Joachim Twino
Having completed his certificate in theology, Pastor Aloysius Bujjingo was among the students who on Friday graduated at Professor Simeon Kayiwa’s International University (KINTU) which is situated in Namirembe.
The fast-growing private University shares premises with Namirembe Christian Fellowship which is one of the pioneer Pentecostal/Born Again Churches in Uganda.
Because he is Bujjingo (popular and very controversial), the House of Prayer Ministries boss’ involvement in the graduation ceremony turned the event (for both parents and journalists) into his own thing.
Even when Prof Kayiwa flamboyantly led a powerful delegation of eminent academicians and theologians from partner US Universities into the graduation grounds amidst ululations, Bujjingo remained the man of the moment on whom all cameras remained glued.
The event attracted a larger concentration of media coverage than the organizers must have anticipated and all cameras kept focused on Bujjingo oblivious of the fact that the high table (on which KINTU Chancellor Prof Simeon Kayiwa and other top dignitaries sat) was elsewhere.
Each time Bugingo’s name was mentioned the crowd (both graduands and parents) went ecstatic.
This cheering intensified even more after the MC announced that Bugingo’s Salt TV was broadcasting the event live.
Indeed, the Salt Media colors (and OB vans) were visible everywhere on the KINTU campus. Robert Mutebi led a large crew of cameramen and reporters who relayed the entire event from the start to the end.
Each time the MC called for a music break, parents and graduands (in the nearby tent) signaled Bujjingo to walk over and take memorable photos with them.
Indeed, when the Academic Registrar eventually announced his name among those receiving the certificate of theology, the crowd went ecstatic ululating for close to 10 minutes. The MC struggled to call them back.
The DJ complimented the mood by playing Catherine Mirembe’s “Naali manyi mukama bakozesa ebikulu baba baneene” as a flamboyantly-dressed Bujjingo stood waving at the crowd.
The event, that was interrupted by the morning rains, earnestly began after 10am but crowds began arriving as early as 7am with some young men openly telling organizers they were here to have a glimpse at their hero Bujjingo and even cheer him on as he receives his academic honors.
How did they know? Using his very popular lunch hour and Sunday prayer sessions and fellowships, Bujjingo has inadvertently been promoting and publicizing Prof Simeon Kayiwa’s graduation by disclosing he would be among the graduands.
He would tell people at Canaan land, and also on his Misingi program, that he will finally be graduating at KINTU. This created massive awareness given the wide reach of his media platforms.
In the end, the winner was Simeon Kayiwa and other proprietors of Kayiwa International University (KINTU) because Bujjingo’s presence and involvement in the graduation ceremony culminated into free media publicity that would ordinarily have cost them a fortune to accomplish if they were to go out on their own inviting such huge media presence.
Even more established Universities like Makerere seldom get such media publicity on their graduation ceremonies. Only God knows how belittled other equally big-name Church ministers (at the event) like Aaron Mutebi & John Mulinde (who even jointly led the opening prayer) felt seeing all the shine (of media & the congregation) going to Bujjingo without anyone noticing their presence.
Boyed by the love the media, parents, graduands and University officials showered him with, an overwhelmed Bujjingo told reporters this was just the beginning because he intends to keep enrolling into the theology field until he achieves or acquires the highest level of academic excellence and accomplishment.
Named after its founder Simeon Kayiwa, KINTU preparations began in 2014 and the pioneer student enrollment was in 2016 making it exactly three years since the University began serious academic programs and operations. The Friday morning event Bujjingo participated in was their pioneer graduation ceremony.
Besides awarding certificates, diplomas and degrees to close to 100 students, the ceremony was also used to enthrone Prof Simeon Kayiwa as the pioneer Chancellor for the University.
The Vice Chancellor announced massive expansion was being planned and it will cost $2m earmarked to go into expanding infrastructure at the Namirembe location and to also acquire a 20-acre piece of land on the outskirts of the capital Kampala.
The theology qualification Bujjingo was awarded is among the many academic programs KINTU offers in conjunction with the United Graduate College & Seminary International that is based in the US.
Not being formally qualified is one area where Bujjingo (who no doubt is a talented preacher or minister of the word) has suffered tremendous stigmatization by his foes among fellow big-name Pastors in the Pentecostal Movement.
And when some like Ps Joseph Serwadda supported Ethics Minister Simon Lokodo’s demands that as a bare minimum, pastors should have at least a certificate in theology, many at Canaan Land speculated that such envious pastors’ target was none other than Bujjingo whose rapidly-growing House of Prayer Ministry is envied by many of them.
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