on July 17.

“The letter is genuine,” he said in response to our inquiries about a letter suspending Rev Fr Alinga. 

“But the cause [of his suspension] isn’t public,” Bishop Guzzetti added in a telephone interview.

Titled, Notice of suspension from priestly ministry of Rev Fr Dominic Alinga of Moroto Catholic Diocese, the prelate communicated to all in the diocese that he had prohibited the priest from celebrating Holy Mass and other sacraments in the Catholic Church.

“It is with regret that I have to communicate to you the suspension of Rev Fr Dominic Alinga from the priestly ministry with effect from 17th July 2024. He is, therefore, not permitted to celebrate Holy Mass and other Sacraments anywhere in the Diocese of Moroto and in the Universal Catholic Church,” the Ordinary of the Diocese wrote. 

Bishop Guzzetti asked the faithful to “offer petitions and supplication for Fr Dominic so that he may deeply receive the grace of conversion and amendment of life.”

In Kampala, the new Police Spokesman Kituuma Rusoke said the priest was before the stabbing incident, being investigated over money matters of Diocese of Moroto. 

We could not independently verify the claim. 

However, three weeks after his suspension, Rev Fr Alinga has become a subject of investigations related to what police yesterday said was the “murder” of Ngorok, his close friend from childhood. 

While reacting to the incident, Bishop Guzzetti described it as a big disappointment and asked justice to prevail. 

“I wish it never happened,” he said.

According to the prelate, several people told him that the deceased was a good person who participated in many church events.

During the requiem service for Ngorok at Martyrs Catholic Chapel at Kyambogo University in Kampala, the main celebrant, Rev Fr Dr John Bosco Ssetumba, the deceased’s wife, work mates and political leaders from Karamoja region separately said his demise had thrown the lives of many dependents into an uncertain future.

The Minister of State for Labour, Ms Esther Anyakun, who said she had known the deceased for some time, told mourners that Ngorok’s death was “so painful to the Karimojong community since he was the only educated child of their parents and relatives”. 

“We value people [in Karamoja Sub-region] who take their children to school, and don’t take them to raid [cattle]. The mother and father [of Ngorok] really, really struggled. I know both and I have seen them struggle [to raise him],” Ms Anyakun said. 

Anyakun, who referred to the deceased fondly using his initials JB, for John Bosco, said Ngorok had initially enrolled at Katigondo Major Seminary in Ggaba, Kampala, but left prematurely after securing a State House scholarship that enabled him pursue a Bachelor’s degree at Kyambogo University. 

She said the family and relatives of the slain URA employee relied on him for all their support and his death has created a big gap. 

“When I think of where JB comes from, that is where the pain comes from. We know each other in Karamoja. We know who has gone to school because we are very few. When you remove a seed that has just started to germinate, you have created a big gap,” Ms Anyakun noted.

She said Ngorok suffered a terrible death in that he made desperate calls from the scene of attack in Entebbe to his mother hundreds of kilometres away in Karamoja, pleading that they rush him fastest to a hospital so save his life or else they would come to pick his dead body.

Mr Moses Aleper, the Member of Parliament for Chekwi County, painted a picture of what the death of Ngorok means to them, saying that the deceased was one of the very few educated people from a minority group in Karamoja region.

“Ngorok comes from a disadvantaged community. It is not easy to have an educated person. You can imagine when you lose such a person from a minority of the minority. JB has left an impact in the community,” he said.

Bread winner

Ngorok’s wife, Ms Susan Lemukol, said she treated Ngorok as his father and a bread winner of relatives and in-laws.

“JB was the only one we had hopes in. The mother, sister and father. I took him as my father. It was the devil’s plans [to take him]. I … became an orphan at eight months. My child is still young. She has also become an orphan,” the widow said amid uncontrollable sobbing.

Ms Lemukol said she doesn’t know how they will survive without their bread winner.

The Commissioner General of URA, Mr John Musinguzi, said the deceased joined the tax body in 2022 and proved himself to be one of the most hardworking employees. 

“These are very young hardworking [and] committed people. And as URA family, we had a lot of hopes in JB. We knew we were bringing up a young team full of wisdom to help realise our tax obligations,” Mr Musinguzi said.

He pledged to help the widow and her child during the difficult moment.

Mr Musinguzi said the criminal justice system should punish the person who took the life of Ngorok.

Who was John Bosco Ngorok?

Born on February 2, 1994, John Bosco Ngorok went to Nakapiripirit Primary School from 2004 to 2010. From there, he joined St Mary’s Minor Seminary Nadiket in Moroto District from 2011 to 2016.

He progressed to Katigondo Major Seminary in Ggaba, Kampala, for in 2016. He, however, left and joined Kyambogo University on State House scholarship the next year, graduating in 2020. Ngorok worked as Administrator for Kalya Peace Village and volunteered at Cardo between 2021 and 2020.

In 2022, he joined Uganda Revenue Authority as a domestic revenue officer, a dream job to him, from where he began investing in private businesses.

He will be buried tomorrow in his Nakapiripirit home district, according to the burial programme.