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Two nominees selected to replace Bishop Tamale

This photo combo created on January 20, 2025 shows Sembabule Church of Uganda SS head teacher Rev Samuel Matovu Mbogo, outgoing West Buganda Bishop Henry Katumba Tamale and West Buganda diocesan secretary Rev Canon Moses Kayimba. 

What you need to know:

  • The two candidates were selected during a meeting in Masaka City on Tuesday morning.

The West Buganda Diocesan nominations committee has finally selected two candidates to compete for the office of bishop.

The office will fall vacant on March 28 when the outgoing Bishop Henry Katumba Tamale clocks the mandatory 65 years at which Anglican bishops retire.

According to a source on the nominations committee, the successful candidates include Rev Can Patrick Ssimbwa,
the archdeacon of Sembabule Archdeaconry and Rev Gaster Nsereko, the archdeacon of Kakoma Archdeaconry in Rakai District.

The two candidates were selected during a meeting in Masaka City on Tuesday morning.

Names rejected?

However, a few hours after the selection were done, information emerged that the Provincial Secretariat at Namirembe in Kampala had rejected the two nominees and asked the diocesan chancellor and also chairperson of the nominations committee to further scrutinise names of all candidates.

For the last couple of weeks, the 15-member nomination committee has been scrutinising names of eight priests
from which they had selected three who made it to the final short list.

The final shortlist, sources said had three candidates: Rev Ssimbwa, Rev Canon Moses Kayimba, the diocesan
secretary, and Rev Samuel Matovu Mbogo, the archdeacon of Sembabule Archdeaconry, from which the committee members had to choose two candidates so that House of Bishops picks the best to become the 7th bishop of the diocese.

According to sources, the decision to reject the two names followed reports that the name of Rev Nsereko was ‘smuggled’ into the final shortlist.

“Some members on the nominations committee came to the meeting already compromised and instead of choosing
two names from the final shortlist, instead picked a candidate from the earlier shortlist of eight candidates and
since they were the majority, the chancellor had to forward the names to the Provincial Secretariat, which was im-
proper,” one of the members on the nominations committee, who preferred anonymity because they are bound by oath of secrecy, said.

Mr Adams Sadiiki, the communications officer for Church of Uganda, declined to comment on the developments, referring this reporter to the Provincial Secretary, Rev Can William Ongeng, who by press time had not responded to repeated calls from this publication.

The emerging deadlock risks plunging the diocese into divisions. Already, a section of Christians is pushing to have native bishop, the first since the diocese was carved out Namirembe Diocese in 1960. Among the three suitable candidates it is only Rev Can Kayimba who doesn’t hail from West Buganda.

“The committee received some unsubstantiated claims against Rev Kayimba and dropped his name without first carrying thorough investigations, we believe this was unfair,” the source at the diocesan secretariat said yesterday.

Monitor has learnt that the nominations committee has again asked five candidates to resubmit crucial documents pertaining to their priesthood and subsequent posting letters.

These include Rev Ssimbwa, Rev Canon Kayimba, Rev Mbogo, Rev Nsereko and Rev Fred Herbert Matovu, the diocesan treasurer. The committee, according to sources, is expected to resubmit two fresh names to the Province Secretariat by Friday.

Bishop Tamale has been keen to defuse this agitation [of choosing the next bishop from among native priests].

Citing the Anglican Church of Uganda constitution, Bishop Tamale emphasised that a bishop can be picked among priests from within the diocese or elsewhere in the province, and beyond.

“But Christians should know that at the end of it all, it’s God who chooses a leader for his people through the structures put in place,” the bishop said during one of the recent interactions with the media.

For one to become bishop, a prospective candidate must have credentials, including being 45 years of age, an ordained priest with a minimum of 10 years of practical experience in pastoral experience and holding a bachelor's degree in either Theology or Divinity.