LUUKA, Uganda— March 18, 2020 began like any other day for Ugandans. The only special thing that Wednesday was that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was to address the nation on the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, Uganda had not yet recorded any infections. Not many people expected lifestyle-changing pronouncements from the presidential address. But they were wrong.

Museveni suspended schools and religious gatherings, initially for one month. But a spike in the number of positive cases for COVID-19 has since kept schools and churches under lockdown into July.

Many churches, especially in large cities, are circumventing the challenges of the lockdown by live streaming prayers through social media.

But some churches in rural areas with less Internet connectivity have been even more creative. Special loudspeakers or Community Audio Towers (CATs), locally known as ebizindalo, have been turned into transmission channels for the gospel.

Churches switch on the speakers every day, at 6:30am and at 7:00pm, to play soothing gospel music that puts listeners in the mood for worship before the preachers read the day’s prayers and Bible verses. The Bible readings are followed by sermons. Sessions usually last about 30 minutes. 

More than 65 miles east of Kampala, the Ugandan capital, is Luuka district. At Lambaala trading center in Luuka, residents can enjoy gospel music and the sermons on the CAT in their trading center, starting at 6:30am. Pastor Robert Musiri, 50, the minister at the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, says he is committed to feeding the flock with the word of God during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Musiri’s church installed the system before the outbreak of the pandemic, using funds contributed by the congregation.

“We bought it at 3M Shilling (about $900) unaware that it would be a necessity in the near future,” says the preacher. “I felt sorry for the flock that was used to gathering at their convenience. I initiated the idea of praying together using the CAT.”

Naume Nabirye, 48, the assistant minister, says that before coming up with the initiative, they had established that, due to the lockdown, many people would stop praying because they could not access worship spaces.

In the Mukono Diocese, in Central Uganda, where the use of CATs has also gained ground, Bishop James Sebaggala says the initiative has helped clergy to preach to people who didn’t use to go to church before the outbreak of the pandemic, including non-Christians.

“With horn speakers, we preach to nearly everyone,” the bishop says. “As soon as government banned gatherings, we opted for the horn speakers, using our previous savings.”

Religion Unplugged has learned that the diocese has so far bought 10 horn speakers, mounted on different churches in Seeta, Nasuuti, Nsube, Lugazi and Kisowera. A pair of horn speakers is fixed on the rooftops of the church facing in opposite directions to make for maximum sound impact. 

Bishop Sebaggala says the diocese bought each of the 10 sets at 1.5M Shilling (about $405). Each set comes with a console, amplifier, microphone and the pair of speakers.  “In the areas where we don’t have the horn speakers yet, we have asked the clergy to mobilize some funds to pay for airtime on the commercial horn speakers,” Bishop Sebaggala says.

Dr. Brian Semujju, a media and journalism lecturer at Uganda’s Makerere University, says that, in a country where there are very few community radio stations, using the CATS is the way to go. “CATs work well where there is disruption in the mainstream media sector,” Dr. Semujju says. 

Bishop Sebaggala says the local Church had plans to start a commercial radio station before the outbreak of the pandemic and even bought equipment, but the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), the government agency that regulates broadcast media, had not yet given them an operating license.

The CAT at the diocesan headquarters was mounted atop the newly constructed multi-story office block, enabling it to transmit messages in a range of about two miles.

A mile and a half away, Eagles Mountain Church International operates another CAT for the same purpose. As can be expected, sometimes the two centers broadcast their messages at the same time, interfering with each other’s communication cycle. 

Minister Paul Kawere of Eagles Mountain Church International says the interference in the broadcast of the messages is not a big issue, as long as most of the information is picked up by listeners.

“We resorted to horn speakers to preach a balanced gospel that encourages hard work and the flock is happy with it because we give hope during the hard times,” he said.

Besides using the CAT to preach to the faithful, Kawere’s church allows local council leaders to use the system to mobilize the community in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The cost of the CATs varies from church to church, as determined by their quality, model and the buyer’s budget. Kawere says his church bought the set of horn speakers for 300,000 Shilling (about $81).

CATs make a lot of noise, but Kawere’s neighbor, Grace Kamoga, is not about to get irritated, arguing that the community benefits from hearing the gospel during lockdown outweighs any discomfort of the noise.

“In the sermons, pastors encourage us to be strong during the lockdown,” Kamoga says.

Edith Nambi, 60, another of Kawere’s neighbors, told Religion Unplugged that the music the CAT plays wakes her up every morning to pray.

Dr. Semujju argues that CATs provide access to information for communities that economically and politically influenced state and commercial media neglect. CATs, for example, will broadcast information about a lost child or the winners of a local competition.

However, in 2017, the UCC banned CATs, arguing that they were breaking the law, since they were “causing noise pollution.” The ban sparked protests from CAT owners and media rights activists, and in the end the agency backed down. Section 26(1) of the UCC Act of 2013 does state that a person shall not install or operate a television station, radio station, or any related broadcasting apparatus without a license issued by the Commission.

Before the ban in 2017, many people were using CATs to make local announcements about lost or found property and to present market information, advertisements, talk shows, sermons, calls for community mobilization, local employment opportunities and health-related information.

Bishop Sebaggala said that, before purchasing the CAT, the local church had sought permission from the government to operate them during the lockdown and that permission was granted for preaching and disseminating information about COVID-19. However, UCC’s spokesperson Ibrahim Bbossa declined to comment.

John Semakula is a Kampala-based correspondent for Religion Unplugged. He also reports for New Vision, Uganda’s leading daily newspaper.