Christians want Luweero  bishop-elect reinstated

A section of Christians have petitioned Church of Uganda Archbishop Samuel Kaziimba, protesting the nullification of the election of Rev Can Godfrey Kasana as fourth bishop of Luweero Diocese.

The seven Christians hailing from the diocese, in a July 8 letter, want the June 28 resolutions by the House of Bishops that revoked the election of Rev Can Kasana halted.

“It is unfortunate that the Church has been drawn into unnecessary misunderstandings on issues that could have been amicably handled,”  Mr David Lule Mutyaba, one of the petitioners and congregant at St Peters Church of Uganda Bukalasa, said in an interview yesterday.

“We seek audience with the archbishop on the matters mentioned [in the petition]. We shall proceed to court if we get no reply by July 12. We believe that the House of Bishops at their June 28 meeting did not take into consideration several factors as they made the key decision to nullify the 4th bishop-elect of Luweero Diocese,” he said.

He requested that the archbishop initiates a meeting with the Christians to seek an end to the rift that has threatened the unity of the Church in Greater Luweero.
In their letter, the aggrieved Christians had sought to halt the handover of the pastoral staff by retiring Bishop Eridard Nsubuga on Sunday, July 9.

Yesterday,, the group clarified that while their attempt to halt part of the resolutions has been overtaken by events, the church has room to carefully handle the matters without giving the devil a chance to divide the Church.

“We represent a large number of Anglicans that believe that the church mishandled the 4th bishop election process. The result is the growing divisionism among the Anglican community in Luweero,” Mr Patrick Kizito, another congregant, said.
This paper has a stamped copy of the letter received by the Church of Uganda Provincial Secretariat on July 10.

The aggrieved Christians in their letter claim that they have chosen the diplomatic path to calm down tensions, but would proceed to court if the church fails to respond.
On Sunday, Archbishop Kaziimba assumed the pastoral responsibility of the Diocese of Luweero after the abdication ceremony by the retiring Bishop Nsubuga.

In his address to the media while in Madi Diocese on Sunday, Archbishop Kaziimba cautioned politicians in Luweero against interfering with and pronouncing themselves on Church processes.

“The work of the LC5 chairperson of Luweero is different from that of the archbishop of the church. I heard that Mr Erasto Kibirango, the district chairman, had said I should not come to the diocese to pick the pastoral staff. The chairman and all politicians should play their respective roles,” he said.

“The House of Bishops that had elected Rev Kasana has the power to recall him once they have the evidence. This is what happened. It is not true that possibly the politicians refused me to go to Luweero. I had an earlier programme in West Nile. I at times delegate. Nobody can do that except the Archbishop. I will take the pastoral staff back to Luweero when the diocese gets the new bishop,” he said.

But Mr Kibirango in a brief interview denied ever attempting to stop the archbishop from coming to Luweero.
“I believe that the archbishop was misinformed about my message that I said at St Mark’s Cathedral in Luweero on July 7 when the Christians convened for prayer,” he said.

Luweero Diocesan Secretary Rev Can Eric Ssebigaju, in a brief interview yesterday, said the diocese is guided by communications from the Provincial Secretariat under the archbishop.

“We have an ongoing process as guided by the Provincial Secretariat of the Church of Uganda,” he said on Monday.
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