TAKEAWAYS

• Munyagwa supports Gashumba’s Shs200 million challenge to alleged miracle workers.
• The former MP questions pastors who claim extraordinary spiritual powers.
• His remarks have added to Uganda’s debate over faith, healing and miracle claims.

Former Kawempe South MP Mubarak Munyagwa has sided with businessman and social-political commentator Frank Gashumba in his ongoing criticism of pastors who claim to perform miracles.

Gashumba has challenged self-proclaimed miracle workers to demonstrate their powers, offering Shs200 million to anyone who can perform extraordinary acts such as curing cancer or HIV and resurrecting the dead.

His remarks have attracted criticism from several pastors, some of whom have responded with attacks against him.

However, Munyagwa believes the challenge should be easy to take up for anyone who genuinely possesses such powers.

Speaking about the controversy, Munyagwa suggested that pastors could obtain dead bodies from a mortuary and attempt to bring them back to life, arguing that such a demonstration would silence Gashumba.

“If they can perform miracles, they should bring the dead back to life and prove him wrong,” Munyagwa argued.

Munyagwa also questioned claims about the nature of miracles, insisting that religious leaders should not present themselves as God’s representatives with extraordinary powers.

He argued that even Jesus Christ should be understood as a messenger of God, accusing some pastors of misrepresenting their spiritual roles. According to him, even Jesus at some point always performed miracles after being challenged.

The former legislator further pointed to religious leaders such as Pastor Wilson Bugembe, Pastor Aloysius Bujjingo, Pastor Sempa, Male and Pastor Tom Mugerwa, suggesting that their ministries are never in what he described as the circus surrounding miracle claims.

Munyagwa maintained that medicine and science, rather than sensational claims by self-proclaimed miracle workers, should be trusted when dealing with illnesses.

His remarks add another voice to the growing debate over faith, healing and accountability among religious leaders in Uganda, as Gashumba continues to challenge pastors to demonstrate the powers they publicly claim to possess.