
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.
The West Buganda Diocesan nominations committee is expected to convene on Tuesday to select two candidates to compete for the coveted office of bishop.
The West Buganda bishop office will fall vacant on March 28, 2025, when Henry Katumba Tamale clocks the mandatory 65 years at which Anglican prelates retire.
According to a source on the diocesan nominations committee, successful candidates so far include diocesan secretary Rev Canon Moses Kayimba, Sembabule Church of Uganda SS head teacher Rev Samuel Matovu Mbogo and Sembabule archdeacon Rev Canon Patrick Ssimbwa.
For the last couple of weeks, the 15- member nominations committee has been scrutinising names of over five priests from which they selected three candidates, our source indicated.
On Sunday, diocesan chancellor and nominations committee chairperson Stanley Kawalya declined to comment on the development, asking Christians to wait for a final decision from the House of Bishops expected to convene next month to choose the eventual new bishop.
“Nothing I can tell you now…wait for the right time,” he said on phone.
Meanwhile, the House of Bishops comprises diocesan and assistant bishops from the 39 dioceses in the province. The provincial chancellor presides over the election.
Since Bishop Tamale started bidding farewell to Christians in 2023, he has consistently urged believers to pray for a smooth transition process.
“You heard what happened in the dioceses of Luweero, Kumi and elsewhere. We don't want to experience the same chaos and protests because we have been ashamed enough as a Church,” he said while speaking to Christians in Sembabule in November 2024.
Citing the Anglican Church of Uganda constitution, Bishop Tamale emphasizes that a bishop can be picked amongst priests from within the diocese or elsewhere in the province, and beyond.
Religious observers say Bishop Tamale has been keen to defuse agitation from a section of Christians within West Buganda Diocese demanding that the next bishop be chosen from among native priests to avoid chaos.
“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 noted.
A source on the nominations committee intimated to Monitor that the election for a bishop is bound by an oath of secrecy and the successful two candidates will not be disclosed until the bishop elect is announced.
“Rev Kayimba and Rev Mbogo have an edge over Rev Ssimbwa given their rich profiles and track records and I am very sure one of them will become the next bishop,” a source said on Monday.
For one to become bishop, a prospective candidate must have credentials including being 45 years of age, an ordained priest with a minimum of ten years of practical experience in pastoral experience and holding a bachelor's degree in either Theology or Divinity.
About the diocese
West Buganda Diocese has since its inception in 1960 been governed by seven bishops including the pioneer, Michael Brown who passed the mantle to native Ugandan prelates.
Other bishops who have led the diocese include Festo Lutaaya, Stephen Tomusange, Christopher Ssenyonjo, Samuel Ssemakula, Godfrey Makumbi and the outgoing Tamale, but none of them is a born of the diocese.