Muhoozi Demands Apology from Frank Gashumba for Despising Pastor Robert Kayanja

Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has intervened in the escalating dispute between social commentator Frank Gashumba and Pentecostal pastors, calling for an apology to Christians after a Shs500 million challenge over miraculous healing triggered angry exchanges between the two sides.

Muhoozi, who also serves as Senior Presidential Advisor for Special Operations and chairs the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), weighed into the controversy in a series of posts on X, defending religious freedom while cautioning against despising pastors because they appear insignificant.

The dispute began when Gashumba challenged pastors, prophets and apostles who claim to heal the sick through prayer to demonstrate their powers in hospitals treating critically ill patients. He initially offered Shs200 million before raising the amount to Shs500 million for a religious leader who could demonstrate healing under publicly verifiable conditions.

Gashumba argued that pastors who claim to heal serious illnesses, including cancer, should be willing to pray for patients at hospitals such as Mulago and Nsambya, where the results could be assessed.

He accused some religious leaders of exploiting believers by promising miracles and using Christianity to solicit money from poor followers. He has maintained that his criticism targets what he describes as fake pastors rather than God or Jesus Christ.

The challenge drew sharp responses from prominent Pentecostal leaders, including Pastor Robert Kayanja of Rubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral, who defended the authenticity of miracles associated with his ministry.

“Our miracles aren’t fake. They are God-made,” Kayanja said in an earlier response.

The confrontation subsequently widened beyond the proposed cash reward, with Gashumba criticising church finances and the practice of giving tithes to pastors.

Kayanja and other pastors pushed back against Gashumba’s remarks, arguing that his challenge risked turning questions of faith into a public contest. The dispute also spilled over into exchanges involving their families, with Gashumba’s daughter, Sheilah Gashumba, confronting Kayanja’s son, Robert Kayanja Jr, on social media.

Against that background, Muhoozi called for caution in how Ugandans discuss religious leaders, invoking the circumstances of Jesus Christ’s birth.

“On the issue of pastors, I urge caution. Almighty God chose for His son, Jesus Christ, to be born in a manger in a stable in Bethlehem. Not in a palace in Jerusalem. So, let us not despise messengers who seem small. However, Christ also guided us in Matthew 7:16 that…’Ye shall know them by their fruits’,” Muhoozi wrote.

The biblical passage refers to judging people by their actions and the results of their conduct, a principle that can also be invoked in debates about religious leaders who make claims about healing and other miracles.

Muhoozi also addressed the question of religious freedom, warning against what he described as the prohibited worship of the devil.

“In Uganda, there is freedom of religion. As long as you are worshipping the Creator, Almighty God. The only religion that is COMPLETELY banned in Uganda is Satanism. The worship of the devil. For that you will surely go to jail for a long time,” he wrote.

The army chief then made his position on Gashumba’s confrontation with the pastors explicit.

“Gashumba will apologize to Christians in the country. PLU has no problem with pastors in Uganda,” Muhoozi wrote.

He did not specify which particular statement by Gashumba should prompt the apology, nor did he indicate whether the PLU intended to take any action beyond his public declaration.

Muhoozi also expressed personal support for Kayanja, saying he was willing to attend one of the pastor’s services.

“Personally, I like Pastor Kayanja. I will attend one of his services one day,” he wrote.

The remarks came as the dispute continued to attract public attention, with supporters of Gashumba arguing that religious leaders should be held accountable for claims of supernatural healing, while some pastors and their supporters have characterised his challenge as disrespectful toward the Christian faith.

Muhoozi, however, did not endorse every practice associated with Pentecostal churches. In one of his posts, he criticised the practice of pastors allegedly making worshippers fall during prayer sessions, saying it was not something he believed God wanted.

“No pastor can make me fall down. Maybe, I’ll make them fall down. God is not interested in making people fall down. That is rubbish,” he wrote.

His comments thus combined a defence of pastors against what he appeared to regard as contempt with a rejection of a practice sometimes associated with Pentecostal prayer services.

The Shs500 million challenge has become a wider public argument about whether claims of miraculous healing should be demonstrated under independently verifiable conditions, how churches handle money and where criticism of religious leaders crosses into perceived disrespect for believers.

Gashumba has insisted that his objection is to religious leaders he accuses of exploiting the poor, not to Christianity itself. Muhoozi’s intervention, meanwhile, has placed the PLU chairman firmly in the debate, with his demand that Gashumba apologise to Christians emerging as the central message of his posts.

You can see Uganda’s Most Popular Religions by Number of Believers Here.