How a murder case built up Susan Makula, Pastor Bugingo romance

"Personally, on the independence night of 2015, I went to ask God to relieve me of a man I loved but couldn't let go. That's when I got my first independence," she said during Sunday Service at House of Prayer Ministries International, led by Pastor Bugingo.

"I had a lot of problems and I went to the pastor to show him the police bond. My boyfriend, at my former workplace before Salt FM, also liked another girl I was sharing office space with."

According to Makula, the girl stole her phone, but she didn't bother searching for it because it was cheap.

"But I learnt that if you lose your phone, report it to the police even if you don't want to recover it," she said.

The girl put a new SIM card in the phone and started sending murder threats to Makula's boyfriend.

Makula's boyfriend filed a case with police, noting that someone was plotting to kill him.

Susan Makula had left her former workplace to work at Salt Media when police came to arrest her. Salt Media, where she has worked as a TV and radio host, is owned by Bugingo.

"They took me to Kibuli [Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) Headquarters] and charged me for threatening to murder someone... They showed me that the threats were coming from my phone [the one she lost]," she said.

She couldn't prove that her phone had been stolen but she was lucky she had told her former workmates about it.

"They transferred me from Kibuli to Central Police Station (CPS) [in Kampala]."

Susan Makula Nantaba and Pastor Aloysius Bugingo Pulse

Makula's workmate had an uncle who worked with CID, so she exploited the relationship to squeeze Makula.

However, Makula said, a female cop was posted at CID and she pled for Makula to be released on police bond since she was pregnant.

She was released and told to report after two weeks.

"I took the letter to the pastor and told him to pray for me to win the case. [Bugingo was the pastor]," she narrated.

"When I went back to CID, I found that my boyfriend had closed the case."

Miscarriage

Makula told the boyfriend to take her to the hospital because she was sick from the pregnancy but he refused, saying he had never told her that he is her boyfriend.

Vucci, a friend and workmate at Salt, took her to the hospital. Born Derrick Ainomugisha, Vucci is said to have dated Makula. They worked together at Alpha FM before joining Salt. Bugingo had also worked at Alpha FM's sister station called Impact FM.

Makula, unfortunately, miscarried.

"But I remember I had told God that I will never give birth till I get married," she recalled.

Shortly after, Pastor Bugingo proposed to marry her.

"At first I thought he was joking. I told him I don't want, and he told me he is serious," Makula narrated.

"When I left him, I wrote a letter to resign from Salt, because I realised I wasn't going to manage."

Lucky for both, Pastor Bugingo was friends with Pastor Edward Kayizzi whom Makula respected.

Pastor Aloysius Bugingo and Susan Makula Pulse

Pastor Bugingo said: "I want you to let them understand that my seduction approach was commando style and I sent someone to say most of the things."

Makula revealed: "What I know about the pastor, I used to fear him because he is a man of his word, and there are things he doesn't joke about and he doesn't flirt, so when he said it, I knew it was serious. I had to run because I knew he would insist."

She continued: "But the trick he used, the person I respected most was Pastor Kayizi, and he called me to talk to me. We went and he told me that he is not married."

Makula and Bugingo made their romance public in 2019.