Blocking Ugandans From Prayer Gathering Sparks Religious Freedom Concerns
MUKONO, Uganda — A bitter disagreement erupted this month in Uganda’s Parliament between the office of the speaker and opposition legislators over the violation of freedom of worship by security forces in the country.
The disagreement followed a decision by police to deny the National Unity Platform — the main opposition political party led by Robert Kyagulanyi (who goes by the name “Bobi Wine”) — the right to hold special prayers for victims of brutality at the hands of security forces.
The dispute forced opposition legislators to walk out of Parliament on Oct. 10 in protest. Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa said he had no right to stop lawmakers from walking out.
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The legislators accused Tayebwa, who subscribes to the ruling National Resistance Movement, of denying them a chance to debate the actions of the security agencies. Those agencies had prevented NUP supporters from conducting special prayers at their party headquarters on Oct. 9, the day people across Uganda celebrate the country’s 61st anniversary marking independence from Britain.
Opposition legislators insisted that the police’s actions had infringed on their rights to freedom of worship guaranteed by the nation’s constitution.
The recent turn of events, where security agencies arrested a religious leader and stopped NUP’s prayer gathering, has caused concern in Uganda over the rights to freedom of worship in the country.
An unidentified National Unity Platform supporter arrested on Oct. 9 by a Ugandan military officer at the party offices in Kamwokya, Kampala. (Photo courtesy of the NUP Media team)
Bishop William Tomusange, an evangelical clergyman from Mityana District who was supposed to lead the NUP special prayers before he was arrested, condemned the police’s action. He prayed to give Uganda a new president who would allow people to exercise the freedom to worship.
“If (Uganda’s President Yoweri) Museveni cannot allow us to worship you, then give us another president who will not use guns to block us from reaching you,” Tomusange said.
Until recently, security agencies had avoided disrupting prayer gatherings, including those by opposition political figures.
Meanwhile, in his response to the police siege at NUP headquarters, Wine said the current leaders of Uganda were worse than the colonialists.
The disagreement started when Muwanga Kivumbi, a vocal NUP legislator, took to the Parliament’s floor to condemn the actions of security agencies. The deputy speaker had asked him to wait for a government statement regarding the actions of security forces in the next plenary hearing — but Kivumbi insisted that the matter was urgent and that it should be debated immediately.
Tayebwa argued that legislators belonging to the opposition had ambushed him, suggesting that such a matter should have been discussed between his office and that of the leader of opposition in Parliament before the session even started.
On Oct. 9, security agencies led by the police cordoned off NUP headquarters in Kamwokya, a suburb of Kampala, and blocked party supporters from gathering to pray for Ugandans killed by security agencies since the 2021 general elections, including 58 NUP supporters who were gunned down during the riots of Nov. 18-19, 2020.
The riots erupted after police officers brutally arrested Wine, NUP’s presidential candidate at the time. Wine was campaigning in Luuka District, in eastern Uganda, when police arrested him on allegations he was violating COVID-19 guidelines. In the chaos that ensured afterwards, security agents shot at, and killed, 58 Ugandans.
Bishop William Tomusange talks to security agents and journalists after being blocked from accessing the NUP offices on Oct. 9 in Kamwokya, Kampala. (Photo courtesy of the NUP Media team)
In the past, NUP had held special prayers for the victims of the security brutality. But the siege at the NUP headquarters on Oct. 9, ahead of this year’s special prayers, left two top party leaders — including the Secretary General Devid Lewis Rubongoya, along with dozens of supporters and a religious leaders — under arrest and in police custody.
Authorities said NUP’s prayer gathering was illegal, even as the party insisted security agencies had no constitutional rights to declare it so. The siege happened a few days after police had arrested Wine on a plane, which had just landed at Entebbe International Airport, and transported him to his home in Magere in the Wakiso District.
NUP leaders have argued that the security actions were intended to provoke them and disrupt party activities. But police officials said Wine’s arrest was intended to deter chaos that was likely to erupt from thousands of his supporters who had lined up along the route to the airport to welcome him. Police had asked Wine’s supporters not to wait for him along the route, but many had ignored the call.
Article 29(C) of the Constitution of Uganda guarantees freedom of worship, saying, “Everyone shall have a right to freedom of worship that includes freedom to practice any religion and manifest such practice which shall include the right to belong to and participate in the practices of any religious body or organization in a manner consistent with the Constitution.”
Police also arrested dozens of Wine’s supporters during that incident, which government officials said was intended to keep law and order in Kampala. The two incidents spearheaded by police against NUP leaders and supporters have fomented anger among opposition legislators. In his statement on the floor of Parliament, Kivumbi condemned the actions of the security agencies that raided NUP party offices and arrested individuals gathering for prayers.
Kivumbi called for the immediate release of the NUP supporters arrested while heading for the special prayers and along the Entebbe Airport route. He wondered whether Museveni and his government had totally lost regard for freedom of worship.
“Recently, Wine was taken from a plane and transported straight to his home. … NUP offices were sealed off and its leaders, including the Secretary General and Party spokesperson, were also arrested,” he said, before leading a group of opposition legislators out of the hall. “Many of our youth are currently in custody. It’s difficult for me to lead Opposition legislators in this environment without a clear explanation.”
John Semakula, an alumnus of the Poynter Institute, is an award-winning Ugandan journalist and writer for Religion Unplugged based in Mukono, Uganda.