KAMPALA, UGANDA – The Minister of Internal Affairs, Maj. Gen. (Rtd) Kahinda Otafiire, has criticized the increasing trend of allocating police escorts and armed officers to protect high-profile pastors in Uganda.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Minister Otafiire insisted on his arguments while appearing before the Parliament’s Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs during the scrutiny of the Uganda Police Force budget for the 2026/27 financial year.
He argued that Uganda’s limited security resources should prioritize national threats over the personal protection of clerics, insisting that religious leaders should not automatically qualify for state-funded security.
Minister Otafiire added that “those who work for God should be protected by God,” implying that divine intervention, rather than the state’s, should cover the security needs of pastors who also seek government funding.
The Minister emphasized that the growing trend of deploying police escort vehicles and armed officers to guard prominent pastors is unnecessary and must be reconsidered.
“Those who work for God should be protected by God. Although they ask for pay from us, God should pay them. But I don’t care. We have to be strict on resource utilization. Religious leaders should not automatically qualify for state security protection,” Otafiire told the committee.
Otafiire’s remarks come against a backdrop of recent violent incidents targeting high-profile clerics in Uganda, which have often been cited as justification for increased security.
History has it that in January 2024, Pastor Aloysius Bugingo, the founder and lead pastor of House of Prayer Ministries International, was ambushed at Bwalakata Junction in Namungoona, Lubaga Division.
The life of his bodyguard, Corporal Richard Muhumuza, with whom he was traveling at the time of the attack, was cut short after he was shot by the assailants.
Prior to that, the vulnerability of high-profile clerics was starkly highlighted by a foiled assassination attempt on Pastor Robert Kayanja, head of the Rubaga Miracle Centre.
During court testimony, a former church aide and guard, Alex Wakamala, confessed to contemplating the murder but abandoning the plan after the pastor looked at him suspiciously.
While these incidents have raised concerns about the safety of religious figures and prompted demands for tighter security, Minister Otafiire’s statements signal a policy shift, urging churches to rely on faith rather than the state’s security apparatus.
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