The bishop of Mukono Diocese, Rt. Rev. Enos Kitto Kagodo has sanctioned believers to get prepare canes for fighting people attempting to grab church land, saying in circumstances where government has failed to provide protection and a lasting solution to protect land owners, this is the only alternative left to them to save church land.
“Nobody should remain behind; do not send only the clergy to this crusade, let everybody come out, cut sticks to battle these thieves because even Jesus battled those who were meddling in his father’s house; come out in full force until government wakes up and realizes it is time to rescue us”, the angry Bishop implored the believers.
Bp. Kagodo charged the believers while passing out 32 lay readers and 44 others who were awarded certificates by Grover Wilcox School of Mission and Evangelism (St. John Bible College) Nakanyonyi in Bukoba, Mukono Diocese.
He sadly noted that people now steal church land with impunity knowing that they will walk away scot free, saying that many come with the idea that ‘after all, this is mission land’, implying that there is no protection on it.
Because of such thieves, he noted that the church has resorted to contract armed guards on their land at Kisowera at a cost of sh6m per month, and added that they are not ready to continue incurring undue expenses.
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“Please get ready to fight for church land. However, you should not let only the clergy into this battle, it must be a collective effort. Just gather as a team and beat those church land grabbers in Jesus’ name. Hope it will be that language that will wake up the government which is just silent as we are suffering,” Bp. Kagodo said, adding;
“A number of church servants have been injured whereas others are living in danger. Our property has been destroyed, putting us in losses yet also court cases are not getting any light despite being filed and it’s now decades.”
He was reacting to an earlier report by the Principal for Grover Wilcox School of Mission, Rev. Asaph Mugabi Nyanzi who said signatories to the sale agreements are LC I and II Chairmen who, interestingly, agree that they are selling mission land.
He said in the recent past, two such buyers presented to him agreements showing they had bought ten and seven acres off this land and were so insolent as to even suggest that if the diocese agrees with them, they could surrender part of the land back.
“One wonders why they never approached us in the first instance and decided to come after executing the fake agreements,” Rev. Mugabi pointed out.
He told the Bishop that his students and believers were all ready for war in the name of saving the diocese’s land.
Elsewhere, he told the Bishop that the College is faced with an acute shortage of water, with students having to walk long distances in search of water.
The principal also reported that he has forwarded to the Treasurer a proposal for an extension of piped water to the college. He also said they have introduced a new course unit necessitating learners to get extra gadgets, and appealed to parents to buy them requirements like overalls.
The Bishop appealed to the newly commissioned church workers to endeavor to build a self- sustaining church wherever they will be assigned.
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Mukono diocese has been battling land grabbing issues for a number of years which escalated during the reign of the retired Bp. James William Ssebaggala. Though he managed to reclaim some of the land which had been grabbed, Bp. Ssebaggala’s tenure expired before the matters had been fully resorted, leaving behind a number of ongoing land cases in courts of law, office of RDCs and before the Lands Minister.
However, according to what is on the ground, the grabbers seem to have gained momentum as Bp. Kagodo got into the office to the extent of engaging into physical fights with the church clergy and injuring some of them.
After crying out for help from all the relevant government officials and failed to get any attention and solution to the problem, Bp. Kagodo has since then resorted to empowering the congregation into turning chaotic against the church land grabbers whom he says have led to stalling of a number of church projects.