Malaika Mutoni (L) and her husband, Frank Gashumba
The fued that started on a low scale sucked in many more people and entire families, with Frank Gashumba’s wife, Malaika Mutoni, now urging Pastor Jessica Kayanja to keep innocent children and future generations out of the escalating dispute between their husbands.
Mutoni, who had initially stayed away from the public confrontation at her husband’s request, said she was compelled to speak out after hearing remarks she interpreted as threats of death and generational curses directed at Gashumba’s children and descendants yet to be born.
In a strongly worded statement addressed to Jessica, wife of prominent Kampala pastor Robert Kayanja, Mutoni questioned why concerns about innocence were being raised for one family while allegedly overlooking the welfare of children belonging to the other.
“My husband stopped me from getting involved in this matter, and I respected his wishes. However, when I heard about generational curses being directed at innocent children, including those not yet born, and then heard you speak about the innocence of certain people being dragged into this controversy, I felt compelled to ask: What about the innocence of my husband’s children and future generations?” she said.
Mutoni’s intervention followed Jessica’s defence of her husband during a sermon on Thursday evening, in which she criticised Gashumba for comments about the pastor’s physical appearance, particularly his baldness.
“Let us bring an argument to the table with facts not trivialities such as baldness and dye,” Jessica said.
She added: “I did not know that a man can do body shaming. That is the work of women.”
However, Mutoni argued that while personal attacks on someone’s appearance were inappropriate, they could not be equated with statements allegedly invoking death and curses against innocent children.
“I do not defend body shaming or comments about anyone’s physical appearance, but such comments cannot be equated with invoking death and generational curses against innocent children,” she wrote.
She urged Jessica to ask her husband to confine his disagreement with Gashumba to the adults involved instead of extending it to their families.
“Before addressing what you call body shaming and what a man should or should not say, I believe it is equally important to ask your husband to keep his disagreement with my husband focused on the adults involved, without extending it to innocent children and future generations,” Mutoni said.
She further disputed suggestions that Gashumba had initially targeted Robert Kayanja personally, arguing that her husband’s original criticism was directed at preachers claiming miraculous healing powers.
“First, my husband never mentioned your husband’s name in his initial videos,” she wrote.
“He spoke about fake pastors and challenged them to demonstrate even one miracle as men of God.”
The controversy began when Gashumba challenged Ugandan pastors, prophets and apostles who claim to heal the sick through prayer to demonstrate their abilities under publicly verifiable conditions.
He initially offered Shs200 million, later increasing the amount to Shs500 million, to any preacher who could heal a critically ill patient under the proposed test.
Pastor Kayanja subsequently defended miracle claims associated with his ministry and accused Gashumba of mocking Christianity and the blood of Jesus.
The confrontation intensified when Kayanja reportedly told worshippers that Gashumba’s own blood would kill him and compared his possible fate to that of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Mutoni said Kayanja had escalated the dispute by making personal remarks and allegedly directing curses at Gashumba’s family.
“It was your husband who later came out to attack him, saying he would become like a chapati within one year, die like Gaddafi, and that the soil would reject him, among other statements, before going further to curse my husband’s four generations,” she said.
Beyond the family accusations, Mutoni invoked Christian teachings on forgiveness and the responsibility of believers to avoid cursing others while professing faith in God.
She referred to Jesus’ words during the crucifixion and biblical teachings warning against praising God while cursing fellow human beings.
Mutoni also rejected any suggestion that Christianity belonged exclusively to one family, saying both households had a right to their faith.
The latest exchange has widened a dispute that has drawn in Gashumba’s daughter, Sheilah Gashumba, as well as Robert Kayanja Jr and Jessica Kayanja.
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