Archbishop Sabiti’s near fatal meeting with Amin

An illustration depicting Archbishop Sabiti’s encounter with Amin. Below, Left to right: Archbishop Sabiti’s portrait, Retired Canon Erasmus Bitarabaho and former President Idi Amin. Illustration Alex kwizera

What you need to know:

Narrow escape. Retired Canon Erasmus Bitarabaho was the assistant provincial secretary of the Church of Uganda when Idi Amin became president of Uganda in a military coup. He says as a young cleric at the province, the archbishop found him handy to the extent that sometimes he preferred him to his official driver. He narrates to Henry Lubega how Archbishop Erica Sabiti survived death at the hands of Amin

One morning, around early April, 1972, Archbishop Erica Sabiti received a call from the Command Post, asking him to go there immediately. He asked me to drive him there.
Before leaving the provincial office, we inquired around what could have been the problem, whether there had been anything bad linked to the church. We learnt that during the daily Church of Uganda radio sermon programme, Thought of the Day, the preacher that day, Rev Peter Mudonyi, had talked about the children of Israel.

The preaching had come on the heels of the Asian expulsion from Uganda. The announcement to expel Asians was made on March 27, 1972, giving them 48 hours to leave the country.

Setting off
The archbishop gave me his bag which contained his flask and Bible. He was diabetic and so always moved with a tea flask. We drove to the Command Post, where we were received by Henry Kyemba, then Health minister, who told us president Amin wanted to see the archbishop, and that he would be with us shortly. Kyemba ushered us into the waiting room,” Bitarabaho remembers.

After exchanging greetings, Archbishop Sabiti asked him why the president had asked to see him at such a short notice, to which Kyemba replied: “There are some charges against you.”

Meeting Amin
After waiting for almost two hours, president Amin walked in and the duo stood up to greet him. But he waved them to sit down. He sat opposite his visitors and looked at the archbishop for a few minutes without saying a word. He seemed to be in deep thought. Then suddenly, he burst out: “You Sabiti, do you know I can kill you? Sabiti, do you know I can kill you? Why do you talk about the children of Israel?”

At this moment, I was trembling in my chair. As Amin repeated the threat the third time, Archbishop Sabiti reached for the bag and pulled out his Bible. He was a stubborn man if he chose to be,” Bitarabaho says.

Archbishop Sabiti stood up before Amin and said: ‘Your Excellency, this Bible is full of the history of the Jews, so is your Koran, people have died because of the truth, which is in this Bible. The children of Israel are special because they are a chosen race and we shall talk about it.”

In my seat, I was thinking of my younger family, wondering whether the old man did not know we could both be killed there.

Amin was surprised to see someone standing up to him. He did not say a thing. He just shook his head and walked away. Left only the two of us in the room, I turned to the archbishop and told him: “Don’t you think this man can kill us?” Archbishop Sabiti just sat down and we waited for what was to follow.

After what seemed to be like eternity waiting, none of us talking to the other, the silence was broken by Kyemba when he walked in and said: “Your Grace, His Excellency has gone on a short safari, not very far but he will be back soon” and he walked out.

I never got to know what was going on in Archbishop Sabiti’s mind during that time as we each seemed to be buried in our own thoughts. I was wondering what was to happen when Amin returned. Then a minister, who hailed from western Uganda, walked in and told us Amin had gone to Jinja and he may not come back early.

Around 2pm, the same minister came back and still found us there. By then, Archbishop Sabiti was reading his Bible. The minister turned to me and said: “Bitarabaho, take the old man back to Namirembe to rest”. I turned to look at the Archbishop and the minister realised we were scared. He told us to follow him outside.

When the minister’s driver saw him, he uncovered the flag on his car, and I also did the same on the Archbishop’s car. The minister had two military escort vehicles. He told me to drive behind him and another escort vehicle to come behind us. Archbishop Sabiti was a very stubborn man. Even in such circumstances, he refused to sit at the back, and insisted on sitting in the co-driver’s seat.

We followed the minster up to Kyaggwe Road junction, sloping from All Saints. Here, the minister waved us to continue to Namirembe Hill as he turned to Kampala Road. At Namirembe, we drove straight to the archbishop’s residence without saying a word to each other.

When we reached, the Archbishop’s first words were: “Mwana wange kulikayo” (welcome back my son). He had a private chapel in his house where we went and prayed. His wife joined us. Though we left without his permission, Amin did not follow up the case.