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Watoto Church: Toasting to an island of excellence in a sea of mediocrity
Author, Gawaya Tegulle. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- By the time Rose was pronounced dead on March 7, Watoto was ready for us.
The more pleasant part of a most painful tale. When trouble turns up, it often does so in twos. On January 26, I got the kind of call anybody would dread: Mama had gone to be with the Lord. I needed a dozen handkerchiefs – kept stopping to restock – as I crossed the country from Fort Portal in the west to Kamonkoli in the east, to bid her goodbye.
We were still dealing with that pain when, a month later, another phone call informed me that the doctors in Pretoria who had worked ever so hard to save the life of my sister Dr Rose Gawaya, had given up: they needed authorisation to put her off life support. I was badly shaken, but purposed to give her a very beautiful farewell she’d be proud of. The best possible place I could think of was Watoto Church, North, at Ntinda, Kampala.
Problem was, I am not a member of the most elite church in the country. I also knew well that Watoto Church has elaborate systems and structures and a policy for every little thing. They don’t do things anyhow. Nevertheless, I called Pastor Joshua Mugabi who’d been pastor there for many years and floated what I knew was a very difficult request. Told him I’d be happy to pay any money they asked and that I’d perfectly understand if their policies couldn’t allow them to assist me.
A few days later I got called up by two Watoto pastors – Remmy Muwonge and Bonnie Kwiringira – who told me the church would be pleased to do everything for us, free. By the time Rose was pronounced dead on March 7, Watoto was ready for us and gave Rose a really beautiful and classy send-off seven days later. I had expected to walk my sister down the aisle to give her away in marriage some time; so it was a tad sour that I led her down the aisle – to give her away to the Lord.
When benchmarking corporate governance and succession planning, at corporate and country level, one doesn’t need to fly to Europe or America; just study how Watoto Church has woven its web. It is an island of excellence in a sea of mediocrity; in a country that has short-term planning, a disturbing deficit of self-less servant-leaders and an unfortunate and overwhelming surplus of selfish leaders whose first instinct is to serve their personal interests at the expense of the greater good.
If you ask your ‘regular Joe’ on the street about the “big” pastors in Kampala; it is highly unlikely the name of Gary Skinner will feature. Outside the elite and middle class circles, few people know him.
But the game changes if you ask about the “big” Pentecostal churches – size, popularity or community impact. Chances are pound to penny that Watoto Church (I still call it Kampala Pentecostal Church, KPC) will top that list. And again, if you are looking for a church about which you can say the nicest things, Watoto will top the list. If you ask which of the big churches, 50 years after the passing on of its founder, will still be standing strong, Watoto will top that list and sad truth is, the list will have very few churches on it. In fact, for most of them, even 50 weeks after, may be too long a time for them to stay up.
The game gets more complicated if you apply the question to political parties; and, let’s be magnanimous here, reduce the years from 50 to five. Most of those that look big just now will not live five years after their founders are gone. The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and Democratic Party (DP) have been tested and tried, and are fairly safe, for now. Jury is still out on Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) and National Unity Platform (NUP). But you can safely bet the house you live in just now that the National Resistance Movement (NRM) will be pronounced dead as soon as its founder, Yoweri Museveni is – even if you lower the objective standard from five years to five minutes.
Until then, let the record reflect that I have a debt to Watoto Church that I cannot pay. Asanteni sana: Pastor Joshua, Pastor Remmy, Pastor Bonnie and of course… Gary and Marilyn Skinner. Mungu awabariki sana!
Mr Tegulle is an advocate of the High Court of Uganda.
