By Spy Uganda
It’s a sad moment for the prominent pastor and anti-LGBTQ vocalist Martin Ssempa who no longer has access to Makerere University to preach the word of God.
Sempa who has touched lives of the thousands of students through his Makerere Community Church, a faith-based institution he founded and operated for over two decades, accuses Vice-Chancellor Professor Barnabas Nawangwe, of promoting religious discrimination.
“Our pulpit, which taught our students to be godly global leaders, is silent. Sadly a new academic year has started, with thousands of students needing spiritual formation, counselling and social services we provided but are left uncared-for. It’s very sad in the absence of the government’s failure to provide these welfare services, people offering to help like me are being discouraged, silenced and unsupported. Between my wife and I, we have invested more than $6,000,000 into Makerere students yet we are treated like crap by the current administration,” wrote Ssempa on his x handle.
He argues that the university’s actions violate the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of worship, a fundamental right in Uganda.
Ssempa has since announced his intention to take legal action against Makerere University, seeking to challenge what he views as an infringement on religious freedom and the rights of students to access spiritual services. “It is strange that people like me have to resort to court to get the simplest decision for the well-being of the students,” he warned, adding;
”The constitution says you can’t discriminate one group over another. It’s totally wrong for Prof Nawangwe to treat me and my wife, who have provided so much social investment in the university students for the last 20 years with such disinterest and hostility. We are restless. This yoke of religious oppression of religious minorities must End. We are determined to fight for our freedom as religious minorities. Please join me as I go to court to demand our freedom of worship rights.”
