Embattled House of Prayers Ministries International (HPMI) pastor Aloysius Bugingo and his estranged wife Teddy Naluswa. COURTESY PHOTOS
Embattled House of Prayers Ministries International (HPMI) lead pastor Aloysius Bugingo is this week expected to file for divorce from his estranged wife Teddy Naluswa.
Impeccable sources told us Pastor Bugingo is planning their introduction ceremony with his new lover Susan Makula Nantaba, an employee at his Salt TV, in August this year.
Bugingo’s soared marriage and a new relationship have been the talk of the nation for the last few days, with his wife Naluswa accusing him of trying to force her to sign divorce papers because he no longer loves her after about 29 years of being married.
Naluswa has been quoted in the media saying her now estranged husband stopped “coming home about three years ago.”
“During a family meeting recently, he told our [four] children that he’s no longer my husband but would continue supporting the kids,” Naluswa says.
Naluswa adds that she was forced to go public after her husband accused her and their 27-year-old daughter, Doreen Gift Bugingo, of trying to grab church properties.
She says she has sought support and advice from several people including elders, religious leaders and police to see how or if she can save her marriage.
“I reported to police after uninvited people started visiting my home in Kajjansi. I filed a police report just in case something happened to me and my daughter,” she said recently.
On Saturday, Naluswa was seen at Pastor Robert Kayanja’s Rubaga Miracle Centre where the congregation prayed for her to overcome her marriage problems.
This was just days after Bugingo attacked Pastor Kayanja’s wife, Jessica for allegedly interfering in his family issues and described her as arrogant.
“Never involve yourself in issues you don’t understand with ignorance. I have never sat you down to tell you my family issues, a symbol which shows that we have nothing in common though (we are) not enemies. We have never stepped in your church, so if Teddy came to you then advise her wisely,” he said.
Following the conflict, Pastor Bugingo has reportedly petitioned Uganda Registration Service Bureau (URSB) to change shareholdings of most of the properties he had initially registered with Naluswa and Doreen.
During Sunday (yesterday)’s church service, Bugingo apologized for hurting several men and women by washing his family’s dirty linen in public.
“I grew up in a family of married people. My father and mother too were married. In such pastoralist families, they usually had old sticks which they kept, not for rearing cows, but to take care of children and wives. But I never heard my [foster] mother Bereta, even once talking about this among neighbours. Therefore, for my foster family and my parents, both of which families I respect a lot, I want to apologise to the nation. God raised me from the dunghill. He who brought my name from there, I will not do anything that will tarnish the name he gave me. I also apologise to the men and women who are hurting and those who are here, who suffered through last week having to hear my name over and over. I have kids, some of them unknown to you and I am still producing more. And to all those children, in school or unborn, I want to assure you that if I was able to be silent for all those years, from today, I will not say another word that will hurt the future of my own children, my future in-laws, and my grandchildren,” Pastor Bugingo is quoted saying before boasting that his conflict with Naluswa has helped grow his church- both in terms congregation and financial collections.
He claimed that his church had registered more than 1,300 new members last Friday and that they collected over Shs 32 million last week alone.
This is not the first time Pastor Bugingo and his church are involved in a scandal.
In 2017, Pastor Bugingo came under fire for allegedly burning ‘deceptive Bibles.’
He allegedly ordered his congregation to set ablaze, particular copies of Bibles on grounds that they were heavily edited and deceptive. The holy books, which included Good News and King James versions of the Bible, were reportedly burnt on Easter Monday.
