This morning, the Equal Opportunity Court heard a case that cuts to something basic: who gets to pray on campus, and who does not.
The dispute is between Makerere University and members of the Born Again/Balokole community. Reports say the university closed a Pentecostal church on campus after 25 years of operation. The reason given, according to the petition, is that Makerere “historically only recognizes three religious groups: Catholics, Anglicans, and Muslims.”
The applicants argue that this is religious discrimination. The university is in court to answer.
The Facts On The Table
Three Religions, One Missing. Anglicans worship at St. Francis Chapel. Catholics have their own church. Muslims have a mosque. Pentecostals/Balokole say they have none.
A 25-Year Closure. The Born Again church, linked to the PrimeTime outreach, was reportedly shut down four years ago by the Vice Chancellor. The claim: it had served thousands of students on issues like HIV/AIDS, STDs, drugs, and academic failure.
The Population Question. Pentecostals make up about 14.5% of Uganda’s population by official data. They are now the group with numbers but no chapel at Uganda’s oldest university.
If these facts hold, the core issue is simple: equal treatment under the Constitution.
What This Means For Ordinary Uganda
The Student Who Prays. A first-year from Arua or Kabale joins Makerere. She is Pentecostal. She finds chapels for others, but none for her faith. She is told to “be flexible.” To her, flexibility looks like invisibility. Faith is not a subject you audit.
The Parent’s Fear. Parents send children to Makerere because it is public, national, and supposed to belong to all. When one group is told “your God is not on the list,” parents ask: “Is this still a national university, or a club?”
The Outreach Gap. The petition says PrimeTime helped students beat drugs, disease, and failure. Whether you agree with the theology or not, campuses need student support systems. Closing a structure that was doing that work without replacing it leaves a hole.
What This Means For Elite Uganda
The Constitution Test. Article 29 of Uganda’s Constitution protects freedom of worship. Article 21 bans discrimination. A public university cannot pick which faiths are “legitimate” by history. History is not law. If it were, Makerere would still be a college.
The Precedent Risk. If a Vice Chancellor can delist one faith, the next can delist another. Today it is Pentecostals. Tomorrow it could be a smaller sect, or a new student movement. The rule becomes: “We recognize you if we like you.” That is not administration. That is discretion without limits.
The Reputation Cost. Makerere sells itself as Africa’s intellectual hub. Investors, partners, and scholars watch how it treats minorities. A campus that bars prayer rooms for 14.5% of the population looks less open, less modern, and less confident.
The University’s Side, Fairly Stated
A university must manage space, noise, security, and scheduling. It can regulate, but it cannot erase. “We have three historic faiths” is an administrative answer. The court will ask: “Where is the policy? Where is the appeal? Where is the equality?”
If there is a genuine space constraint, the answer is a multi-faith hall with booked slots, not a lock on one door. If there were misconduct issues at the church, the answer is discipline with evidence, not a 25-year shutdown by fiat.
The Hard Question
Who told Makerere that only three faiths are Ugandan? The Constitution did not. The population data did not. A public university does not have the power to canonize some citizens and mute others.
The Born Again community is not asking for a cathedral. They are asking for a room, a schedule, and respect. That is a low bar for a university that trains judges, priests, imams, and pastors.
The Point, Straight
You cannot teach law, ethics, and governance on a campus that practices religious exclusion.
If Makerere has rules, publish them. If the church erred, charge it. If space is tight, share it. But you cannot say to 14.5% of Ugandans: “Your worship is illegitimate because we said so in 1999.”
Bottom line: A university that locks one church teaches every student a lesson it did not intend: that power, not principle, decides who gets to pray.
And a nation that learns that lesson will not stay free for long.
