Church money is not a loan, Canon Okaka tells church leaders

19 October 2026, 9:25 pm

By Onyinge Ivan

The Bishop’s Commissary of Lango Diocese, the Very Rev. Canon James Okaka, has urged church leaders and Christians to stop borrowing church funds, saying church money is not a personal loan.

Canon Okaka made the remarks on Sunday, 18 October 2026, while presiding over celebrations marking St Luke’s Day and the church’s 100th anniversary at St Luke Church of Uganda in Apalepe Cell, Apalepe Ward, Amolatar Town Council, Amolatar District.

As the main celebrant, Canon Okaka said he had maintained his integrity by refusing to borrow church money, even while managing the diocese’s finances.

He warned that some church leaders would suffer, while others were already facing spiritual consequences, for stealing or misusing church funds.

“Church money is very dangerous,” Canon Okaka said, explaining that it is collected from people of different backgrounds, including prostitutes, witches and thieves.

He cautioned that misappropriating such funds could attract curses.

The cleric also warned church leaders involved in procurement against inflating the prices of goods and materials purchased on behalf of the church, a practice locally known as kuto yamo, or “pumping air into the figures”.

His warning comes amid reports that church leaders and pastors in several parts of the country, including Otuke, Bugisu and Kitumba, have been arrested or remanded over alleged embezzlement of presidential donations intended for church construction. Others have reportedly faced allegations linked to fraudulent scholarship and youth-support schemes involving billions of shillings.

The celebrations marked 100 years since the founding of St Luke Church in 1926.