Namirembe Diocese Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Wilberforce Kityo Luwalira has expressed dismay over the demolition of St. Peter’s Church, Ndeeba.
The 40-year-old structure was razed under the cover of darkness, purportedly over a longstanding dispute between the church leadership and a businessman only identified as Dodovico. Early this year, the businessman secured a court order to evict the church but was stopped only after razing the attached primary school, St Peter’s CoU Pre and Primary School.
Since then, it remained under the police guard, and Christians including Bishop Luwalira were not allowed to access it.
“Today we woke up to a disheartening development about the demolition of the church in Ndeeba… very unfortunate for an issue which has been handled since 1981 to conclude in such a manner. It hurts all of us and in a special way the Christians of St. Peters Church Ndeeba,” the Bishop said in an audio recording circulated over the social media.
He added that the beauty of the Church structure depicted the efforts that Christians put up to have such a magnificent Church, which was ruined within minutes.
Sadly, he added, callous people took advantage of the movement restrictions in the night to tamper with the Church history.
He appealed to Christians to continue focusing on God but to also take note of the trying times during which evil is being dignified. Bishop Luwalira says that the act will not destroy the belief of the people and have no authority in the spiritual world.
Luwalira said that whoever is involved in land grabbing all over the country should have a re-think of their actions. He also gave hope to Christians that the development will not deter the Church from continuing with the spread of the gospel.
Information from the Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson, Patrick Onyango indicates that three police commanders have so far been arrested for failure to stop the demolition of the Church. Onyango says that these were picked up for failure to provide security to Church properties.
They are David Epedu, the Katwe Divisional Police Commander, Mugira Yeko Kato, the Officer in Charge of Ndeeba Police Station and Isabirye Kaloli, the Kampala Metropolitan South Region Field Force Unit-FFU Commander. According to Onyango, the officers have been charged with neglect of duty.
He added that they have picked up eleven suspects in connection to the incident. They are Mohammad Kawooya, Muniru Bbosa, Amza Kiberu, Abbasi Mutebi, Ali Bulega, Simon Matovu, Ali Kalika, Andrew Mujuzi, Badru Ssekito, John Isirinya and Bashir Maruti.