The consecration of Pastor Patience Kokundeka Museveni Rwabwogo as an Episcopal Bishop was expected to be a major family and religious celebration, bringing together the First Family, prominent Pentecostal leaders and hundreds of worshippers.
But the ceremony has also opened a new political conversation after Daudi Kabanda, a political ally of Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, appeared to question the significance of the occasion in a brief post on X.
“Which milestone?” Kabanda wrote, responding to a post by Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa celebrating the occasion. The two-word response, although brief, immediately drew attention because of Kabanda’s long-running public confrontation with Odrek Rwabwogo, the newly consecrated bishop’s husband.
The remark has been interpreted by some observers as an attempt to diminish Patience Rwabwogo’s achievement, particularly because it came at a time when members of the First Familyand their associates were publicly celebrating her elevation to the episcopal office.
Patience was consecrated on Sunday, August 23, at Covenant Nations Church’s Maya campus in Wakiso District, during celebrations marking 20 years since the church began as a small fellowship. Bishop Dr LaDonna C. Osborn led the consecration, with Pastor Enoch Adeboye of Nigeria’s Redeemed Christian Church of God participating in the service. Archbishop Moses Odongo and Bishop Joshua Lwere were among the other senior church leaders involved in the ceremony.
President Yoweri Museveni and First Lady Janet Museveni attended the ceremony, turning what was already a significant religious event into a highly visible First Familyoccasion.
Yet conspicuously absent from the public accounts of the ceremony was Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Patience’s elder brother and Uganda’s CDF.
While there has been no public statement from Gen Muhoozi explaining his absence, reports and official accounts of the event prominently mentioned his parents and other dignitaries but did not list him among those physically present.
That absence, coupled with the intervention by Kabanda, has fuelled questions about whether the political tensions surrounding Odrek Rwabwogo have begun spilling into family and religious occasions.
A celebration overshadowed by politics
For the Rwabwogo family, Sunday was supposed to be about faith, service and 20 years of ministry.
Patience’s journey into Christian ministry began about two decades ago when Covenant Nations Church was established as a small fellowship. Church leaders say the ministry subsequently grew into a wider Christian organisation with a network of believers and programmes focused on evangelism, discipleship, prayer and leadership.
Her consecration was therefore presented not simply as the conferring of a title, but as the culmination of years of ministry.
During the ceremony, Bishop Osborn formally presented Patience with the symbols of episcopal office, including the Bible, mitre and pastoral staff, while Pastor Adeboye participated in the prayers and anointing.
Church elders also stressed that the elevation was a call to greater responsibility rather than an award of prestige.
Her husband, Odrek, described the occasion as the culmination of more than 20 years of watching his wife serve in ministry.
In his message, he highlighted what he described as three lessons Patience had taught their family: repentance, resistance to the seduction of power and materialism, and commitment to something greater than oneself.
He portrayed his wife as someone who had deliberately avoided the pursuit of recognition and position, choosing instead to concentrate on faith, family and service.
“Today, our family and the Covenant Nations Church community witnessed a deeply significant moment as my wife Patience was consecrated to the Episcopal Office of Bishop,” he said.
He congratulated her and prayed that her new season would be characterised by humility, courage, measured leadership and faithfulness. President Museveni similarly celebrated his daughter.
He thanked God for his wife’s recovery from her recent health challenges and acknowledged the role played by their children — Muhoozi, Natasha, Patience and Diana — during the period.
He then turned to his daughter’s religious achievement, saying the family’s Christian history went back generations.
Museveni recalled that although Christianity had reached the area many years earlier, his father, Mzee Amos Kaguta, joined the Church in 1947.
“Today, I have a whole Bishop in the family,” the President said. It was a proud parental moment. But it was precisely this celebration that Kabanda appeared to question.
Kabanda’s cryptic intervention
Kabanda’s “Which milestone?” post was short, but its timing made it politically loaded. The Kasambya County MP has been one of the most vocal political figures attacking Odrek Rwabwogo in recent months.
The two have engaged in an increasingly bitter public dispute involving allegations of corruption, land dealings, political influence and the direction of the ruling establishment.
In July, Kabanda accused Rwabwogo of involvement in alleged land grabbing in Kiruhura District, claims that Rwabwogo strongly rejected. Rwabwogo subsequently hit back at Kabanda, accusing him of attempting to derail the National Resistance Movement.
The dispute has been unusually personal because Rwabwogo is married to Patience, President Museveni’s daughter and Gen Muhoozi’s sister.
Kabanda has also described Rwabwogo as a “serious enemy” following Rwabwogo’s visit to journalist Timothy Kalyegira while the journalist was in Luzira Prison.
That confrontation further demonstrated how deeply the political disagreement had penetrated the circles surrounding the First Family.
In another exchange, Kabanda alleged that Rwabwogo had approached President Museveni over his social-media criticism and wanted the President to publicly condemn him.
Rwabwogo, meanwhile, has continued making public statements on corruption, political reform, election malpractice, abuse of power and the future of the NRM. Against this background, Kabanda’s intervention on Patience’s consecration was always likely to attract attention.
Why “Which milestone?” matters
The significance of Kabanda’s words lies less in their length than in what they appear to question. A consecration after two decades of ministry is, at least from the perspective of the church, a major institutional and spiritual event. Patience is moving from the position of founder and lead pastor to a wider episcopal role.
The ceremony itself involved international and Ugandan church leaders, including Osborn and Adeboye, two prominent figures in Pentecostal Christianity. The church also marked the occasion as part of its 20th anniversary. For the Museveni family, it was equally a major family event.
The President and First Lady were present. Janet offered a prayer of thanksgiving, while Museveni publicly celebrated his daughter’s new role.
The fact that Kabanda chose to respond with “Which milestone?” therefore appeared to challenge the celebratory narrative.
Whether he intended the comment as a political statement, a personal dig at the Rwabwogo family or simply a rhetorical question remains unclear. Kabanda has not publicly explained the post in the material available.
But in Uganda’s highly personalised political environment, even a two-word post from a senior figure associated with Gen Muhoozi can generate considerable speculation.
The Muhoozi question
Gen Muhoozi’s absence adds another layer to the story. The CDF has publicly demonstrated close relationships with members of his family and has been a prominent figure in the political network surrounding the First Family.
Kabanda himself has operated within Muhoozi’s political orbit, having served as secretary general of the Patriotic League of Uganda, a movement chaired by Muhoozi.
His public defence of Muhoozi has also been pronounced. In July, for example, Kabanda defended the CDF against criticism from UPC president Jimmy Akena, saying Muhoozi had broad support and would remain in his position.
This background makes Kabanda’s intervention on Patience’s consecration particularly intriguing.
It raises an obvious question: was his remark merely his personal view, or does it reflect a wider political tension involving the Rwabwogo family and Muhoozi’s political camp?
There is no evidence in the available accounts to conclude that Gen Muhoozi authorised or endorsed Kabanda’s comment.
Indeed, it would be wrong to automatically attribute Kabanda’s words to the CDF simply because of their political association.
But the connection is difficult to ignore when the subject is Muhoozi’s own sister and the person at the centre of the dispute is her husband.
The Rwabwogo-Kabanda feud
The roots of the latest controversy lie in a much wider disagreement. Kabanda has repeatedly attacked Odrek Rwabwogo over issues he says concern the ruling movement and public resources.
Rwabwogo has fought back, accusing Kabanda of attempting to undermine the NRM. The two have traded increasingly sharp accusations, with their disagreements spilling onto social media and into public political debate.
The feud has become particularly sensitive because Rwabwogo occupies an unusual position. He is not simply a businessman or political commentator.
He is President Museveni’s son-in-law and chairs the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development. His wife, Patience, is now a bishop.
His brother-in-law is the CDF. And his father-in-law is the President.
Consequently, political disagreements involving him can easily be interpreted through the wider prism of First Family politics.
Mixed public reaction
Kabanda was not the only person to respond to the consecration. Reactions online were sharply divided.
Some Ugandans congratulated Patience and her husband, treating the consecration as a religious achievement independent of politics. Patrick Oyulu, for example, posted a simple congratulatory message to Bishop Patience and Odrek.
Mwetiise Derrick also argued that individuals should not necessarily be judged for the actions of relatives, saying people are accountable for their own conduct.
Others, however, used the occasion to question the relationship between religious leadership and political power.
Writer Kakwenza Rukirabashaija offered one of the most critical responses, congratulating Patience while challenging her to use her new religious authority to speak about political prisoners, alleged torture, disappearances and other human-rights concerns.
His argument was that a bishop within the First Family carries a moral responsibility that extends beyond the pulpit.
That response reflects a wider debate in Uganda: whether religious leaders connected to powerful political families should remain focused strictly on spiritual matters or use their platforms to address controversial national questions.
A bishop in a powerful family
Patience’s elevation is unusual because her religious journey has unfolded within one of Uganda’s most politically influential families.
Her father is President. Her mother is a senior public figure. Her brother is the CDF. Her husband is a prominent businessman and presidential adviser. Now she is an Episcopal Bishop.
The combination inevitably makes her religious office part of the national conversation, even when she herself may prefer to keep politics outside the church. Her supporters insist that her ministry should be judged on its own record. They point to the two decades she has spent building Covenant Nations Church.
Her critics, however, argue that public office, family influence and religious authority cannot easily be separated when they converge within one household. That tension is likely to follow Bishop Patience into her new role.
The new Bishop’s challenge
The biggest test for Patience may therefore not be the ceremony that elevated her. It may be what she does with the authority that comes after it. Her husband described her as someone who believes in repentance, forgiveness, disciplined speech and resistance to materialism.
Those principles could become particularly important as she assumes a more visible religious role.
For supporters, her consecration represents a woman who spent 20 years building a ministry and has now been entrusted with greater responsibility. For critics, it represents another powerful title added to an already powerful family. And for political actors such as Kabanda, the occasion has become another battleground in the continuing struggle around the Rwabwogo name.
That is why his “Which milestone?” question has generated far more attention than its two words would ordinarily deserve.
The question now hanging over theFirst Family is not whether Patience has received a new title. She has. It is whether her episcopal office can remain insulated from the political battles surrounding the family into which she was born and the family she married into.
For now, Bishop Patience begins her new chapter with congratulations from her parents, the support of major Christian leaders and the blessing of a church she has helped build over two decades.
But the controversy surrounding her consecration demonstrates that, in Uganda, even a religious milestone involving a member of the First Familycan quickly become a political story.
Author Profile
- Charles Gazza Kodili is a seasoned journalist with over 20 years of experience in the media industry. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communication. He’s currently the Chief Editor at the Investigator.
Charles can also be reached via; Tel: +256 774 108978
Email: [email protected]
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