By Andrew Irumba
Kampala: Popular city pastor Aloysius Bugingo, of House of Prayer Ministries church in Makerere, is regretting why he exposed his marriage problems with Teddy Naluswa Bugingo to the public.
Normally marriage issues are handled with utmost secrecy, since they are very personal matters. However, Bugingo and his wife Naluswa shocked the nation and their congregation after washing their dirty linen in public last week. Following the very shaming and embarrassing sex war between them, Bugingo and issued a public apology in which he admits guilt and says he is sorry for “causing hurt to several men and women.” Bugingo, who apologised before hundreds of believers at his church, said his actions didn’t reflect the values of the foster family which raised him, or his own parents’. Bugingo, who was initially spitting venom at Naluswa, his daughter Doreen Bugingo and pastor Jesca Kayanja, has since changed tone and admitted that he made a mistake to expose his family problems and marital woes.
“I grew up in a family of married people. My father and mother too were married,” Bugingo said. He added that “In such pastoralist families, they usually had old sticks, which they kept not for rearing cows, but to take care of children and wives. But my (foster) mother Mrs. Bereta; I never heard her once talking about this among our neighbors. Therefore, for my foster family and my parents, both of which families I respect a lot, I will decide to respect my family as well.” He added that “I want to apologize to the nation. God raised me from the dung hill. He who brought my name from there, I will not do anything that will tarnish the name He gave me. I also apologize to the men and women who are tuning in and those who are here, who suffered through last week having to hear my name over and over.” Bugingo noted that he had decided to opt for silence for the sake of his family and the future wellbeing of his children and church.
“I have kids, some of them unknown to you, and I am still producing more. And to all those children, in school or unborn, I want to assure you that if I was able to be silent for all those years, from today, I will not say another word that will hurt the future of my own children, my future in-laws, and my grand children.” Pastor Bugingo however, said the scandal has not hurt his church, but strengthened it. “Many people used to know us as the people who don’t run away from sunshine or rain. (The church congregates in the open). But now they understand that there are other things that we don’t run away from. Last Friday alone we had 1300 new members joining,” he boasted, before adding that “Last week alone we collected over Shs32m.” Bugingo is involved in a bitter marital war with his estranged wife Naluswa, who accuses him of allegedly eloping with his employee called Suzan Makula. Naluswa alleges that Bugingo abandoned their marital home ever since he hooked Makula and that now he was to push her (Nlauswa) out of the church and the assets they acquired together during the 25 years of their marriage.
