Martin Ssempa ~ News

Anti-Homo Bill Blow to Democracy?

2009-12-28T05:07:00.000-08:00

VSO InternationalA bill that may be passed into law in Uganda has been criticised by human rights groups, it has been reported.

Overall, seventeen organisations have submitted a statement containing their protests and disapproval of the proposed changes, which would result in the death penalty for those who continue to engage in homosexual activity.

Ask yourself, who funds these groups that protested, and are they representative of all Ugandans? or are they self-interest groups?

Spokesperson for Sexual Minorities Uganda David Kato stated that the proposals are a "blow to democracy" in the country.

David Kato, a primary school headteacher is defiling young kids and recruiting them into homosexuality, using his position. I wonder how Ugandan's move to make their own law is a blow to democracy, it is ridiculous for other countries to even meddle in the Ugandan system, that is not democratic! And i thought Democracy is rule of Majority? 95% of Ugandans are opposed to homosexuality, what democracy are we talking about here?

"It goes against the inclusive spirit necessary for our economic as well as political development. Its spirit is profoundly undemocratic and un-African," he explained.

Human Rights Watch, the World AIDS Campaign and Amnesty International have also condemned the bill in recent months.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that the general consensus among activists is that the private members' bill will be passed with a few alterations, but little opposition from the country's budget donors.

The proposed bill should be passed by all means to strengthen our laws.

Kigezi Bishop: Homosexual Supporters support Colonialism

2009-12-28T04:10:00.000-08:00

Daily Monitor,
Agitators and perpetrators of homosexuality are indirectly bringing back colonialism in Uganda, the Bishop of Kigezi Diocese Rt. Rev. George Katwesigye has said.

“Let no body be deceived of the big sums of money they (perpetrators of homosexuality) are promising because we would rather remain poor than sacrifice our culture and values,” he said.

Bishop Katwesigye told Daily Monitor that the public should not rush for quick wealth, saying the desire to amass riches through dubious ways is partly to blame for the infiltration of foreign cultures that target desperate Ugandans who end up spreading homosexuality to innocent people.

He took a swipe at corrupt government officials and urged them to accept their misdeeds and repent.

Bishop Katwesigye said as the 2011 general elections near, politicians should not impose their views on the electorate and the Church to enable people make own decisions.

Bunyoro king supports Anti-gay bill

2009-12-28T04:04:00.000-08:00

Daily Monitor

Solomon Gafabusa Iguru, the Omukama of Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom, has condemned homosexuality and declared support for the bill against the act.

The Omukama, who was today morning speaking to journalists in Hoima district, the seat of the kingdom, said that homosexuality is immoral and against African traditional norms and should not be allowed to take root in Uganda.

A known critic of colonialism and its influences in Uganda, the Omukama accused countries in the west for introducing homosexuality in Uganda. He said the negativity of colonialism was resurfacing due to the fact that many western countries are trying to impede the approval of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

The bill has received widespread condemnation across the world. The major bone of contention is that it prescribes the penalty of death for crimes described as ‘aggravated homosexuality’.

The Omukama also called on teachers in his kingdom to look out for children in their care by preventing homosexuality. He said that it was often at school that children were likely to learn and adapt homosexuality.

He called on Members of Parliament from his kingdom to fully back the Bill when it is presented to Parliament again.

Ugandan Parents want Anti-gay Bill enacted

2009-12-28T03:57:00.000-08:00

Daily Monitor,

At least 100 parents, branding themselves as protectors of African traditional values, have came out to pressure the government to enact the Anti-Homosexuality Bill and ignore threats by donors to slash aid. “They (donors) can keep their money and we will still survive,” Ms Margaret Ssekidde, a concerned parent told journalists in Kampala at a news conference organised by the Family Life Network on Wednesday.

‘Not natural’
The organisation is on a campaign to restore waning indigenous family values, the Executive Director, Mr Stephen Langa, said, stressing that Ugandans will not trade their integrity and promote “unnatural sex” for cash offers from Western governments.

Separately, Archbishop Luke Orombi, a public critic of homosexuality, has said at that they are drafting specific contributions to the Bill now before Parliament. “I am surprised by the global reaction to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill because it is yet a proposal on table for Ugandans to look at,” the prelate said who was addressing a press conference at Namirembe.

US President Barack Obama said the proposed law, which prescribes death penalty for the most heinous gay-related offences, “goes against the tide of history”. Sweden has indicated that the Bill violates minority rights, adding that it will cut aid to Uganda if the Bill is passed into law.

Obama has no idea about history and Sweden, know that we now have our oil, and also cut ties with Saudi Arabia, UAE and most nations in the Arab world that have this a law like this. Allow us practise democracry

The State Minister for International Affairs, Mr Oryem-Okello, in an interview with Daily Monitor on Tuesday, described as “pre-mature and wrong” the chorus of international criticism based on a Private Member’s Bill.

Homosexuals threaten the Speaker of Parliament of Uganda

2009-12-28T03:49:00.000-08:00

Daily Monitor, Kampala.

The Speaker of Parliament Edward Ssekandi has said he has recently been under intense pressure over the anti-homosexuality Bill that proposes severe punishments for same sex relationships.

The punishments are not severe, they are just the same as others in similar laws, yet homosexuality is more aggrevated.

While speaking to hundreds of Christians on Christmas Day at Lubaga Cathedral, where he represented the government, Mr Sekandi said: “I have received so many communications from abroad threatening and stressing that they shall not give us money if we support the anti-homosexuality Bill.”

Why should homosexuals threaten us with aid money, if it means getting money in exchange with homosexuality, they would rather stay with their money and we die in diginity like the Uganda Matyrs.

But the Speaker called for calm, saying the matter was being handled judiciously. Mr Ssekandi’s remarks came shortly after the author of the gay Bill, Ndorwa West MP David Bahati, reported to the Ministry of Internal Affairs that his life was in danger.

Mr Bahati says he now fears for his life following the disappearance of his cousin Emmanuel Mabonga. He said ever since he moved the Private Member’s Bill against homosexuality, he has been receiving death threats. It was not possible to verify his claims.

Mr Bahati’s law, tabled in Parliament on October 14, proposes death or life imprisonment for homosexuals, but it also proposes punishments for those who fail to report homosexuals to the authorities. The Bill is currently before the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, which is yet to start public hearings.

President Museveni was recently reported to have told US authorities that he would veto the Bill, although his precise stance on the proposed law remains unclear. Several countries like the US, Britain, Canada and international human-rights organisations have described the proposed law as discriminatory, some threatening to withhold development assistance to Uganda if the Bill is passed. President Obama, in a recent statement to a gay publication, said the Bill moves “against the tide of history”.

Museveni's stance on the bill is clear, HE DOES NOT WANT HOMOSEXUALITY HERE. For Obama, he simply does not know what he is talking about, how can he say the bill is against the tide of history, when we know that because of homosexuality, the two cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, Homosexuality is the only vice that caused fire from heaven to destroy cities. No community that embraces homosexuality has ever survived. So what history is Obama talking about?

But Mr Ssekandi, in his Christmas Day speech, explained that MP Bahati’s proposed Bill was not out of order. “In Parliament, any member is free to move a Private Member’s Bill. Since Bahati’s Bill is before the Parliamentary committee, it is going to gather people’s views and report back to the House,” he said.

The Archbishop, Dr Cyprian Lwanga Kizito, had earlier said the Bill was not necessary since there are already other existing laws against homosexuality. But Mr Ssekandi insisted that the committee shall weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the Bill and advise Parliament.

The proposed law just wants to make constitutional what is in the penal code, so what is all the fuss about?

Ugandan Pastors demand Rick Warren to apologize to them

2009-12-22T07:44:00.000-08:00

Ugandan religious leaders under their umbrella of the National Task Force against Homosexuality have written to Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California demanding an apology following his comments on the anti-homosexuality bill and his letter to Ugandan Pastors.

“Your letter has caused great distress and we are demanding that you issue a formal apology for insulting the people of Africa by your very inappropriate bully use of your church and purpose driven pulpits to coerce us into the “evil” of Sodomy and Gaymorrah. This is expected within seven days from this date,” The letter reads. “Since the bible says that the giant of homosexuality is an “abomination” or a great evil, you cannot achieve the peace plan without a purpose driven confrontation of evil.”

Rick Warren came in the spotlight after he was linked to the bill as one of its funders through his friend Dr. Martin Ssempa of Makerere Community Church. He consequently said he cut ties with Ssempa in 2007 and then wrote a letter to Pastors in Uganda calling upon them to denounce the bill.

This infuriated the Pastors in Uganda have in addition held a peaceful demonstration in Kampala to demand an apology from Rick Warren, to support the President, the people and the government of Uganda in their stand against homosexuality. They have also threatened to burn his Purpose Driven Books in the streets of Kampala if he does not apologize in the given time.

“It is racist for one to think that a black man needs a white man to be told that homosexuality is evil,” Dr. Martin Ssempa was quoted as saying in reference to Rick Warren’s letter.

Bishop David Kiganda, the senior Pastor of Christianity Focus Centre and Chairman of the National Fellowship of Born Again Pentecostal Churches in Kampala region has also said, “He (Rick) has embarrassed us, gone against the word of God and it is a shame.”

On Friday 11th December 2009, more than 200 of Uganda’s top religious leaders met and supported the legislators in strengthening the law against homosexuality.
The National Task Force that is chaired by Dr. Martin Ssempa represents the National Fellowship of Born again Churches, The Seventh Adventists Church, The Uganda Joint Christian Council which also represents: The Orthodox Church in Uganda, The Roman Catholic Church in Uganda, The Islamic Office of Social Welfare in Uganda, and the Born Again Faith Federation.

“Rick you are our friend, we have bought many of your books and have been blessed by them. Do not let the pressure of bloggers and popular media intimidate you into becoming a negotiator for homosexual pedophilia rights in Africa” the letter adds.

Statement on Police Report about Ps. Kayanja’s Sodomy case

2009-08-14T01:21:00.001-07:00

August 13, 2009

We are shocked at the conclusions of the Police report about Kayanja’s Sodomy case. The credibility of the investigations and the biased stand of the police leave many unanswered questions on the report. The same statement that the police made before is the same as in this report.

Everyone remembers well that even before investigations were started police already had a position. In the Sunday Vision of 17th May, 2009, the CID Chief described the allegations as baseless”, “fabricated” and “full of lies”. He also claimed that “…all six complainants who reported to the Police have retracted their complaints, saying they were set up by some pastors.” These statements were proved wrong when the complainants came up and said they had not retracted any statement.

The final report also based its investigations on Samson Mukisa, who the on Sunday 17th May 2009 appeared on UBC TV – Family Hour and said he had been forced to change his statement on gun point. Samson was later taken into police custody forcefully and denied access to a lawyer. He was then disguised and made to sign an extra- judicial statement.

The conduct of police with Samson Mukisa should be investigated and prosecuted. Now we are hearing Mukisa who is in police custody and Brain Ntwatwa being used on Super Fm to continue with the false allegations. Super Fm belongs to Ps. Ssematimba a colleague of Ps. Kayanja. The credibility of Samson Mukisa as a basis of the investigations makes the whole investigation biased following the way he was treated by police in the month of May.

The recommendations of police to prosecute the good Samaritans who helped the victims of sodomy to access justice and a credible hearing is misguided and sets a strong precedence that anyone who helps victims either of sexual abuse or accidents will be prosecuted. Therefore people are will stop giving a helping hand to anyone in danger or a victim of any circumstance.

The truth is that we had a credible reason to believe that what the victims were saying was true. It was not isolated evidence but a group of victims who had corresponding evidence said they were sodomized and joined by others to testify to the same.

However, this battle is not against Ps. Robert Kayanja, but a much bigger problem in the church. We have Pastors driving stolen cars, stealing mobile phones, stealing people’s money, defiling young girls, carrying guns into church, sodomizing boys, smuggling and several others. The Public and God are looking for Repentance and not defense of reputations.

We have written to the President on this matter and we appeal to parliament to help him to set up an independent commission of inquiry on this issue.
We shall continue to stand in confidence and boldness to fight the evils in our land of defilement, sodomy, child sacrifice, corruption and moral decay and we call upon everyone to pray with us to save our nation

Christains join Muslims to fight Homosexuality

2009-08-14T00:50:00.001-07:00

Aaron Kirunda

The Muslim Leaders have joined the Christian leaders in Uganda under that National Coalition Against Homosexuality and other sexual abuses under a campaign called Kick sodomy out of Uganda.

"We are bound by the common desire and strong commitment to marriage between man and woman and the family that gives birth to children, regardless of our religious and denominational differences" Pastor Martin Ssempa one of christian leaders said.

"We have come together to defend our constitution and our culture to kick sodomy out of Uganda" Ssempa added.

Pastor Michael Kyazze of Omega Healing Centre also promised that they shall stand with and fight for the victims of sodomy and sexual abuse and work towards the elimination of sodomy and all forms of sexual abuse from schools, churches, prisons and communities.

In a joint statement the religious leaders said that they have been bothered by the failure of victims to access justice and the frustration of many by the police investigative machinery. They pledged to stand with the victims of homosexuality to rebuild their broken lives, save them from their silent pain, broken hearts and trauma by advocating for their justice, protecting them, and providing for them material and legal support.

They also pledged to work with all faith groups and government as partners in keeping the constitution of Uganda.

The weekend debate: How free should the press be?

2009-07-11T05:26:00.000-07:00

Aaron Kirunda

The journalism symposium hosted on Tuesday by Makerere University's Mass Communication department threw up a number of interesting issues. Perhaps the most contentious debate was between The Independent’s Managing Editor Andrew Mwenda and Pastor Martin Ssempa over freedom of the press. Ssempa called for a “firewall” to be implemented by the government to protect Ugandan citizens from salacious and smutty material. In contrast Mwenda argued that the market should be left to decide which newspapers prosper and which go out of business.

So what role should the government play in censoring aspects of the press? Is the smut published in papers like The Onion, and the dead body photos in Bukedde, a price worth paying for a free press?

Comments

I definately agree with pastor sempa's idea of a firewall on press freedom.
It this so called freedom that has opened up young people to violence and
immorality. On the streets, everywhere you turn is polluted by pornographic
material and death, whose effect must not be left for the consumers to chose.
Remember most of these consumers do not even know how dangerous this material is
to them, yet they mix with the rest of society. Government should definitely tighten a bit to ensure media discipline.

Martin Ssempa attacks the Ugandan diaspora

2009-07-11T05:07:00.000-07:00

You could never accuse Pastor Ssempa of mincing his words. In a public debate on professionalizing journalism on Tuesday (more of which later), Ssempa tore into Ugandans who have lived abroad for becoming “ideological sycophants”. He claimed they leave with one world-view and come back with another, having succumbed to “market forces of the soul” by taking scholarships at Western universities. Ssempa’s prime target was a change in moral attitude to issues like homosexuality, against which he has been leading a vocal campaign. He summed it up as follows: “Ugandans who go abroad are victims of Michael Jackson syndrome, they are born black but die white.”

So what does our readership in the diaspora think of this? Have you contracted the dreaded Michael Jackson syndrome?

Comments

Andrew Agaba: I tend to agree with Pastor Ssempa. I have seen journalists propagate worldviews that markedly contrast with local school of thought.

I do not know if Tabaire of Daily Monitor has lived in the diaspora, but certainly every one knows that Andrew Mwenda is an LSE alumni and Stanford alumni whose views on homosexuality are very inconsistent with majority Ugandans.

That said, Pastor Ssempa generalized, or perhaps was wrongly quoted, because so many Ugandans have lived abroad and have not become brainwashed. He himself has a second home in America.

Steely Sempa ... what a clown !

Andrew Agaba You must be a clown yourself to take Ssempa for a clown. Or they would say you drunk too many a kool aid.

Isaac Eyalama True. Ssempa is really a true African. Many Africans go to the west and turn out
un African. Some forget that they were products of a heterosexual union and
instead begin to adopt or approve of sodomy forgetting that allowing sodomites
to marry is completely contrary to the customs, history and culture of all
societies throughout Africa.

Byasi: i Totally agree with Ssempa,,he has lived there and knows what is going on,,and spending time with such individuals,i've also seen the change,our society doesn't tolerate homosexuality

Maloba Isaac: The worst someone should be colonised is his mind. i wonder why some so called
learned friends and the enlightened seem to even ignore common sense that
positives repel while the negative and positive attract. Homesexuality has never
been way of life but a confusion some people purpose to practise then they seek
to convince everyone that they were born that way. The west colonised Africa but
i wiil never allow my mind to be colonised by utter confusion, wickedness and
abomination.

Steely: Sempa....clown..no? Alright then, how about a plain-ignorant-extremist and hate-monger!

Kankaka Edward Nelson: Steely, we notice you have a definite phobia for the truth and an enemy to what
is right. No mater which defence you give yourself, bad will always remain bad
whether you agree or not. My suggestion is that you revise your ideology and
ask God to remove the blindfold so you can see the truth.

bombokajb: i want to agree with Pr. Ssempa and one of the things i have observed is the
question of wether we are cowards or not. Back home there are things in Africa
that can't be even pronounced through the lips. So really "tukomewo
e'ka"...

steely bambi "golokoka oyake" naye tuswala its a shame and to all of us
as creature in God's image

Uganda: Muslims Join Pastors in Gay Fight

2009-07-11T04:58:00.000-07:00

Aaron Kirunda

Kampala — Muslims have teamed up with their counterparts from the Pentecostal churches to fight homosexuality in Uganda. The leader of the Muslim Tabliqs,the most fundamental Muslim group, Sheikh Sulaiman Kakeeto, said the issue of homosexuality affects all people regardless of their religious affiliations.

"We have decided to make a bond with our fellow religious leaders to fight homosexuality," Sheikh Kakeeto said at the launch of a campaign dubbed 'Kick Sodomy out of Uganda' in Kampala on Wednesday. "We want to work together and eliminate sodomy and other forms of sexual abuses in our society."

The two groups signed an agreement to guide their operations. Sheikh Kakeeto and Sheikh Muhammad Badru, the chairman the National Da'awa Association, signed on behalf of Muslims while pastors Michael Kyazze (Omega Healing Centre), Martin Ssempa (Makerere Community Church) and Solomon Male (Arising for Christ) signed on behalf of born again Christians. Sheikh Kakeeto called on the government to strengthen the law on homosexuality and incarcerate those caught in the act.

Pastor Ssempa said the coalition intends to embark on a campaign to sensitize communities about "the dangers of homosexuality." "We shall offer counsel ling, legal and material support to the affected people," he said.

The Muslim leaders also said that according to the quran, homosexuality is punishable by death in all its forms, from stoning to burning, if some one is convicted of the act.

Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and this coalition that was formed strengthens the efforts of Ugandans to fight this vice. According to an independent survey by stead man group. 95% of Ugandans do not support homosexuality at all and the rest were not sure.

Martin Ssempa on Michael Jackson

2009-07-11T04:20:00.000-07:00

Aaron Kirunda

A public memorial service for Pop Star Michael Jackson was held on Tuesday at Staples Centre in California. But before this, Ugandans had converged at several bars to mourn the man who brought the moonwalk. The organizers included Pastors Peter Ssematimba and Martin Ssempa. Among the people in attendance was veteran educationist Fagil Mande. Before your jaw drops, yes, Uganda once boasted of real dancers. They may be a bit thick around the waist now, but decades ago, they could wriggle, moonwalk, break-dance and shake it. Some, like Sematimba, still do.
I cannot imagine the Rubaga Division Chairman or the now burly sports journalist Mark Ssali spinning at 360 degrees. But they once did.

Pastor Martin Ssempa

Before Pr. Ssempa went about preaching the gospel and fighting homosexuality, he was a dancer. He used to do it like Michael Jackson too and confesses that “I used to watch MJ videos when I was part of the All African Disco Championship in 1986. I was his fan and apart from his crotch-grabbing, I thought his dancing was inspirational.”
At these national and regional (East African) competitions, he emerged winner.
“I wanted to watch the competition but did not have money so I joined the competition as a participant. I hoped that I wouldn’t have to go through [it all] since I didn’t think I could dance and hoped people would boo me off [the] stage. They didn’t and I won.”

Pr. Ssempa still dances and if you want to catch him doing his thing, then you should visit his church, Makerere Community Church or catch him at a Papa San Concert or Prime Time at the Makerere Swimming Pool. He admits though that he is an “off-layer” when it comes to “break dance”. He does not divide the world into secular and sacred therefore he does not think that holding memorials for MJ is secular. Well, that rests our case over what he was doing on WBS’ Jam Agenda then. He was mourning a great man.

Uganda Human Rights Commission investigates Sodomy allegations

2009-06-12T07:38:00.001-07:00

The pastors accused of defaming Pastor Robert Kayanja of Rubaga Miracle Center by alleging that he engaged in sodomy of some of his male followers have welcomed the intervention of the Uganda Human Rights Commission into the case.

Pastors Solomon Male of Arise for Christ, Martin Ssempa of Makerere Community Church and Mike Kyazze of Omega healing Center say it is important that the UHRC has started hearing cases of the young men who were allegedly sodomised.

Pastor Male said he appeared before the UHRC panel investigating the matter yesterday and gave them information on how the alleged sodomy victims approached him for help.

He says the pastors are ready to cooperate with the UHRC and the police to ensure the vice of sodomy and homosexuality in the church are being investigated.

Male was speaking today at Central Police Station where Pastor Kyazze was questioned over giving false evidence against Pastor Robert Kayanja by alleging that Kayanja is involved in sodomy. Male and Ssempa were questioned over the same matter last month.

Pastor Kyaze said the police and other authorities should focus on the young men who alleged they were sodomised by Pastor Kayanja and not the pastors who are helping the young men get justice. Kyazze says the police is treating the pastors as criminals yet they only demanded for justice for the alleged sodomy victims.

Pastor Kyazze quizzed over Sodomy

2009-06-12T07:18:00.000-07:00

ANOTHER pastor was yesterday questioned, bringing to five the number of clergy interrogated over allegations of sodomy against Pastor Robert Kayanja.

Felix Ssemujju of Omega Healing Centre in Namasuba, a Kampala suburb, arrived at the Kampala Central Police Station at 10:00am and addressed journalists.

Ssemujju said last November, one of Kayanja’s accusers, Samson Mukisa, approached him and narrated his ordeal.
“He told me that Kayanja had sodomised him. I counselled and prayed for him. I also advised him to make a statement,” he told the journalists.

He however, denied allegations that Mukisa, who has since withdrawn his statement, was promised trips to Sweden among other goodies if he tarnished Kayanja’s name.

Flanked by Pastor Solomon Male, he appealed to sodomy victims to seek assistance.

Other pastors who have been questioned over Kayanja’s woes are Male, Michael Kyazze, Bob Kayiira and Martin Ssempa.

Kayanja who has also been questioned by the Police denies the allegations.

CID officers dropped from sodomy inquiry

2009-06-12T07:17:00.000-07:00

Andrew Bagala

Kampala: Two senior detectives have been dropped from the investigations into sodomy allegations against Pastor Robert Kayanja of Rubaga Miracle Centre.

Weeks after President Museveni criticised the Criminal Investigations Directorate’s handling of the inquiry, in which seven people are accusing Pastor Kayanja, the police has assigned, Ms Grace Akullo, the head of the narcotics unit, to take over the case, replacing Mr Venacio Tumuhimbise and Mr Amos Munyeneza.

One of the alleged victims, Mr Samson Mukisa had accused Mr Munyeneza of forcing him to retract a statement.

Pastor Kayanja was early this year accused by six victims - Mukisa, James Ntwatwa, Ronny Mutebi, David Mukalazi, Akansiime and Robinson Matovu of sodomising them while they served in his church.

GRILLED: Pastor Kyazze (L) at Central Police Station in Kampala on Tuesday. PHOTO BY YUSUF MUZIRANSA

However CID chief Edward Ochom later cleared Pastor Kayanja and instead chose to investigate the alleged victims and pastors Michael Kyazze, Martin Ssempa, Solomon Male, Annet Kyomuhendo and Bob Kayiira accusing them of setting up Pastor Kayanja.

President Museveni’s intervention, after the pastors criticised the Police conduct, forced the Inspector General of Police, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, to convene a meeting of the warring parties in which the CID was directed to conduct the inquiry in a more professional manner.

Pastor Kyazze was on Tuesday interrogated for seven hours at the Central Police Station. The Police also summoned another pastor, Felix Ssemujju, who allegedly received the victims at Omega Healing Centre in Namasuba, to appear at CPS today.

But Pastor Kyazze said he does not believe in the Police inquiry. He said an independent commission should be established to investigate sodomy in the country.

“We shall not stop to talk for the victims of abuse. The issue is not Kyazze or Ssempa or Male. The issue is about the victims of sodomy,” he said.
Pastor Kyazze added: “I told the detective what I know about the sodomy victims and told them that nothing will prevent us from fighting homosexuality.”

Mulago awards Midwives

2009-06-12T07:13:00.000-07:00

By Francis Kagolo

Mulago Hospital has introduced monthly awards for midwives.

The head of the obstetrics and gynaecology department, Josephat Byamugisha, said the awards are intended to motivate midwives to offer quality services.

The programme was initiated and funded by the Midwives Empowered, a local NGO run by Pastor Martin Ssempa of Makerere University Community Church.

Mary Grace Akao, 37, on Friday won the inaugural award worth sh100,000 and a certificate.

Mulago has one of the busiest maternity wards, with about 30,000 deliveries every year.

“We are only 62 midwives. We earn sh280,000 per month, yet we are not given lunch,” said Rose Nakayiza, the in-charge of the maternity ward.

“A midwife can spend a day on duty without having lunch, yet there are several mothers to attend to.”

Several reports have indicated that many new-born babies die at the hospital, a problem attributed to the poor attitude of midwives towards mothers in labour.

Presenting the award, Byamugisha said: “We deliver between 60 and 80 mothers every day. Only a motivated team of midwives can handle such a high number of women.”

Ssempa urged the Government to invest more in improving the welfare of midwives and health workers.

Pastor Ssempa challenges other Pastors to speak out on Homosexuality

2009-06-12T07:04:00.000-07:00

Pastor Martin Ssempa of Makerere Community Church has attacked colleagues in the Pentecostal movement of conspiring to remain silent on matters of sexual abuse in the church.

Sempa, who is one of the pastors crusading against sodomy in the Church, claims the problem will persist in the church if pastors do not come out openly to condemn.

He says many pastors are secretly calling and encouraging him but they can not come out to join him for fear of being labelled enemies to pastor kayanja and others who have been accused of sodomizing followers.

Sempa also advises the elders in the Pentecostal churches to advise Kayanja to resolve the matters within the church system because he himself chose to drag his accusers to court.

Empowered Midwives

2009-06-09T01:04:00.000-07:00

Mulago Hospital has introduced monthly awards for midwives.
The head of the obstetrics and gynaecology department, Josephat Byamugisha, said the awards are intended to motivate midwives to offer quality services.

The programme was initiated and funded by the Midwives Empowered, a local NGO run by Pastor Martin Ssempa of Makerere University Community Church.
Mary Grace Akao, 37, on Friday won the inaugural award worth sh100,000 and a certificate.

Mulago has one of the busiest maternity wards, with about 30,000 deliveries every year.

“We are only 62 midwives. We earn sh280,000 per month, yet we are not given lunch,” said Rose Nakayiza, the in-charge of the maternity ward.

“A midwife can spend a day on duty without having lunch, yet there are several mothers to attend to.”

Several reports have indicated that many new-born babies die at the hospital, a problem attributed to the poor attitude of midwives towards mothers in labour.

Presenting the award, Byamugisha said: “We deliver between 60 and 80 mothers every day. Only a motivated team of midwives can handle such a high number of women.”

Ssempa urged the Government to invest more in improving the welfare of midwives and health workers.

The Impact of Obama's declaration on Homosexuality

2009-06-06T08:36:00.000-07:00

By Sharon Slater,
President Family Watch International

True to his campaign promises, President Obama has now established himself as a leader in the homosexual rights movement. By presidential proclamation he has declared the month of June in the United States as “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month.” (You can read the entire declaration below)

His declaration proudly boasts that Obama is the first president to appoint “openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed position in his first 100 days in office,” and then outlines the work that he intends to do to further the sexual rights agenda at home and abroad.

While he stops short of stating he will fight for same-sex marriage, he announces that he has joined the United Nations efforts to “decriminalize homosexuality around the world,” and declares that he will “continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans.”

Some of the measures he lists include “enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell’ policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security.”

To examine just one of these initiatives, Obama’s plan to overturn the ban on homosexuality in the U.S. military, let’s look to current U.S. law, which explains why the ban exists. Public Law 103-160, Section 654, Title 10 states:

Members of the armed forces experience “living conditions and working conditions that are often spartan, primitive, and characterized by forced intimacy with little or no privacy,” therefore, “the prohibition against homosexual conduct is a long-standing element of military law that continues to be necessary in the unique circumstances of military service.”

The law further explains that, “The presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.”

According to the Center for Military Readiness, of those polled by the Military Times, 59 percent of active duty U.S. military personnel who responded, continue to support the current ban on homosexuality in the military as strongly as they have in the past three years.

The Military Times also found that if Congress repeals the statute, almost 10 percent of survey respondents would leave the military and another 14 percent would consider leaving. This is because if the ban is repealed, men and women will be required to cohabitate with homosexuals in all branches of the service or risk being dismissed.

This would be the consequence of just one of the policies Obama is advancing to promote the sexual rights agenda.

All of the initiatives that Obama proposes in his declaration advance the “rights” of one group of people at the expense of the rights of other groups. For example, children who will never have the opportunity to have both a father and a mother if they are adopted by same-sex couples and business owners that may have moral or religious objections to homosexuality but who will be forced to provide services in ways that support the sexual rights agenda if they want to avoid discrimination lawsuits.

Just last week, Obama appointed one of the key leaders of the homosexual “rights” movement, Kevin Jennings, to the federal office overseeing school safety in the United States. Jennings is a founder of GLSEN, an organization that promotes the sexual rights agenda in laws and in the public schools. He is responsible for promoting the “day of silence,” engaged in by students across the U.S., where students go to school and refuse to speak to protest discrimination against homosexuals. Jennings is now in a position to more aggressively promote that program as well as other sexual rights initiatives in the public schools.

This proclamation must be a wakeup call to those defending the family in the U.S. and abroad. The “sexual rights agenda” is now a more serious threat in the U.S. and abroad as a result of Obama’s personal advocacy.

A sad story!! President Obama declares June 'LGBT Pride month

2009-06-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

By Bruce Wells

In a presidential proclamation on the White House website, Barack Obama has lauded what he calls "the determination and dedication" of the LGBT movement by proclaiming June as "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month." "The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress," Obama states in the official proclamation, "but there is more to be done."

The president also takes pride in being the first U.S. chief executive to appoint "openly LGBT" candidates tSenate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an administration. He uses the proclamation to emphasize LGBT-related initiatives that he intends to pursue in the future -- both domestically and internationally.

"I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexual around the world," he states. "Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans."

Among those measures he lists "hate crimes" laws, civil unions, discrimination in the workplace, adoption rights, and ending the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy "in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security."

This, from a President who disdains America and all for which it stands. Sadly, it's yet just another stab in the heart of America's moral and religious fibers. Contrast John Adams who prayed that "only righteous men rule this country" to where we are now.

Why stop at LGBT Pride Month, why not have APM (Alcoholics Pride Month) or ACPM (Adultery and Covetous Pride Month). Why not Pedophilia and Bestiality Month? Maybe that will come later in the year. Isn't it amazing that under the Obama Administration, the National Day of Prayer last month barely got a presidential nod, yet sin gets a whole month.

If the Lord God Almighty does not bring judgment against the United States of America, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah!

So let me ask all of you who voted for Mr. Obama and "change", are you still proud of your president or would you like to have your vote back? Homosexuality is nothing to be proud of -- bottom line. The fact is people have left the lifestyle, people have overcome homosexuality [with God's help] -- I think that's something to be proud of.

My friends, this is absolutely disgraceful and sad. We as Christians, must continue to reach out to homosexuals with the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We also need to pray for the souls of our unbelieving leadership. They are totally blind to the destruction that Satan has for them.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus!

Ugandan Police Caught Lying; Tells Pastors to ‘shut up’ on Sodomy

2009-05-27T01:03:00.001-07:00

By Kato Mivule | May 20, 2009

In an effort to save face, the Ugandan Police ordered Pastor Solomon Male, Pastor, Martin Ssempa and others to “keep silent” and not make any comments on the ongoing investigations of Sodomy cases and accusations against Pastor Kayanja.

However, this comes at a time when two of Pastor Robert Kayanja’s accusers appeared at the Police CID Headquarters and told Journalists that they have never retracted any of their statements and charges of Sodomy against Pastor Robert Kayanja.

This turn of events totally contradicts the statements issued by Uganda’s CID Chief in which he claimed before the Press that Pastor Robert Kayanja’s accusers had dropped all charges and retracted their statements.

What makes the case more interesting is that one of the Sodomy victims is David Mukalazi, a 36 year old male who is a well known Musician and played Keyboards at the Rubaga Miracle Center.

Mr. Mukalazi went head-on to the CID Offices in Kampala before Uganda’s Press and stated categorically that he has never retracted any of his statements and charges of Sodomy his made against Pastor Robert Kayanja. He in fact stated that he had gone back to the CID Offices to re-state his statement and charges of Sodomy against Pastor Robert Kayanja.

With all the Media Attention following this Ugandan high profile case, Uganda’s Police was caught off guard lying, and to avoid further embarrassment, they issued a ‘decree’ that the Pastors should not comment on the Sodomy Case.

It is very clear that Ugandan Police is compromised beyond repair in this case and an independent commission of inquiry and truth should be set up with the aim of providing justice to the young sodomized boys.

It is well known that a number of high ranking Ugandan Government officials and including high ranking Police Officers are members of Pastor Robert Kayanja's Church. It is therefore going to be difficult to get Justice for the Sodomized boys.

It is a shame that Uganda’s Police is proving to be not an instrument of Justice for the weak but has become a haven for all kinds of law breakers, a place were corrupt government officials find refuge and those who are victimized are treated as criminals.

Pastor Ssempa's response on Sodomy and Kayanja

2009-05-27T00:53:00.000-07:00

WHY ARE WE GAGGED?

After the Police cleared Pastor Robert Kayanja of sodomy allegations, three pastors: Martin Ssempa, Solomon Male and Bob Kayiira were questioned over giving false information. Anthony Bugembe talked to Martin Ssempa over the saga which is tearing at the Pentecostal Church in the country...

Q: Why are you witch-hunting Pastor Robert Kayanja?

A: This is not a personal issue. Those who have known me over the last 16 to 17 years know very well that I have been very passionate about issues of morality and raising a generation of God-fearing people. I have counselled people living with HIV and victims of sexual abuse. Some of the victims alleged that they have been sodomised by Pastor Kayanja.

Q: Some people say you are overwhelmed by the many followers he has.

A: That is absolute rubbish. We wish Pastor Robert Kayanja well and I am not jealous. Each of us has a calling. Mine is to serve the university and young people. Because of that, I have made a sacrifice to live in this country and serve a congregation which doesn’t have money. I am serving God but not money.

Q: Is that why you are a strong critic of the prosperity gospel which Pastor Kayanja preaches?

A: I have actually been disappointed by the prosperity gospel and a series of issues in Pastor Robert Kayanja’s church which have brought trouble and a bad reputation for the body of Christ. These include some of his pastors like (Grace) Kitaka and (Isaac) Kiwewesi, who have been accused of (engaging in) homosexuality. Some of these cases are still pending.
My issue here on this case of sodomy is not against Pastor Kayanja. I am troubled and distressed by the boys who have alleged that Kayanja sodomised them.
Q: Why don’t you advise the boys who come to you to seek redress from concerned authorities like the Police?

A: We actually advised them and they have written statements. The problem is that the struggles surround the victims of homosexuality. There is shame, fear and intimidation because the victims are usually smaller than their victimisers.

Q: Do you have confidence in the Police to handle these allegations?

A: As the Police investigates these allegations, it is also under investigation by the public to see if there will be bias or impartiality.

Q: What do you think yourself?

A: I have confidence. That is why I came to record my statement. That is why I (also) recommended that those victims come and record their statements. But I am also anxious and troubled by the way the Police cleared Pastor Kayanja of allegations of homosexuality last Sunday and stated that the complainants had retracted their statements.
Meanwhile, these same complainants have come forward and denied such a thing. Our lawyer has written to the Minister of Internal Affairs to make sure there is impartiality in the handling of this case. We have also asked that any officer who is a member of Pastor Kayanja’s church or any of the pastors involved in these investigations, including myself, be excused from handling or commenting on this case. These include Judith Nabakooba, the Police spokesperson who we hear is a member of Pastor Kayanja’s church.

Q: As members of the born-again Christian movement, why don’t you settle your differences internally through structures?

A: I feel like this born-again movement is relatively new but it must grow in institutions. When Pastor (Simeon) Kayiwa was suspected of being be involved in a (witchcraft) scandal, there was a commission of inquiry, of which I was a member.
While I was dissatisfied with the results, it showed a sense of maturity. However, I am surprised that for all this time we have not had leaders.
On the other hand, homosexuality is a defining issue of our generation. Churches such as the Anglicans have been split on this issue. I suspect that there may be some balokole (Pentecostal) groups which have irreconcilable differences with others, especially on homosexuality.

Q: Don’t you think these allegations against Pastor Kayanja are going to divide the Church and Christianity in Uganda further?

A: We all desire unity but we cannot sacrifice truth and godliness for the sake of unity. Already other churches have been divided on the issue.
I don’t think the balokole will be immune from polarisation around the issue.

Q: Suppose it turns out that Kayanja is innocent, what will you do? Will you apologise to him?

A: I really wish it (the accusations) was a dream and I would wake up one day to realise that it never happened, because Kayanja is a significant leader in the body of Christ. But I am deeply distressed because I have heard these allegations since 1996 and they are persistent.

Q: What did you do when you started hearing those allegations?

A: I held an investigation in 1997 when Ivan Kizza, a body guard of Pastor Kayanja, first came and talked to me.

Q: Have you ever raised the issue with Pastor Kayanja?

A: In 1997, when I first investigated and counselled some of the alleged victims, I promptly notified the key balokole leaders I knew. These were Pastor Michael Kyazze, Apostle Alex Mitala and Pastor Fred Wantate.

Q: Why not Kayanja?

A: The Bible says don’t accept an accusation against an elder except when there are two or three witnesses. And talking to a significant leader (like Kayanja) would be like going to State House. I did not feel I was the one who had the competence and relationship to resolve this issue. That is why I talked to these leaders; the elders.

Q: What was their reaction?

A: Mitala and Wantate were shocked. Kyazze was not (shocked) for he had been aware of the same allegations. I am sad that no concrete and appropriate steps were taken to deal with these allegations of sexual abuse.

Q: Initially, you were working closely with Hon. Nsaba Buturo in the fight against homosexuality but it now appears you people are fighting the battle alone.

A: I still work with the minister but we have never worked closely with Kayanja. He has also never come to any of our demonstrations (against homosexuality).

Q: Assuming Kayanja is gay, so what?
A: The question is not whether Pastor Kayanja is gay, but has he sexually abused young boys? If he has, then he needs to apologise to them. He needs to reconcile and walk in the light with them.

Q: How many boys have so far come to you complaining of being sexually harassed?

A: The numbers are substantial enough to raise more than curiosity.

Q: What is the Police investigating you about?

A: I am surprised that the helpers of the victims and the victims are the ones being accused and detained while the accused is sitting at his church drinking tea. That is troubling in the course of justice. They are accusing me of believing Samson Mukisa after he told me that he was forced to change his statement under Police harassment. I even wrote to the internal affairs minister about it (Mukisa’s claim) and featured with the same boy on a UBC TV talk show last Sunday.
When I responded to their summons, the Police interrogated me about the TV show. They also wanted to know whether I had ever said that Kayanja is a homosexual and whether I paid boys to claim that Pastor Kayanja sexually abused them. This is strange. The boys came and complained against Kayanja. They registered their cases independently. Kayanja also registered a complaint that the alleged victims were set up. He is not complaining about the victims who put out their case but us.

Q: But the Police said Kayanja had no charges against him because the earlier complaints had been withdrawn.

A: What bothers me is a question about Police impartiality. The CID last Sunday came out and gave a ruling that Kayanja is cleared of homosexual allegations and that the victims had changed their statements, whereas they indeed had not. Mukisa insisted that he had been forced to change his earlier statement at gunpoint but he still insists he is a victim. That troubles me.
The CID is not there to judge the truth but to investigate facts. I am bothered that the case of victims versus Pastor Kayanja is being deliberately misrepresented to appear like a case of jealousy.
It is also unfair that Kayanja has been free to speak about this case in different media for the last one month and nobody has bothered to stop him. But when we and the victims begin to speak, we are stopped by CID and the TV programmes are shut down.

Q: Your last word?

A: I have confidence that this crisis is an opportunity for the nation and the Church to grow through building on infrastructure that will deal with allegations of abuse.

Ugandans Bold and Loud!!

2009-04-23T23:55:00.000-07:00

Pro-Family activists in Uganda stormed parliament on Thursday protesting against the practice of Homosexuality and demanded a probe into the practice in the country.

The activists who were holding banners denouncing the activity were led by the Family Life Network in conjunction with religious leaders.

The groups led by the Executive Director of Family Life Network, Mr Stephen Langa while handing over their petition to the Deputy Speaker,Ms Rebecca Kadaga said the Parliamentary select committee should also assess the extent of the damage homosexuality has caused to children and Ugandans.

“The serious threat that homosexuality poses to the stability and survival of the family and the social fabric of the nation has come to light in the recent past. This threat is real and has the potential to destabilize the country socially, politically and health wise,” Mr Langa said.

A group of religious leaders, parents and students demonstrate over Homosexuality. Photo by Joseph Kiggundu

The petitioners said that former agents of homosexuality have told them how they use coercion and manipulation to recruit unsuspecting innocent children and students into homosexuality and lesbianism.
“These groups have a clear and long term strategy to influence every sector of society to impose their deviant values on the whole society,” reads the petition in part.
Mr Langa said the homosexuals under the group Sexual Minorities Uganda spend huge sums of money to recruit University students and those in secondary schools into homosexuality. They did not give details.

“It has been appalling and disgusting to witness the audacity of homosexual and lesbian groups and activists operating freely in the country with total disregard and disrespect of our law which up to now criminalises homosexuality,” reads the petition.
The petitioners demanded that the government amends the Constitution to openly prohibit homosexuality, bisexuality, trans sexuality and other related practices.
“Parliament should also put in place measures that would ensure that no organization or person teaches things that would fall in the arena of family and sexuality without the approval of the ministry of Education,’’ she said.
Ms Kadaga said she would allow a motion to be moved on the floor of Parliament next week on the matter.

The petitioners moved around town with posters denouncing homosexuality.
Those that participated in the demonstration included university students, representatives from Church of Uganda, the catholic church, the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council, traders and born again pastors; Martin Ssempa and David Kiganda.

Harvard AIDS Expert Says Pope is Correct on Condom Distribution Making AIDS Worse

2009-03-22T07:22:00.000-07:00

By John-Henry Westen

March 19, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Edward C. Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, has said that the evidence confirms that the Pope is correct in his assessment that condom distribution exacerbates the problem of AIDS.

"The pope is correct," Green told National Review Online Wednesday, "or put it a better way, the best evidence we have supports the pope's comments."

"There is," Green added, "a consistent association shown by our best studies, including the U.S.-funded 'Demographic Health Surveys,' between greater availability and use of condoms and higher (not lower) HIV-infection rates. This may be due in part to a phenomenon known as risk compensation, meaning that when one uses a risk-reduction 'technology' such as condoms, one often loses the benefit (reduction in risk) by 'compensating' or taking greater chances than one would take without the risk-reduction technology." ( see the full interview with Green here: http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MTNlNDc1MmMwNDM0OTEzMjQ...= )

The full text of Pope Benedict XVI's exchange with the reporter, which has set off a firestorm around the world in the media, has been released by the Vatican press office.

The pope was asked, "Holy Father among the many evils that affect Africa there is also the particular problem of the spread of AIDS. The position of the Catholic Church for fighting this evil is frequently considered unrealistic and ineffective.?"

Benedict XVI replied, "I would say the opposite.

"It is my belief that the most effective presence on the front in the battle against HIV/AIDS is precisely the Catholic Church and her institutions. I think of the Community of Sant' Egidio, which does so much, visibly and invisibly to fight AIDS, of the Camillians, of all the nuns that are at the service of the sick.

"I would say that this problem of AIDS cannot be overcome with advertising slogans. If the soul is lacking, if Africans do not help one another, the scourge cannot be resolved by distributing condoms; quite the contrary, we risk worsening the problem. The solution can only come through a twofold commitment: firstly, the humanization of sexuality, in other words a spiritual and human renewal bringing a new way of behaving towards one another; and secondly, true friendship, above all with those who are suffering, a readiness - even through personal sacrifice - to be present with those who suffer. And these are the factors that help and bring visible progress.

"Therefore, I would say that our double effort is to renew the human person internally, to give spiritual and human strength to a way of behaving that is just towards our own body and the other person's body; and this capacity of suffering with those who suffer, to remain present in trying situations.

"I believe that this is the first response [to AIDS] and that this is what the Church does, and thus, she offers a great and important contribution. And we are grateful to those that do this."

Prominent Ugandan AIDS Activist Thanks Pope for Opposition to Condoms

2009-03-22T07:17:00.001-07:00

Says, "when you look at many of these so called AIDS activists, they are simply in it for the money"

By Hilary White

ROME, March 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A prominent Ugandan AIDS activist says that those who are attacking the pope for his stand against the use of condoms in the fight against the disease have "no credibility." In an e-mail sent to LifeSiteNews.com today, Ssempa thanked Pope Benedict for saying that condoms can exacerbate the problem of HIV/AIDS.

After twenty years as an AIDS prevention activist in Uganda, Martin Ssempa says he has concluded that the real culprit in the spread of the disease "is sexual promiscuity driven by immorality of the heart."

Ssempa, a pastor and government consultant on AIDS prevention, told LifeSiteNews.com, "It is a complete lie for many to say that Uganda has succeeded by a major condom campaign."

Earlier this week, at the start of his trip to Africa, Pope Benedict told reporters that the solution to the AIDS problem is "a spiritual and human renewal bringing a new way of behaving towards one another." Condemnation by the world's media, and the international AIDS and homosexualist organisations, exploded when the pope said, "If the soul is lacking, if Africans do not help one another, the scourge cannot be resolved by distributing condoms; quite the contrary, we risk worsening the problem."

Ssempa told LifeSiteNews.com today that he believes the pope was right. Ssempa has long maintained that this kind of attack on the pope and the Catholic Church's position, that occurs regularly in the press, stems from the hatred and fear in the "AIDS industry" of traditional morality in general and of sexual continence in particular.

"Here in Uganda when AIDS came we did not think it was caused by lack of condoms. No it was the presence of promiscuity. What the Pope is saying is true. It however makes those who are determined to live in a life of promiscuity feel spotlighted," Ssempa said.

Martin Ssempa has spent nearly two decades on the frontline of Uganda's highly successful AIDS prevention program that focuses on encouraging sexual abstinence and fidelity in marriage. "Our successful policy," he said, "always put abstinence and being faithful ahead of any medical products such as condoms and testing."

He questioned the failure of most media outlets to investigate the motives of the international AIDS organisations, saying, "Many of these writers and naysayers, are actually shills in the service of big pharma.

"Many are entangled in lucrative deals to distribute condoms and the more condoms they push out the more money they get. How come no one has ever made a comment on how much money is being made by big pharma out of the whole condom, testing and drug business?

"In fact when you look at many of these so called AIDS activists, they are simply in it for the money," he added.

Uganda's population is mainly Christian, and the message, supported by government-sponsored promotion, that men and women should not engage in extra-marital sex dramatically reduced Uganda's AIDS rate over the last couple decades. Ssempa and other local AIDS activists have frequently decried the interference of US and Europe-based international organizations who reject abstinence and fidelity principles in favor of condoms. This, they say only encourages promiscuity and the spread of the deadly disease. Since the intervention of the international AIDS groups, with their emphasis on condoms and downplaying of abstinence, Uganda's AIDS rate has begun, according to local experts, to "tick back up."

Ssempa co-authored Uganda's successful policy with Dr. Edward Green of Harvard University's Center for Population and Development Studies. Dr. Green told the National Review Online this week that Pope Benedict's assertion that condoms only make the AIDS crisis worse is backed by the research.

"There is," Green said, "a consistent association shown by our best studies, including the U.S.-funded 'Demographic Health Surveys,' between greater availability and use of condoms and higher (not lower) HIV-infection rates."

Ssempa warned that there is no security in using condoms to protect against the AIDS virus. "Those who believe that they can put all their trust in getting a perfect condom in Africa are totally out of sync with the realities of Africa.

"In 2004 August more than 40 million condoms of the Engabu brand were found to be defective and were recalled to be destroyed. This was after a huge public outcry on the condom failures which may have exposed many people to HIV/AIDS in the false hope of security from these latex from China."

Ssempa said that there needs to be a complete rethinking of the reliance on condoms. Citing Dr. Green's work at Harvard, he said, "We must ask the tough question, why does the nations in Africa with the highest condoms correspond with the highest HIV/AIDS? These include Botswana and South Africa who have the first and highest condoms per male, yet their numbers of HIV/AIDS are also the same.

"They are in the top three spots of the nations with the highest HIV/AIDS. On the other hand nations with lower condoms per male per year correspond with lower HIV/AIDS."

Anti-gay bishops meet in Mukono

2008-10-01T07:03:00.000-07:00

By Ganzi Muhanguzi

A TOTAL of 39 bishops, are in the country to defend the Global Anglican Future Conference Movement (GAFCON).

GAFCON is a clergy movement against homosexuality in the Church.

Archbishop Nicholas Okoh from Nigeria, who is also the chairman of the GAFCON Theological Resource Group, said the misrepresentation of Christ and his nature is a threat to the Church.

“The controversy about who Jesus is, almost crippled the Church some time back,” he said.

He urged Christians to follow the Bible and reject popular distortions.

The group is meeting at Uganda Christian University, Mukono.

Uganda’s Archbishop,s Henry Luke Orombi, in August, declared the next 10 years, a decade of mission, urging the Anglican churches to spread the gospel.

Currently in the Anglican Church, the liberal Anglicans, led by Canterbury are in favour of homosexuality, while conservatives, led by Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria are opposed to the move.

Akonola’s group is threatening a break in communion if the Canterbury does not retract their stand.

The Meeting, which ends today, attracted clergy from USA, UK, Australia, South India, South Africa, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda.

Homosexuality is a moral disease

2008-10-01T06:59:00.000-07:00

By Isaac Eyalama (A public health professional and mobilization secretary for the Inter-Faith Rainbow Coalition Against Homosexuality in Uganda)

I write in response to an article by Dr. Paul Semugoma titled “Same sex attraction is not a disease,” that was published in The New Vision of September 18. The issue the writer seems to advocate in his article is the acceptance of this vice. But is such behaviour rational, scientifically functional or detrimental to the high level of civilisation that we have achieved?

By claiming their relationships are normal, homosexuals are trying to influence the Government to legally bless their unions. They hope to indoctrinate society to accept it.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “In the biological evolutionary scale, the more complex the species, the longer the offspring is dependent on its mother for survival from the time of birth to maturity.”

Human beings, at the top of the evolutionary scale, require the most time of all species to reach maturity. This increases the duties of parents to their children. The best chance for the successful development of the child into adulthood occurs when both parents are deeply involved throughout the period of child rearing. Hence, marriage lays the foundation for the traditional nuclear family, whose basic constituents are mother, father and a child, and which is the primary unit for ensuring the procreation of human beings and the preservation of their societies.

Scientifically, sex is a means to an end; the end being the propagation of the human race. This end can never be fulfilled by sex between males or females. Therefore,homosexuality is irrational and illogical.

According to psychiatrists Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung who were objective and unprejudiced, psychologically, homosexuality is abnormal. However, large scale lobbying by homosexuals and certain psychologists biased this scientific field of inquiry hence the truth became masked.

Abnormal sexual preference, even when it becomes ‘normal’ to an individual due to abnormal circumstances can be controlled. Just because certain individuals experience sexual desires towards members of the same sex, because something went wrong in their lives does mean that that their behaviour should be accepted.

There is no doubt that Christianity, Islam and traditional religions in Africa strongly condemn homosexuality. According to the Old Testament and the Koran, the people of Lot’s days were destroyed because they engaged in homosexual behaviour, they did not repent and accepting God’s admonishment (Genesis chapter 13, 14, 18, 19 and the Koran 7: 80-84; 4:16).

In Romans 1:22-27), Paul says: “Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error.”

Studies have shown that homosexuality increases the risk of getting HIV/AIDS. Anal sex can cause rectal bleeding and thereby allowing easy transmission of HIV.

It is estimated that the majority of people with HIV/AIDS in the US today are homosexual or bi-sexual males. According the General Social Survey of the University of Chicago homosexual men were at the highest risk of contracting HIV.

The cost of treating people with HIV/AIDS is high. We must, therefore, mitigate its spread.

Dr. Semugoma argued that homosexuality as a natural phenomenon even in the animal kingdom but a comparison of this vice in men with intellect is not justified. Animals at times kill and eat their offspring. We cannot, therefore, justify the killing of our children just because it happens in the animal kingdom

Common sense, science, logic, psychology and religion have contributed to its civilisation. Homosexuality is irrational, illogical, abnormal and immoral behaviour. However, We should not condemn people who practise homosexuality but rather criticise their behaviour and help them find solutions to their problem.

Ugandan President claims homosexuality is "foreign culture"

2008-09-16T06:55:00.000-07:00

The Ugandan President has spoken of his country's "rejection" of homosexuality during a speech he gave at the wedding of a former MP's daughter.

Yoweri Museveni said the purpose of life was to create children and that homosexuality was a "negative foreign culture."

Uganda is one of the African countries at the centre of a row in the Anglican Communion over homosexuality and the ordination of gay priests that threatens to rip the Anglican Church to shreds.

260 bishops, many of them African, have declined invitations to the Lambeth conference, (the once a decade meeting of Anglican bishops) on the grounds of ordination of woman and gay bishops is immoral and against the teachings of Christ.

The conference began in Canterbury this week. 650 bishops and archbishops are in attendance.

The Archbishop of Uganda, Henry Luke Orombi has already called for all pro-gay bishops to apologise to God. During a press conference he said, "The rift in the Church can only be bridged if the liberal bishops, espousing sexual perversion, repent and return to Christ's teachings."

In June this year, Ugandan Bishop Luzinda condemned homosexuality.

"I have been hearing that gays are demanding that the government should legalise their activities. This is absurd because God created a man and woman so that they can produce and fill this world," Bishop Luzinda said.

"The government should not be tempted to legalise this backward culture which is bound to destroy this country."

"Not all that comes from Europe is superior and must be taken up by us," Bishop Luzinda said.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has also angered liberal members, particularly the US Episcopal Church, for not inviting openly gay bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire to the Lambeth conference.

The plight of Uganda's gay men and lesbians has been highlighted recently, with high profile asylum cases such as Prossy Kakooza championed by Peter Tatchell and LGBT equality groups.

At Pride London earlier this month the Deputy Labour Party Leader and Minister for Equality, Harriet Harman, was booed over the government's high deportation record of gay and lesbian asylum seekers.

Many gay asylum seekers are being deported on the premise that they can continue to pursue their sexuality in the native land if they act "discreetly".

In 2006 a Uganadan newspaper published a list of citizens they believed to be gay. The Red Paper printed 45 first names and professions of people believed to be homosexual men.

During President Museveni's time in office LGBT Ugandans have been repeatedly threatened, harassed or attacked. Many have fled the country.

Ugandan AIDS Commission Chief says homosexuality must be stamped out in schools

2008-09-16T06:53:00.001-07:00

Dr Kihumuro Apuuli, the Ugandan AIDS Commission Chief, has warned the education ministry of that country that homosexuality is "rife" in schools.

Dr Apuuli also urged the education ministry to stamp out homosexuality, and said that parents and guardians must aid them in this, The New Vision reports.

"The practice [of homosexuality] is common among young people between 15 and 24 years," he said.

Dr Apuuli recently returned from the International AIDS Conference in Mexico, and claims that Uganda was under attack by other states due to its conservative stance on gays and lesbians.

"We had quite adverse publicity in Mexico," he said.

"Many speakers condemned our country but I believe we have strong values in terms of behaviour and what we think is right."

At the conference at the beginning of this month, UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon advised nations to "pass laws against homophobia" in order to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Writing in the Washington Times, Ban Ki-Moon continued to urge societies "to speak out against discrimination and to guarantee the rights of people living with HIV."

Lisa Power, Corporate Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Terrence Higgins Trust (THT), was present at the conference.

She recently told PinkNews.co.uk:

"One of the main foci of the conference was the problem in places where there is stigma attached to gay and bisexual men and HIV positive people.

"Basically, until you stop persecuting these people, you can't prevent the spread of HIV.

"This is a problem particularly in some places in Latin America and Africa."

Ugandans should not embrace homosexuality

2008-09-16T05:37:00.000-07:00

By Isaac Eyalama

The New Vision of August 18, quoted President Yoweri Museveni to have saluted the Archbishop of Uganda, the Rev. Henry Luke Orombi, and other African religious leaders for resisting homosexuality, a decadent culture being passed on by the Western nations.

We have always been asked why we concern ourselves with homosexual issues or same-sex marriages when they do not affect us. Why not just live and let live? Some people ask

We oppose legalisation of same-sex marriages or the promotion of homosexuality because, as examples from around the world show, homosexual activists are not content to just “live and let live.”

They are seeking to make it illegal for anyone to teach that homosexuality is not natural or that it is not good for anyone’s health since studies show medical risks associated with homosexual lifestyle. Neither do they want anybody to teach that it is morally wrong.

Homosexual activists are seeking to force churches to stop teaching their longstanding beliefs regarding homosexuality. They are trying to make it illegal or to be considered unethical for therapists to treat unwanted same-sex attraction because everytime someone is successfully treated, it destroys their claim that homosexual behaviour is genetic and inevitable. Worse still, they want to recruit our children though sex education programs.

In essence, they want to mainstream homosexuality throughout the world through laws, polices, harassment and intimidation. They want to prevent anyone saying anything negative about their sexual activities.

We must fight because the future of our families, our faith and many of our freedoms are at stake.

What happens in one country can affect many other countries as legal precedence is established and homosexual activists become emboldened in their demands.

We cannot sit on the sidelines; we must all engage in this battle now.

All Ugandans and Africans should join the President and religious leaders in this cause and support the various initiatives to preserve and protect marriage and religious freedom and to stop the homosexual agenda from changing our continent.

Arise Uganda, Homosexuality is eating you up

2008-09-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

Ugandans, please arise and make a difference. It is time take action and take steps to stop homosexuality from expanding, read the comments of these high school students and know what danger we have in our schools, everywhere. Please pray, and act, talk to your children, write to head teachers, and take care of what you expose your teens to.

I know parents are always the first to point fingers at schools but have you played your part? Parents have failed to. give their children parental guidance; sex education and enough love and care; they haven't taught their children various virtues patience, contentment and selflessness. This exposes children to wrong sex education from uncensored movies that you have not cared to sieve. If you didn't know, teens are emulating what they see in those movies.

The children, especially teenagers who have a lot of demands, go in for homosexuality because they have been promised money and sponsorship to universities abroad.

Parents deny their children a chance to interact with the opposite sex thinking it is bad but all they are creating are bigger problems. Most parents do not interact with their children so they do not get a chance to .listen to their challenges and know their friends. If your child's friends are homosexuals, chances are that your child is the next target. You have thrown all these responsibilities to the teachers at school.

For heavens sake, teachers have their own families and they are dealing with a large number of students. How can they handle each child at a personal level? It is these loopholes that are creating space for this evil to spread in schools. When a homosexual is expelled, parents complain claiming that expulsion is not the solution to the problem.

This featured in New Vision Teen Magazine

But when a homosexual student is retained by the school on condition that he/she will be counseled, complaints from parents arise in fear for their children!!! Therefore, what should be done? You know, homosexuality is a very sensitive issue and it has other underlying causes like Western influences, pornography, mass media, material gain, betrayal by the opposite sex, mental illness and permissiveness.

I only meant to open our eyes to avoid the business of painting fingers at schools; there are greater causes. Pointing fingers does not solve the problem; let's look for solutions to eradicate this fast spreading moral disaster that is spreading thrice as fast as the school fires. Together, we shall fight if there is hope for the teenagers, a brighter future and a homosexual free environment.

Messages from Students

PATRICIA AJUMA, S4, STELLA MARIS COLLEGE NSUBE

Homosexuality is more rampant in boys' schools. Many boys are sexually active so they begin admiring each other and practicing these weird tendencies.

I do not know about the boys but girls involved in lesbianism are too much into each other. They call each other sweetheart and carry for each other water to the bathroom. Personally I believe expulsion is not enough. These people need to be counseled by professionals

JONATHAN WANDERA, S.6, KIIRA COLLEGE BUTIKI

I have read about homosexuality in the press and I have heard of massive expulsions of homosexuals from many schools.

I think it is more common in single sex schools because they do not interact with the opposite sex. It is worse in boys' schools because boys are easily influenced by many things. Boys in higher classes usually take advantage of younger ones in lower classes and force them into homosexuality.

Schools should do more in educating students about the dangers of homosexuality. Parents should be involved more in their children’s lives ,so they guide them. Imprisonment does not change or help matters. Counseling does.

PETER PARKER RANCHEZY OS-COL,19 KAMPALA

WHOEVER believes that homosexuality does not occur in schools is like the proverbial ostrich which buries its head in the sand.

A friend told me he used to practice homosexuality at their school until he developed complications down there. I did not believe him because I did not expect a friend to be homosexual. He told me it was because of money given to him by his ‘sponsor’, a white guy. I think school authorities should be very strict when it comes to homosexuality because it is a movement. Teachers and health officials should examine both boys and girls suspected of this act, and when evidence is got, they should be handed over to the Police. Such strong meassuere will deter many from practicing it.

SANDRA ASIZU S4, ST JOSEPH’S GIRLS NSAMBYA

Friends from other schools tell me of girls who have been expelled from their schools because thy are suspected of lesbianism. I think the best way of handling this is by counseling the girls other than expulsion. Counselling them about the dangers of homosexuality is enough to deter many from it. I do not buy the argument the people are born homosexuals. God was not foolish to create man and woman. School authorities should get very serious with the so called…

HALID AKANKWANSA, SEROMA CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL

I believe teachers know about homosexuality but keep quiet because they want to protect the reputation of their schools.

The onus is on the government. School inspectors should inspect single sex schools. To stop this habit from taking root in schools, I think it should be a school policy for single sex schools to kill the monotony. Socials should be held ever weekend so girls can interact with boys.

FELIX MUKUNZI, MBARARA HIGH SCHOOL.

I will say homosexuality exists in schools number of my friends from other schools have testified to it. They say that the homosexuals behave. walk (in a certain way. gug additions!)

MARY NAJJUMA sS3, ENTEBBE SECONDARY SCHOOL

A Rwandese guy in my former school was a homosexual. Of course it was known in the student’s circles and boys in his dormitory knew that he was gay but none of them reported him to the school authorities. He was girlish in everything he did, for instance he liked hugging boys tenderly.

I think silence has favored homosexuality. I think the more that students chose to keep quiet about it fuels its spread. Open discourses are better than shunning the culprits because they never change. Maybe though talk, they will realize that they are damaging their bodies.

Ssempa rewarded for anti-gay crusade

2008-09-15T08:31:00.000-07:00

By Joyce Namutebi

DR. Martin Ssempa, a pastor at Makerere Community Church, has received an award for his fight against homosexuality.

Ssempa and his wife Tracey received the plague from Apostle Alex Mitala, the overseer of the National Fellowship of Born Again Churches in Uganda.

This was during the “Great Marriage Celebration” organised by the National Association of Marriage Enhancement in conjunction with the National Fellowship of Born Again Pentecostal Churches in Uganda at Nakivubo Stadium over the weekend.

Mitala led hundreds of couples who converged at the stadium from various parts of the country into a prayer for Ssempa to continue being the torch-bearer in the fight against the vice in Uganda.

“You are not fighting alone. We are with you,” Mitala said.

He said homosexuality was one way of making the world extinct.

“When men marry each other and women marry women, clans and tribes become extinct,” Mitala noted.

Bishop Michael Mugerwa, the organiser of the celebrations, urged couples to continue the fight against homosexuality, saying marriage was made for man and woman.

Ssempa thanked the Christians for standing by him and said he was encouraged by their support to continue with his campaign.

He proposed the establishment of a national marriage alliance to counter homosexuality.

Ssempa said the alliance would also discuss problems concerning marriage in Uganda.

Dr. Joseph Serwadda, the patron of Churches in Communities, asked the Government to consider declaring a national day for married people.

Pr. Robert Kayanja of Lubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral urged husbands to listen to their wives, saying that God can use them to bring blessings in their families.

Miss HIV launched all over...

2008-09-03T07:28:00.000-07:00

Miss HIV explores the international collision of HIV/AIDS policies while following the journey of two HIV-positive women who enter the contest in Botswana. Filmed across Africa and the international AIDS conference in Toronto this explosive ethnographic film shares both sides of an ideology struggle. What is happening in Botswana, where half of all pregnant women have HIV, is set against Uganda who has experienced the largest reductions of new infections ever recorded. Unlike any film you've ever seen on AIDS, the story takes you backstage to the Miss HIV pageant and behind the curtain on what is really happening in the war against a virus that is now the leading killer of people under 60 in the world.

What is gradually revealed is, in part, the absurdity and hypocrisy of an ideology that is built upon the idea of radical human freedom, and that seeks to normalize HIV in order to erase "stigma", but that in turn stigmatizes anyone who even suggests abstinence or fidelity may be a solution to what is, after all, a sexually-transmitted disease.

As Martin Ssempa, the electric young Ugandan pastor who has been so instrumental in reducing HIV rates in his country, says, "You know what I find? I find that these guys have an irrational fear of abstinence. I mean they're paranoid. When you say the word abstinence they go 'Arraghagh! Stop!' And then, if you really want to get them riled up, say something about faithful in marriage. They want to pull their hair out!"

NewVision Awards Dr. Martin Ssempa

2008-06-30T23:27:00.000-07:00

Harriette Onyalla
Kampala

Pastor Martin Ssempa, Jesse Okot , Francis Kigobe, Maria Baryamujura, Abdu Lutaaya, Musa Wakibi's son and Mwalimu Musheshe show off their certificates

SELF doubt. You cannot help following your heart anymore. You can no longer stand by and watch things continue the way they are. You cannot deny the fact that you do not exactly fall in the 'rich' bracket.You decide to start a project to change your community and many times you want to give up but your heart will not let you. And then someone comes along and says your efforts are, indeed, great. You are making a difference in your community. That was the mood in The New Vision conference room recently. Here were 10 Ugandans whom other Ugandans thought were making a difference in their communities in different ways. Francis Kigobe chose to build a library. Catherine Mwesigwa, The New Vision's Features Editor put it aptly: "Kigobe chose to donate to other young people an opportunity he did not have when he was young."

.........

Pastor Martin Ssempa of Makerere preaches sexual restraint and abstinence to young people. He says sex is a beautiful thing if it is done at the right time in the right place, that place is called marriage. "If you want a child to take their medicine without a fight, make it look beautiful that is why most syrups are pink, add there some sugar to make it sweet. That is why I am now a 'cool' guy. Young people now know abstaining from sex can be fun," he says.

Ssempa emerged second runner-up, taking home sh500,000. While parents and the youths at Makerere University, who flock Pastor Ssempa's Prime Time evenings every Saturday appreciate his message, some people, especially the donor community, think he should preach condoms as well. Not bad, one would say, but how do you preach condoms and abstinence using the same platform?

Pro-gay activists arrested at AIDS meet

2008-06-04T23:29:00.000-07:00

By Arthur Baguma
and Patrick Ogwang

GAY rights demonstrators beat security and sneaked into the venue of a global HIV/AIDS meeting at the Imperial Royale Hotel yesterday but ended up under Police arrest.

A woman and two men beat the security detail and sneaked with placards and a 67-page document soliciting for funding of their activities in Uganda. The activists, now detained at Jinja Road Police Station, were identified as Pepe Juliana Onzema, a freelance journalist, Usaam Mukwaaya and Valantini Katende.

Police spokesperson Simeo Nsubuga described them as intruders. “We are looking at a case of criminal trespass against them. They are not delegates and were not invited. They did not have accreditation cards.”

The suspects, he said, had placards calling on the participants to consider gays in the planning and prevention of HIV/AIDS.

“Gay Ugandans also need HIV prevention”, read one placard. Another said: “Since 1983 up to 2008 zero shillings to HIV prevention for gay Ugandans”.

Anti-gay campaigner Pastor Martin Sempa termed the incident as unfortunate. “These people are illegal. They are in a wrong place and a wrong forum. In Uganda, we don’t have a place for such people.”

Earlier, the demonstrators managed to distribute their document to some of the delegates, drawn from across the globe.
In the paper, the gays urged the donors and other funding agencies to help reduce the rate of infection and to alleviate the suffering of anyone infected and affected by AIDS.

Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda under the Penal Code and is categorized as an unnatural practice. Ethics minister Dr. Nsaba Buturo has condemned gay activities.

The document said the gays are organized under four organizations namely Freedom and Roam Uganda, Integrity Uganda, Icebreakers Uganda and Spectrum Initiatives Uganda.

The meeting opened on Tuesday and drew over 1,700 participants from over 70 countries. President Yoweri Museveni opened the conference. He called for a

To Vote Obama is to kiss Death

2008-06-04T00:50:00.000-07:00

To the voters in America, you should know that to vote the man getting more popularity, and actually now Democratic Nominee, come November is to kiss death, as he is the biggest supporter of the violation of the fundamental human right to life.

In a research carried out by NARAL Pro-Choice America on who is the most pro-abortion presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) emerged the winner of thus dubious distinction.

The Illinois senator scored a major coup yesterday when NARAL endorsed him as its choice for President. The decision surprised the abortion faithful because it signals a major break between NARAL and their ally Emily's List, which has supported Clinton since the early days of her campaign.

The two groups went toe-to-toe in this morning's press, sparring over which candidate is the most radical on their issue. "I think it is tremendously disrespectful to Sen. Clinton," said Emily's List President Ellen Malcolm. "[She helped force] approval of Plan B and... spoke so eloquently during the Supreme Court nomination about the importance of protecting Roe v. Wade..." Both Clinton and Obama scored a 100% on the voting scorecard of abortion interest groups. Both have voted against a partial-birth abortion ban. But only one has the ability to win, and NARAL's money will literally be on Obama.

To pundits, this is yet another indication that the sun is setting on Clinton's candidacy. To us, it confirms that no matter who prevails, the Democratic nominee will be the most radical pro-abortion candidate this country has ever seen.
So Voters be ware, save your nation, save the future, respect the fundamental human rights of every being, born or yet to be born.

Ugandans Battle Amakula's Homosexual Agenda

2008-05-17T09:19:00.000-07:00

Film buffs at the just-concluded Fifth Amakula Kampala International Film Festival must have wondered why the film showcase did not start on time last Thursday.

Most had come early to the National Theatre to watch Ugandan filmmaker George Sengendo’s works Adopted Twins and Dangerous Decisions scheduled to show in the morning.

Unbeknownst to them, Pastor Martin Ssempa had thrown a spanner in the festival works and had petitioned the Broadcast Council about the impending screening of a gay-themed movie The Watermelon Woman at 10.15p.m. that day in the Green Room. The Broadcast Council forwarded the complaint to the Media Council who summoned the festival organisers and asked that they preview the controversial film first.

The Watermelon Woman is a loosely constructed faux documentary about black lesbian filmmaker’s obsession with obscure silent film star. Reel.com says it’s the kind of film that would be much appreciated by those seeking mix of tongue-in-cheek humour with thought-provoking exploration of gender, race and identity.

The Media Council then decided that the film contained a lewd lesbian act that was not palatable for public consumption and its secretary Mr Paul Mukasa requested that they suspend the film but that the festival could go on.

Another gay-themed film, Rag Tag by Nigerian born filmmaker Adaora Nwandu had already shown on Tuesday May 6 at 10.10p.m. at the festival before Ssempa’s raised his complaints. Rag Tag is short for Raymond and Tagbo. It is about two inseparable Afro-Brit teenagers who reunite after years of separation.

During a trip to Nigeria they realise that their feelings for each other are more than just friendship. The film paints itself as a depiction of how empty and suffocating life can be for gay Black people.

The fiery Pastor Ssempa has gone on to say that Hivos, a Dutch organisation that is one of the festival’s prime sponsors is also an active pusher of the gay agenda. Festival director Alice Smits who has often been on the receiving end of Pastor Ssempa’s anti-gay activism resents his militant approach to fighting homosexuality which does not promote dialogue.

The two clashed at the Commonwealth People’s Space last November after Ssempa mobilised youth to push Ms Smits off the venue where the Amakula Kampala Cultural Foundation had organised a debate between pro and anti-gay activists.

The halting of The Watermelon Woman’s screening may look like an extension of the personal vendetta between Ssempa and Smits but Ssempa insists that Smits is offending African culture, the Christian faith and breaking our laws in using the festival to push the gay agenda. “There are sections of the Penal Code that condemn homosexuality and indecency which those two films are all about,” says Ssempa.

He would prefer that the Media Council took a more proactive approach to ridding society of this “seedy, dirty, filth” that is on TV and in most films coming out of Hollywood today. “The absence of the censorship board is the reason everyone feels they can bring their filth here.

Hivos and Amakula are computer programmes that may have good content but are embedded with viruses. As civil society, we need stronger anti-viruses to inoculate ourselves against them even as they get more sophisticated,” says Ssempa.

Media Council’s Mukasa knows the regulatory body ought to play a more proactive role. “But you must understand that like most institutions of our kind like the police, someone has to report first,” says Mukasa. He, however, urges restraint in civil society’s pursuit of the anti-gay agenda.

Amakula’s Smit is rather surprised at the whole hullabaloo about the two gay films at this year’s festival. “We are not out to push any gay agenda. The focus this year was on pictures by African filmmakers and the diversity of subjects they are exploring. We showed over 300 films and it is not that the two gay films were pornographic so in my opinion, Amakula did not break any of the laws Ssempa is talking about,” says Smits.

California Marriage Law: Judges respect the majority vote!!

2008-05-16T07:21:00.000-07:00

By Aaron Kirunda

After a brief period of judicial restraint, California voters watched in horror this afternoon as judicial activism returned with a vengeance in one of the most egregious rulings in American jurisprudence.
It took just four activist judges to overturn the historical definition of marriage, not to mention the vote of more than four and a half million Californians, as the state supreme court issued a much-anticipated ruling on the question of same-sex "marriage." By a 4-3 margin, the justices struck down a law, adopted by 61 percent of voters in 2000, which defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
By imposing same-sex "marriage" on voters, the California Supreme Court knowingly usurped the right of the people to effect change in public policy. This outcome is even more troubling than Massachusetts', in that California voters had already won the right to put a marriage protection amendment on the ballot in November.
If the court cared at all about the democratic process, it would have stayed its decision until the people's voice was heard on the November amendment. Instead, these justices trampled on the legislature and created same-sex marriage by judicial fiat. This is nothing more than a judicial shotgun wedding that forces a redefinition of marriage on the people of California and potentially the rest of the nation.
We trust that the voters of California will act in November to correct this exercise in judicial activism and to permanently enshrine the traditional definition of marriage in the state constitution. Clearly, this decision highlights the need for a federal amendment defining marriage in the U.S. Constitution. Only then will this campaign to shatter the family's foundation be ended once and for all.

To Vote Obama is to kiss Death

2008-05-16T07:20:00.000-07:00

To the voters in America, you should know that to vote the man getting more popularity come November is to kiss death, as he is the biggest supporter of the violation of the fundamental human right to life. In a research carried out by NARAL Pro-Choice America on who is the most pro-abortion presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) emerged the winner of thus dubious distinction.
The Illinois senator scored a major coup yesterday when NARAL endorsed him as its choice for President. The decision surprised the abortion faithful because it signals a major break between NARAL and their ally Emily's List, which has supported Clinton since the early days of her campaign.
The two groups went toe-to-toe in this morning's press, sparring over which candidate is the most radical on their issue. "I think it is tremendously disrespectful to Sen. Clinton," said Emily's List President Ellen Malcolm. "[She helped force] approval of Plan B and... spoke so eloquently during the Supreme Court nomination about the importance of protecting Roe v. Wade..." Both Clinton and Obama scored a 100% on the voting scorecard of abortion interest groups. Both have voted against a partial-birth abortion ban. But only one has the ability to win, and NARAL's money will literally be on Obama.
To pundits, this is yet another indication that the sun is setting on Clinton's candidacy. To us, it confirms that no matter who prevails, the Democratic nominee will be the most radical pro-abortion candidate this country has ever seen.
So Voters be ware, save your nation, save the future, respect the fundamental human rights of every being, born or yet to be born.

Ugandan AIDS Activist's Facts Trounce UN Official Claim that Catholic Church to Blame for AIDS Crisis

2008-05-15T08:36:00.000-07:00

Martin Ssempa states that the opposite is true

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

A United Nations official charged with overseeing AIDS prevention programs in Central America is blaming the Catholic Church's condemnation of contraception for the perpetuation of the disease.

Alberto Stella, Coordinator for the United Nations AIDS (UNAIDS) program in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Costa Rica, told Reuters recently that "In Latin America the use of condoms has been demonized, but if they were used in every relation I guarantee the epidemic would be resolved in the region." He attributed this "demonization" to the influence of Catholicism, according to the news agency.

Martin Ssempa, a Ugandan AIDS activist who has long decried the United Nation's anti-abstinence position, denounced the statement in an interview with LifeSiteNews.

"There is absolutely no scientific evidence to back up what Mr. Alberto is saying," said Ssempa. "Condoms have not reduced HIV-AIDS anywhere in the world...in fact, to the contrary, higher condoms across Africa have resulted in higher HIV. If we look across Africa, the countries with the highest condoms, they include Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, these are the countries which also have higher HIV. And if we look at countries with less condoms, such as Uganda, Senegal, Kenya, these are the countries also with less HIV."

Ssempa noted that "UNAIDS is demonizing the Catholic Church unfairly. In fact, in countries where the Catholic Church is strong, there is lower HIV than places where the Catholic Church is not. Higher condoms have not resulted in lower HIV. In fact, it is the contrary."

As LifeSiteNews reported earlier this year, statistics bear out Ssempa's contention. Reporter Hillary White noted on March 5th that "2003 statistics from the World Factbook of the US Central Intelligence Agency, shows Burundi at 62% Catholic with 6% AIDS infection rate. Angola's population is 38% Roman Catholic and has 3.9% AIDS rate. Ghana is 63% Christian, with in some regions as much as 33% Catholic and has 3.1% AIDS rate. Nigeria, divided almost evenly between the strongly Muslim north and Christian and "animist" south, has 5.4% AIDS rate" (see article at http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/mar/07030610.html).

Despite its insistence on promoting condom use over abstinence, Ssempa notes that "UNAIDS has no success story. UNAIDS cannot point at any country where they have given advice and that country has brought HIV down." Even the World Bank has conceded the problem, he said.

Ssempa speculates that, as with the scandalous oil-for-food program, UN officials may be benefiting from relationships with pharmaceutical companies that produce the condoms.

"I am suspicious of the UNAIDS relationship with condom companies, in light of recent oil-for-food scandals and the corruption that has been exposed in the UN, I am suspicious about...the cause of UNAIDS officials spending billions of dollars on condoms without any evidence to back them up," he told LifeSiteNews.

Dr. Edward C. Green, a research scientist at the Harvard Center for Population and Development, has also speculated about economic motives behind the puzzling support for methods that have proven ineffective in preventing AIDS transmission. "It is by no means clear that empirical evidence can overcome ideological blinders or compete with the big business in pharmaceutical products that AIDS prevention has become," he wrote in a recent article for the Weekly Standard.

Homosexuals, Please have some common sense!!!

2008-05-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

By Aaron Kirunda

I condemn absolutely the actions of the University of Toledo for firing an associate Vice President of Human resources, Crystal Dixon because she "challenged the civil rights comparison of race with homosexual behavior, saying that science has never found a genetic cause or DNA for homosexuality. She said many gay people have overcome unwanted homosexual feelings as evidenced by the growing population of PFOX and ex-gay organizations."

Homosexuals and their supporters should have some common sense and stop taking the law in their hands. This in itself is abuse of human rights, they have abused her human right to freedom of expression.

Homosexuals should also know that the practice of homosexuality is abuse of the fundamental human right to life. All homosexuals and lesbians deny unborn children from being born, they kill their own potential of being fathers and mothers and thus breaching the fundamental human right to life of those would be world changers.

The world should know that such actions as Homosexuality and lesbianism are leading to the end of the world. Human beings are supposed to reproduce themselves and if they cannot because they are marrying each other, the next generation will have no people. This takes me to a point of wondering why homosexuals and lesbians go ahead to adopt kids, i thought by marrying from the same sex they hate kids and do not want to have kids, who do they think will produce for them to adopt when God gave them the organs to reproduce.

It is time the world learned from history, history has it that the two cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of their sodomy (homosexual acts. They were destroyed by fire and the more we continue to embrace this more than barbaric behavior we are putting ourselves in the position to be destroyed by fire. This is because God is God and it does not matter whether you believe in him, his existence and authority or you do not, he remains supreme.

So whoever is practicing homosexuality should watch out!!!!!

Penalties for provocative dressing approved

2008-05-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

By Robert Mushabe

Following continuing reports of provocative and seductive dressing by Makerere female students, the University has come up with clear penalties to curb the situation.

"The penalties include, written warnings, public apologies and suspensions have also been approved," Pr.Martin Sempa said.

The penalties apply to all students, academic staff, administration and support staff of the University. This comes as a result of male students claiming that girls do not seduce lecturers only but also them.

Pr.Martin Sempa, head of Makerere Community Centre Church stressed the importance of
Pastor Martin Sempa. Photo/File

a conducive environment for bit students and staff.

The body charged with the duty to ensure that these policies are implemented will fall under the Anti-sexual Harassment Committee led by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Livingston Luboobi. It also consists of student leaders and representatives from staff.

Last month, local dailies ran headlines that were of great concern to not only the University administration but the student community as well.

Pr.Sempa urged female students to always use dressing codes that tally with events in question. He advised them not to go to the lecture rooms putting on mini-skirts.

The policies received mixed reactions from the student community.

Tom Kakuru, a first year Industrial Psychology student, supports the new policies."Let them be implemented. We and our Lecturers are suffering because girl dress provocatively to entice us."

Former University Guild, Susan Abbo, accepts that students dress that way to take the attention of men.

"When I was in my first year, I also used to dress in that way but it was not interesting. I argue girls to be morally upright," Abbo said.

Allan Tacca’s “all pastors are fraud” is biased and fraudulent.

2007-08-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

Dr. Martin Ssempa

Allan Tacca’s article reminds me of my neighbor who carefully dumps his sewage into the public rainwater drainage whenever it rains. Unfortunately the smell of sewage is greatly odious and his trick has been figured out to his embarrassment. You just cant dump your you know what into the rain trenches. The local council has busted him and made sure he builds himself a personal sewer. No more free dumping in our rain gutters.

Allan Tacca in his article, “I say all Pentecostal pastors are frauds” in monitor of July 22 2007, uses the current rain storm against a few clearly identified fraudulent pastors, to “dump” his bias and hostility to God and religion squarely at my feet. He makes sweeping un-researched statements, which essentially tarnish my image ending with a charge of being “fraudulent” and a profiteer for leading a prayer meeting of university students.

Of course Allan is entitled to his opinion. He has right to be an Atheist as he has claimed in earlier writings, but he cannot use the platform of a newspaper which is owned by a major religious leader of Islam to insult all of us who look back to Abraham as our father, (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). He claims that we are ignorant, faddish and superstitious for believing that there is God (Allah) who has a divine agenda with a calendar dedicated to human affairs! I am surprised that this would actually be allowed to run in a paper owned by His highness the Agha Khan, who is a leader of millions of Muslims worldwide. Don’t Muslims break the Ramadan fast due to the movement of the calendar of the moon? Aren’t there special days of prayer such as Juma on Friday, Sabbath on Saturday and Resurrection worship on Sundays for Christians? Doesn’t God bless and hallow the seventh day of creation in Genesis 2? What is so fraudulent with holding prayers on the days of 7.7.07?

Allan Tacca creates the impression that the meeting was a time of material sowing and pastoral profiteering. We have never held a meeting for the purpose of pastoral profit making. In fact Allan should know that it is a contradiction to have a meeting of undergraduates with the aim of making money. A simple common sense will tell you that college students are not exactly the population to target when you are looking for money. In fact for the last 7 years we have held a meeting called primetime, which brings in thousands of college students but we have never held a financial collection. It is odious for Allan to allege that the reason we do meetings for college age students is to make money. Allan will be a better writer if he can actually do his homework on the stories he is writing about.

Allan alleges that I manipulate our followers with “weird” bizarre performances and 120-decibel psychedelic sounds, which affect the brain activities of the people who come to our meetings. It sounds like we are running some kind of communist brain washing camp. We don’t have weird performances and neither does our sound go to 120 decibels. These are grotesque distortions of the reality, which Allan makes to win Monitors readers away from faith in God. Allan is not only misinformed, he is prejudiced against the existence of God.

Allan in his atheistic fanaticism calls being born again “grotesque paganism!” This is not complaint about alleged criminal activity of the likes of Obiri Yebua and Kitaka. It is an all out attack of bias, hostility and religious intolerance by a columnist who happens to write for one of the world’s most influential religious leaders! This is an insult on people of faith everywhere. Allan’s atheism rejects the possibility of God and prayer. Consequently he wants me to renounce the fact that anyone can intercede in prayer on behalf of others to “God”. Well too bad, Allan’s Atheism does neither diminish not remove the reality of Gods existence. In fact the bible calls him a “fool” who says that there is no God.

Allan ends his articles by insulting all Ugandan parents and teachers who teach their children the fear of God. These, which are more than 96 per cent of the population, are called illiterate, dangerous mind controllers who “parrot religious hogwash”. Of course Allan is entitled to his opinion as an atheist, but he is entering into hostile waters when he begins to insult as all those who have a faith in God. Is Allan aware that he is writing for the Agha Khan’s paper?

I don’t deny that there re few pastors who have given us evidence to think that there may be frauds and criminal activity. These must therefore be fully investigated, prosecuted and face the arm of the law. Every profession has a few ghost soldiers, ghost teacher and even ghost members of PGB. Even in the Born again, there are few ghost pastors who are fraudulent. This does not mean that all Pastors are therefore fraud. In fact, faith and prayer to God is not a fraud rather the very primary universal conclusion of any humble man and woman who has looked at creation and realized there is creator called God. Having conversation with God is called prayer, and is not a strange idea.

Maybe next time Allan wants to pour out his rant against God, he should not be cowardly like my neighbor who waits for the rain to illegally release his sewage in the public rain trenches. If Allan has a problem with God or Allah, let him just write an article with boldness called “God or Allah is a fraud”.

Violent strikes in schools a result of no punishment for students

2007-08-03T08:31:00.000-07:00

I wonder why no one has failed to correlate the emergency of violent strikes in schools and the abolition of corporal punishments. The Ministry of Education and sports abolished corporal punishments in schools on June 16th 1997. This decision was not preceded by a scientific study rather it was due to biased and well-funded efforts of the anti-God, Atheistic, pro-homosexual organization called the International humanist and Ethical Union. A simple google search will show them bragging of how they succeeded in duping Uganda to ban any form of discipline which inflicted pain from our Schools.

From several conversations I have had with ministry of Education starting with Fagil Mandy, and Ministers of education, I have never received a well-founded reason for the disempowerment of the teachers by removing of discipline and punishment in cases of violations of school guidelines and rules. Many of us who were punished in school by caning were taught discipline instilled through reasonable fear of pain. In its absence, we have now reached a place where students don’t care about the words of teachers, and are very violent to an extent that the police now have to settle these cases.

This trend of violent education environment is common in countries where corporal punishment is removed. Case in point is the many public schools in United States where teachers are even afraid for their safety from out of control students! No amount of psychologists, counseling and Ritalin has been able to control this.

The big publicity of abuses of corporal punishment was used to dupe the educationalist. No study was done on the negative effects of removing this discipline, which was useful in ensuring compliance to the school guidelines. When the director of education Dr. John Mbabazi on August 7, 2006, directed schools to review their respective rules and introduce "more professional and acceptable sanctions to replace manual labor and caning" he did not really empower teachers with another effective method to deal with discipline in schools. So teachers are now simply dogs, which bark but cannot bite. Students now routinely callously break the rules; smoke in teachers faces knowing that teachers cannot really do anything about it.

These guidelines have also created a climate of fear to the teachers. Mbabazi warned teachers "Where these guidelines are ignored, the culprits (teachers) will be held criminally responsible for their actions. They will have to face the laws including the teacher's Code of Conduct. Since then several teachers have been arrested and are now in jail for daring to instill discipline in the students. No wonder now that we are having these violent strikes.

In Botswana they had banned corporal punishments for several years but had to legally re-introduce it back in schools after realizing that its removal resulted in very costly and dangerous violence in schools. In January 2004 Gojwane residents in the central district welcomed the reintroduction of corporal punishment in schools to curb outward behavior. Instead of altogether throwing out the baby with the birth water, Botswana ministry of education issued guidelines to ensure that caning does not result in abuse. "Caning should be 'moderate and reasonable and shall be administered only on the palm of the hand or across the buttocks with a light cane not more than a meter long and at the thickest end, not more than a centimeter in diameter."

In addition to remove sexually motivated caning, they said, "No male teacher except the school head shall inflict corporal punishment upon a female student. The punishment were to be recorded in a register and every entry in the register shall be signed by the person who administered it and the person who witnessed it." Botswana's policy makers gave guidelines ensuring that caning is not excessive or abused to the extent of impinging on the dignity of the child.

No wonder the schools that have caning in Uganda have always done better both academically and in terms of discipline than those without caning. Instead of wondering if we need more communication, or putting children in decision-making places, a good place to start is for policy makers in the ministry of education to institute a rigorous and scientific study in the relationship between the removal of caning in schools and the sudden rise in school violence in the same time. Perhaps we may have to swallow our pride and say that we were mistaken by the questionable intentions of the human ethicists and go back to what we know works in Africa. "It takes a village to raise a child".

Dr. Martin Ssempa.
The write is a doctor of public health and service. He is a pastor, broadcaster and mentor of young people

THE BEGINNING OF A NEW SUPER SEASON

2007-08-02T07:09:00.000-07:00

777, that is the 7th day of the 7th month of the 7th month of this millennium is a very significant and unusual of our calendars. Though many went through it without noticing its great importance, the discerning noticed the beginning of a new season, a super season. Christians understand that 7 is God’s number of perfection, completion and rest. 777 was a prophetic day with prophetic significance symbolizing the season of 7 we live in.

Makerere Community Church under the leadership of P r. Dr. Martin Ssempa pursued the prophetic revelation of the day, because they sensed something powerful surrounding its destiny. Dr. Ssempa, though with a Baptist background, God has done a great work in him and the church to appreciate the prophetic. “We now have prophetic dancers, make room for prophetic dreams, visions and revelations which are tested by our elders before they are given prominence. There is more than I can explain.” Dr. Ssempa said.

Prior to the day, a 40-day prayer fast was declared as a period of preparation of the bride. This had never been done before but it had to be done. “We had never done a fast this long.” Dr. Ssempa said. “It really wore on my members who are mostly college students.” “These guys gave of themselves even during their exams with daily lunchtime prayer meetings, and weekly overnight meeting.” He added. Many had special overnight prayer meetings all the week and there was such momentum. The church members prayed and wept for the sin in the church. There was confession for the church and the nations preceding the day. “In the last 21 days we got more confirmation that the rainbow was Gods symbol of seven for the season.” Dr. Ssempa said.

According to Dr. Steven Ogan in his book "The prophetic significance of the year 2007" the rainbow serves as a sign for the end of one season and the beginning of another one. Therefore as the church prayed, Ten days to 777 they were led to ask God for a sign, as promised in Acts; "I will show wonders in the heavens" to confirm the prayers with a visible show of His power and wonders in the heavens.

In this same season there was a visiting team of 25 American youth who were not used to the African kind of prayer loud and passionate.

In the midst of these prayers, God started to show his wonders, but it was just the beginning, a rainbow showed up “a most beautiful rainbow! When we saw it, I did not know whether to shout, cry or stop the car and just kneel down and worship.” Dr. Ssempa exclaimed. “I got a phone call from all-who had been in the prayer meeting and confirmed that God was answering our prayers.”

The last 7 days of the fast, were more intense, and the members went for a 24hour liquid only fast. (First time trying it).

The day 777 came to be a mega fest at the Makerere University grounds. The celebration and prayer party started at 5pm on 6th and was to go up to midnight, to usher in the new day 777 with worship, prayer and the blowing of the shofars. It was then to be continued at sunrise on Saturday at 7-am with blowing of shofars hourly until sunset, the fast was not to be broken until after the event!

The event of 777 brought together 7 key city fathers who included Pr. Gerald Mwebe of streams of life, Pr. Clement Tibarokoka of Deliverance Church, Pr. Jack Barlow of Jesus Alive Center, Pr. Stephen Ssenfuma of United Christian Fellowship, Pr. Isaac Mukisa Pr. Ssempa’s associate and Pr. Michael Kyazze of Omega Healing Center and of course Pr. Dr. Ssempa himself. This was also significant as many pastors were invited but only seven ended up showing up. Dr. James Magara of Intercessors for also showed up.

However, there was much financial difficulty, and the day came as a miracle “the baby of 777 was born in a manger of great needs.” Dr. Ssempa says. “But we stood together and made incredible sacrifices for the invisible prophetic call to lay our lives down for His glory.”

The day was glorious with prophetic dancers, worshippers who had vowed themselves unto the Lord. Judith Babirye the Ugandan anointed worshipper came over, there was a mighty shout on a clear African sky! at midnight, and it was unusually warm unlike all the past nights which had been so cold. As they shouted and blew the shofar, those with demons began to fall down with a mighty thud at release of the Omega anointing on the day. They sang “behold he comes” and lifted up the name of the Groom.

On the morning of Saturday, It was powerful. God had sent a dream of rain followed by a heavenly downpour of precious jewels and this was to be witnessed in the day. They continued to pray for to God to confirm the prayers with a rainbow.

At Midday of 777 there was a Jericho march around the stadium for seven times. This was done together with the new apostolic chaplain over the university Canon Ebong Johnson who led the prayers.

Near the close Pr. Alan Kisakka and the Strangers ministered. It was like a private concert of refreshing Gods soldiers with music of the hungry crying out to be quenched by the spirit. These world-class musicians sang and prayed, it was like our God wanted people there to enjoy a private concert alone with those who had spent of themselves. We humbled and prayed more for the individuals.

Then there was one more thing, a great symbolic sign to climax the day, the rainbow! “The biggest and most beautiful rainbow I ever remember! What a God of wonder!” Dr. Ssempa said. The whole place went absolutely ballistic with the clearest answer and confirmation of our prayers. It was exactly 6.PM.exactly the sunset of the 7th day! The end of an era and the beginning of a new era! People were overwhelmed and did not really know what to do. Like the priests who could not minister because of the cloud everyone rejoiced loudly and prophetically sang the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The meeting closed at 7.PM with blowing of shofars and declaring victory.

The very next day, God had started to work, a public work of cleansing. The major newspapers carried three major headlines-a major exposure of homosexuality of a key pastor who has been widely alleged to defile boys in his church, he has since resigned; The arrest of a pastor whose late father was a witch masquerading as a pastor and has done much harm to the church-he was arrested for carrying an electric shocking device thought to be used in defrauding his congregation; and a major exposure of the prosperity gospel atrocities. According to Pastor Ssempa, God is cleansing his Church and has taken the bandage off his church. It smells real bad, but if the wound is to be cleansed, He had to open it.
The devil has however not rested since, he has continued to lodge attacks on the church that was behind organizing the 777 event. There is a great financial attack, after the meeting, Pr. Ssempa while driving home survived an accident by hairs breadth when they came face to face with a tractor trailer which ran away from its lane to run them over.

2007-07-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

Is 'sowing' biblical?

Pastor Ssempa.
THE Sunday Vision undercover story on the activities of pastors Ronnie and Betty Bada of Liberty Praising Centre, Luzira has raised ethical questions in the born-again churches. Anthony Bugembe spoke to Pastor Martin Ssempa of Makerere Community Church about sowing in the Church.

What do you have to say about this story?
Criticism is good for the development of any institution. The Sunday Vision has done a commendable job in exposing church leaders who rip off unsuspecting believers in the name of sowing. These people have been tarnishing the image of born-again churches.

What is sowing?
Pastors who preach the prosperity gospel tell their followers that God’s blessings and salvation depend on how much they give to the Lord through the pastors. Many believers have been intimidated into giving cars, phones and huge sums of money to their pastors in the hope of having their prayers answered.

What does Christianity teach about sowing?
Sowing defiles Christianity. There is nowhere in the Bible that we read about Jesus asking for money or material things to perform miracles or bless the people. When Jesus was sending out his disciples, he told them to heal and bless believers freely because he had also given them his blessings freely (Matthew 10:8).

Don’t you think sowing sustains God’s work?
It is not bad to contribute to the sustenance of God’s work, but it should be out of free will and not because they expect something in return as the prosperity gospel teaches. Besides, believers must not to be categorised on the basis of how much they contribute. There are several churches where prayers and blessings are offered depending on how much one has contributed. This is not true Christianity. We are just experiencing a cult of ‘sowers’ which aims at exploiting the ignorance and desperate situation of their followers. Sowing reduces the pastor to a stage comedian who receives tips from excited fans.

In Acts 4:32-37, the early believers used to sell their possessions and bring the money to the apostles to be given to the needy. This is not the kind of sowing we have now. Today people sow into their pastors and not into the Church, yet there are many needy believers.

A Christian from Rubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral once asked me to help pay her tuition fees. I told her to seek assistance from her pastor (Robert Kayanja). I wondered why such needy Christians are not helped. Pastor Kayanja one time sowed into Joyce Meyer Ministries, yet Meyer herself is already rich (Kayanja testified on October 24, 2004 that one time God told him to sow $10,000 into the Joyce Meyer Ministries).

A church obsessed with sowing faces a lot of difficulty preaching about holiness because the biggest givers are sometimes those who amass wealth dubiously. Therefore, Christians should be encouraged to tithe as a means of sustaining God’s work, and not to sow. You don’t lose anything by not sowing.
What is the way forward?
Some time back, we initiated a code of ethics for born-again churches to check pastoral discrepancy. Unfortunately, some pastors rejected it because they feared that it would expose them. Now, we are going to convene a national summit (of born-again pastors) to find a solution before the Church crumbles.

You cannot tell someone that they will get four times more than what they have given. Obtaining money or any item by false pretence is a crime. It is good the Police have come out to investigate this. We are ready to co-operate with the Government to restore religious sanity.

Doesn’t this cast doubt on the authenticity of born-again Christianity?
The problem of ghosts is not among the balokole alone. Even other institutions like the Police and the army are grappling with them. Therefore, we should not victimise the born-again Christians. For example, the leader of the Muslims is in court over poor handling of properties.

What should Christians do in the meantime?
I advise believers whose pastors emphasise sowing to begin finding their way out of those churches because they will grow poorer with each passing day, while their pastors become richer.