Pastor Robert Kayanja has used his pulpit to pronounce a curse on businessman and commentator Frank Gashumba, sharply escalating their public feud over Gashumba’s Shs500 million challenge to pastors who claim healing powers.
Speaking during a Wednesday night service at Miracle Centre Cathedral in Rubaga, Kayanja accused Gashumba of ridiculing the blood of Jesus and attacking God’s people.
“Your own blood will kill you,” Kayanja declared.
He went further, calling on heaven and earth as witnesses and saying the dust, the wind and the ground would turn against Gashumba for defying the name and people of God. In the same sermon, he invoked the fate of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and the biblical story of Elijah, saying the God who answered by fire in Elijah’s time had not changed.
Kayanja also accused Gashumba of building his public profile on attacking prominent people and institutions, citing past remarks about the Katikkiro of Buganda, the President and the Catholic Church.
“Enough is enough,” he said.
How the row escalated
The dispute started when Gashumba dared pastors, prophets and apostles who claim to heal the sick to prove it inside a hospital such as Mulago or Nsambya, under conditions the public could verify. He first put up Shs200 million, then raised the offer to Shs500 million.
Kayanja was among the first to push back, insisting the miracles at his ministry are genuine and come from God.
Gashumba later widened his criticism to tithes and church finances, accusing some pastors of exploiting poor believers. He has since said repeatedly that he has never denied God or Jesus and that his target is what he calls fake pastors, not Christianity. He also drew attention by saying one Catholic priest was worth more than a thousand pastors, citing the years of formal training Catholic clergy go through.
The row then spread to Gashumba’s daughter, Sheila, who defended her father on X, and to Kayanja’s son, Pastor Robert Kayanja Jr, who defended Miracle Centre’s charity work and said the church’s books are audited by the Uganda Revenue Authority.
Gashumba had not publicly responded to Kayanja’s latest remarks at the time of publishing. CampusBee has reached out to him for comment.
Where should the line be between criticising religious leaders and attacking faith? Tell us. @campusbee.ug
