The catholic parishioners of St. Charles Lwanga Kihani Catholic Parish, Mbarara Archdiocese have written to the Inspector General of Police, to grant them permission to stage a protest walk to Mbarara Archdiocese offices over the brutality they have undergone in the leadership of Fr Kenneth Beingana, the Parish Priest.
In a letter seen by Ug Mirror, the parishioners reveal that Fr Kenneth has been manhandling the faithful and parish affairs.
“We the parishioners of St. Charles Lwanga Kihani Catholic Parish, Mbarara Archdiocese hereby forward our request to your office seeking permission to stage a peaceful demonstration to express our dissatisfaction with the way the Parish Priest is manhandling the faithful and parish affairs,” reads the letter signed by Fredrick Kwesiga on behalf of the parishioners.
The letter further reads; “This move follows the Archbishop’s office failing to respond to our grievances and concerns accordingly as per the attached copy of our complaints that were delivered to the same office a couple of months ago. “The voice of the faithful ought to be heard”
The letter also indicates that over 2000 parishioners will participate in the protest that is scheduled for Friday, November 03, 2023.
“Expected participants = 2000 parishioners Route of demonstrators: From Kihani Parish Church to Nyamitanga Archdiocese Headquarters Date: Friday 03′ Nov. 2023 starting at 8.00 am We shall be grateful if our request is granted by your good office. The list of representatives’ signatures is hereby attached.”
In a separate letter seen by this website, the Kihani Catholic parishioners in May 2023, notified the Archbishop of Mbarara that they have suffered psychologically, spiritually, socially and economically for more than three years due to unethical conduct, unspiritual behaviours of Fr Kenneth.
“Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our heartily grateful to you for the good work you are doing in developing our Diocese spiritually, morally and socially,” reads the letter to the Archbishop.
The letter further reads; “We Christians of Kihani Catholic Parish have suffered psychologically, spiritually, socially and economically for more than three years due to unethical conduct, unspiritual behaviours, un priestly acts and iron hand methods of administration of Rev. Fr. Beingana Kenneth Parish Priest Kihani Catholic Parish.
“On 9th May 2023 a group of more than one hundred (100) Christians representing other Christians led by Mr Kwesiga Fredrick General Secretary Rwenshambya catholic Centre / Zone visited your Office at Nyamitanga Cathedral to present our grievances.
“On arrival, we were welcomed and met by the Vicar General Rev. Fr. Ndugwa who informed us that you were too busy.
“We had a meeting with him (Rev. Fr. Ndugwa), and we presented our complaints to him both orally and in writing.
“He promised us that together with the Arch Bishop they would quickly handle our concerns against Rev. Fr. Beingana Kenneth and have him transferred from our parish.
“When Rev. Fr. Kenneth Beingana came to know about it, he made false allegations against some of our church leaders that we were planning to kill him some of our leaders were called to the District Police Commander (DPC) office, Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Office, District Internal security officer (DISO) Office and District chairman’s Office and we were interrogated about allegations of plotting to kill Rev. Fr, Beingana Kenneth.
“When we were left with no option, a group of ten (10) people representing other Christians, on 13′ June 2023 went back to the Vicar General’s office and briefed him about how we were being witch-hunted by Rev. Fr. Beingana Kenneth by accusing us falsely. The Vicar General assured us that our complaints were being handled.
“Our beloved Arch Bishop, till now Rev. Fr. Kenneth Beingana is seriously harassing us and many of us are no longer attending Sunday Mass as Ile publicly abuses us during mass.
“When priests’ transfers were finally made to our big surprise, Rev. Fr. Beingana Kenneth was not transferred which left us devastated both spiritually and psychologically.
“We tried to contact the vicar General (Rev. Fr. Ndugwa) and he informed us that it’s you (Arch Bishop) who declined to transfer Rev. Fr. Beingana Kenneth from Kihani Catholic Parish.
“Our Dear Arch Bishop, we Christians of Kihani Catholic Parish are not ready any more to continue facing suffering from Rev. Fr. Beingana Kenneth and since our leaders are not willing to help us, we have decided to take our complaints to the general public for the whole world to know and judge us.
“Kindly read other attachments to this letter for more information.”
It is worth noting that the parishioners have also been complaining that Fr Kenneth connives with Ibanda South MP, Hon John Paul Ninkusima aka Panadol and gives him airtime to campaign even at burial ceremonies.
A parishioner who chose to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the matter revealed that one time Fr Kenneth stopped the family from eulogizing their fallen member and gave time to Hon Panadol to speak.
This sparked outrage and tempers flared which forced Fr Kenneth to flee for his dear life.