By Sadique Bamwita
ENTEBBE
The Kigungu Catholic Church at Kigungu fishing site where the first missionaries landed after trekking a long journey on Lake Victoria all the way from Tanzania with the motive of spreading catholic religion, has been torched by unidentified arsonists and church property including attires for the priests burnt to ashes.
It’s reported that the unidentified arsonists broke into the church premises at around 11pm on Thursday 7 November 2024 and set fire on all the church property before fleeing. However, currently no arrest has been made and police are still investigating the cause of the fire outbreak on top of hunting down the culprits who are still at large.
It’s said that the fire incident occurred just a few days when management of the church had just opened the church land boundaries after fishers were docking their boats at the Lake Victoria shores housed by the church.
The area councilor representing Kigungu zone, Mr. Nyansio Mutebi condemned the incident attributing it to some of the fishers who were using the lake shores to dock their boats plus other fishing related businesses.
“We are shocked that the fire incident happened just a few days when the church had opened its boundaries to protect its land from fishers who were docking their boats there. But during the boundary opening, some fishers were not satisfied with the church’s decision to open its boundaries and we suspect the dissatisfied fishers could be behind this incident. They burnt everything inside the church including attires for our priests plus all the bibles kept inside the church, ‘Councilor Nyansio explained.
The Entebbe Division ‘B’ LC3 Chairperson, Richard Sekyondo, told the press that he is in touch with police to retrieve the CCTV footage to establish the culprits and also bring them to book.
“It’s so absurd that someone can break into the church premises and burn everything inside there. The arsonists started with burning the wardrobe where attires for priests are kept before burning the bibles and church furniture. I have tasked the aviation police to review the CCTV Camera properly so that they can trace the culprits and bring them to book. I need this to be done very fast and if the culprits are arrested, we want the court to give them a deterrent sentence, ‘angry Sekyondo roared.
It should be recalled that the first missionaries commonly known as the white fathers who include Bro. Amans Delmas and Pere Simeon Lourdel (Mapeera) Landed in Uganda at Kigungu landing site on February 17, 1879 and later built a church there at the shores of Lake Victoria. It’s believed that upon landing at Kigungu landing site they were welcomed by Kabaka Edward Muteesa 1 the then King of Buganda kingdom, who gave them land to construct churches including land housing Rubaga cathedral. Every year on February 17, catholic believers flock the historical Kigungu church for pilgrimage and the church also serves as a tourist center given its historical attachment.
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