The Christian religion is on the verge of extinction in Buikwe district, due to stepped up witchcraft activities by locals, as an antidote to their life challenges.
This was revealed today afternoon by the Chairman LC3 Ngogwe Sub-county in Buikwe district, Mr. Mbalule James, together with his aides and other district leaders, as they addressed a community gathering at Nangunga township.
The gathering was directed at drawing modalities to tackle challenges faced by people in the Sub-county.
According to Mr. Mbalule, high level bewitchings amongst locals, characterized by the use of fetishes, strange herbs and mysterious substances has taken centre stage in Buikwe, and this has seriously threatened peaceful co-existence of citizens.
Mr. Mbalule said in a quest to attain success in life and fortification against challenges, Buikwe district residents have largely turned to shrines, shunned churches, and boycotted Sunday services.
He raised serious alarm over the increased conflicts and wrangling amongst locals, which has led to displacement and insecurity, engineered by witchcraft activities.
As if that was not enough, Mr. Mbalule decried the presence of numerous shrines in each and every village, which unfortunately outnumber churches at the highest level.
A visibly angry Mbalule advised people to turn to God, and bitterly complained that while church goers in Buikwe have drastically dwindled, shrine clients are increasing at a terrific rate, which according to him puts Christianity at the mercy of serpents.
Nevertheless, he made a vital call to local leaders, to inculcate the spirit of love for God amongst their subjects, and also advised the youth to avoid selling off their inheritance, precipitated by a get-rich quick mentality, leading to long term losses.
“When the resources are finished, what will you sell? You who is busy selling the property left behind by your father, or mother, which they aquired as a result of hard work, some of them could go hungry and thirsty, not even drinking a soda, but some of you are selling to buy cars, to buy sodas and beers, and unfortunately for men, to engage in sexual activities with young women and waste money on them,” complained Mbalule.
“Therefore we need to educate our subjects, another problem here that I have in Ngogwe, too much witchcraft, you can imagine it has also become work to do, people call me severally complaining that witchcraft is seriously threatening their existence, throughout the Sub-county,” Mbalule added.
Buikwe district councilor for Ngogwe Sub-county Mr Sseruyange Christopher said as authorities, they are in final stages of establishing parish dialogue initiatives known as “Ebimeeza”, through which the locals will articulate their challenges for redress by authorities, especially the problem of rampant witchcraft.
In turn, district authorities will use the initiative as a platform to present several achievements as far as tackling community challenges is concerned.
“It is the chapter we have started, Parish C was the first to benefit from this arrangement, two parishes have been covered, here in Ngogwe, I have started from Namulese Parish in Nangonga town, and 13 villages have been represented. We have been tipped of your challenges, many areas lack electricity connection, ailing roads, poor disposal of waste materials among others,” Sseruyange told locals.
According to the Ugandan law, traditional phenomena like witchcraft is not provided for, and the police cannot charge a suspect basing on bewitching allegations.
Do you have a story in your community or an opinion to share with us: Email us at editorial@watchdoguganda.com
