Abducted Catholic Priest in Custody for Alleged “violent subversive activities against state”: Uganda’s Defence Official

The Defence official’s statement does not provide further details on the alleged activities or the duration of the investigations. 

The confirmation follows days of uncertainty after the Local Ordinary of Masaka Diocese, Bishop Serverus Jjumba, reported that Fr. Ssekabira, assistant Parish Priest at Bumangi Parish and Director of Uplift Primary School, had been taken on December 3, at about 1:00 p.m. from his office in Katwe, Masaka City.

In response to his disappearance, Bishop Jjumba had directed special prayers, including a Rosary Triduum, calling on the people of God in his Episcopal See to pray for Fr. Ssekabira, the Church, and the nation.

The Ugandan Catholic Bishop had said that efforts to locate him had been unsuccessful and described his disappearance as a “grievous wound” to Masaka Diocese, the wider Catholic Church, and his family.

He had directed intensified prayers and legal efforts following the kidnapping by men wearing “Uganda Army uniform, with a drone.”

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Abducted Catholic Priest in Custody for Alleged “violent subversive activities against state”: Uganda’s Defence Official

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In his December 13 statement, Bishop Jjumba stated, “All efforts to locate him have so far been fruitless.” He described the incident as “a grievous wound inflicted on Masaka Diocese, the entire Catholic Church, and Fr. Ssekabira’s family.”

He said that his Episcopal See was pursuing every available avenue to secure Fr. Ssekabira’s safe return. “Masaka Diocese together with our lawyers are still doing whatever is in our means to get back our priest unharmed,” Bishop Jjumba had stated. 

The local Ordinary of Masaka Diocese since his Episcopal Consecration in July 2019 directed a focused period of prayer across the Diocese and further noted that he earlier, he had asked all Priests ministering of the Ugandan Diocese “to do a Rosary Triduum (praying the Rosary for three consecutive days), with Sorrowful Mysteries, praying for our brother priest, the Church, and our country Uganda” on December 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Extending the call to the wider Catholic community, Bishop Jjumba announced on December 13 that he was “calling upon all Christ’s faithful of Masaka Diocese, in your homes, parishes and communities, to do a Rosary Triduum, with Sorrowful Mysteries, praying that God’s power may reign.”

He said that he had issued the one-page December 13 statement from Our Lady of Sorrows, Kitovu Cathedral of his Episcopal See, recalling a painful chapter in the Diocese’s history. It was there, he recalled, that (on 13 July 1975), “Msgr. Clement Mukasa was kidnapped and he has never been seen again.”

Bishop Jjumba went on to entrust the anguish of the people of God in Masaka Diocese following the abduction of Fr. Ssekabira on December 3 to prayer, invoking, “Our Lady of Sorrows intercede for us.”

Masaka Diocese is yet to issue a response following the clarification by the Ugandan Defence official. 

As the matter now moves toward the courts, attention is expected to focus on due process, the specific charges to be brought against Fr. Ssekabira, and the implications of the case for Church–state relations in Uganda.

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