New questions emerge in the battle for new Namirembe Bishop

If the Church is to envision herself more creatively as a united body of Christ, new questions emerge in the battle for new Bishop of Namirembe following Bishop Wilberforce Kityo Luwalira announcement on Friday, October 21, 2022.

On this day, the Bishop announced that all prospective candidates must first submit their applications to the office of the Diocesan Secretary by Friday, 2nd December 2022 and not to the nomination committee.
The May 13, 2022 Diocesan Synod meeting at Namirembe fully constituted and installed a nomination team, mandated with the responsibility of receiving and processing all applications and nominating the two names of suitable Priests from whom the House of Bishops will help deliver the 6th Bishop of Namirembe.

In constituting this 15 member team, the Church carefully made their pick from the Diocese’s best ecclesiastical strategists, communication specialists and Public relations experts to be chaired by a Church’s best legal expert, Counsel David Mpanga, who are to make all announcements and notices with regard to the successful nomination of new Bishop Nominees.

Critics question whether this announcement represents an attempt at hijacking the nomination process or is it simply a step at belittling or bullying a fully constituted nomination committee?

Bishop Wilberforce Kityo Luwalira is believed to be struggling to keep up with the rampant land fraud that has rocked the Diocese for the last 15 years of his tenure. These land scandals, which have left several senior clergy of the Diocese either suspended, interdicted or even expelled;  are not only threatening to blow up his legacy but also stand in the way of his mission to cast himself as an avuncular, grandfatherly figure of the Church. Could this announcement be an attempt at controlling the narrative in the last days of his tenure?

Everybody know, the Bishop’s favored candidate is doing poorly at the opinion polls. Could this announcement signal a desperate move to try and hijack the nomination process and clear the way for the ‘puppet’ candidate, expected to help clean up the land mess?

Beyond the political and ecclesiastical questions, there is also a whole range of legal questions that wait to be answered.

Church of Uganda articles on the nomination and election of candidates are very clear on rules of procedure for nomination and election of new Bishops. They specify that nominations for bishop candidates must not start until six months prior to the final consecration of a new Bishop (Article 13, VI). If Bishop Luwalira’s successor is to be enthroned in December 2023, shouldn’t the actual nomination process start in June 2023 and not in December 2, 2022 as has been announced?

The last time the Diocesan Secretariat meddled in the nomination of a new Bishop in the Church of Uganda was in February 2002 when Rev. Canon David Sebuhinja, then the Diocesan Secretary of Muhabura Diocese in Kisoro was directly involved in the nomination process.  This resulted in turmoil and nasty ecclesiastical scenes that led to the ouster of both the Diocesan Secretary and the retiring Bishop Ernest Shalita from Kisoro. 

Isn’t what we see unfolding at Namirembe, a replay of the Muhabira script?

Rev. Canon Erich Kasirye, chaplain, Kampala Capital City Authority. [email protected]