President Museveni lays a wreath on
the grave of Archbishop Janani Luwum in Mucwini, Kitgum District, yesterday.
With him are L-R: Kitgum District Woman MP Beatrice Anywar, Disaster
Preparedness minister Hilary Onek, Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah, Church of
Uganda Archbishop Stanley Ntagali, First Lady Janet Museveni, and Northern
Uganda Diocese Bishop Johnson Gakumba. Photo by Cissy Makumbi
By Risdel Kasasira, Cissy
Makumbi & Dan Komakech
Posted Tuesday, February 17 Daily Monitor 2015 at 02:00
In Summary
Day to become public holiday as
statue is to be erected in Kampala in honour of the Archbishop. A museum will
also be built in Mucwini, Kitgum District, in remembrance of 30 people killed
by LRA rebels in 2002.
KITGUM- President Museveni yesterday declared February 16 a public
holiday in honour of former Church of Uganda Archbishop who was killed during Amin’s
reign on February 16, 1977.
The President also directed
ministries of Education and Gender, Labour and Social development to erect a
statue in Kampala in honour of Luwum. A museum will also be built in Mucwin,
Kitgum in remembrance of 30 people killed by LRA rebels in 2002.
“Since we have Uganda Martyrs Day
public holiday; February 16, the day Archbishop Janani Luwum was murdered, is
going to be a public holiday so that people can get time to celebrate his
life,” the President declared.
President Museveni said the killing
of Luwum was a tragedy and shame to Uganda. Emotions ran high as close friends
of Luwum narrated the ordeal the Archbishop endured before he was killed and
how they were harassed before and after the clergy resolved to confront Amin to
end killings.
A total of 15 bishops wrote to
president Amin condemning the extra judicial killings blamed on his regime,
asking him to abide by God’s call for respect of human life.
Mr Apollo Lawoko, a former principal
information officer at Uganda Television in 1977, said he was arrested and
tortured at the notorious State Research Bureau in Nakasero together with
Luwum.
Mr Lawoko, said he was in cell
number one and the late Archbishop was in the cell opposite and he heard Luwum
pleading with his torturers before hearing two gunshots that could have
finished his life.“He kept telling them he was innocent as they tortured
him...,” Lawoko said.
Mr Lawoko, who authored the book,
The Dungeons of Nakasero, broke down in the middle of his speech as told thousands
of Christians how he was beaten and became unconscious.
Ms Mary Luwum, the widow, narrated
how she met Luwum in a church in Mucwini. “After meeting him, he asked me where
I came from and I told him. But he followed me after church and told me he had
fallen in love with me,” she said, causing laughter.
The main sermon was delivered by the Archbishop of York, England, John Sentamu,
who said he ran to exile in 1970s following increased persecution of members of
the Church of Uganda.
Memories of Archbishop Janan Luwum
“Today reminds me [of] the time he
was enthroned. We were [in a] celebratory mood. It has been [a] difficult life
but God has kept me going,” Mary Luwum, 92, Janani Luwum’s widow
“The death of Archbishop Luwum was a
tragedy and a shame to Uganda...I was in Mozambique training young people...we
didn’t give up...until we defeated Amin,” President Museveni
“There are 10 modern martyrs and
among them is Janani Luwum. Seventeen years ago, I stood in front of his statue
in London and inscriptions; Mercy, Truth, justice and peace were written on his
statue. He never compromised on issues of justice and peace...,” John
Sentamu, Archbishop of York, UK
“We owe gratitude to Janani Luwum
for his unwavering fight for justice which marked a turning point in the fight
for justice in Uganda,”
Tumusiime Mutebile, BOU governor and Chairman of Saint Janani Luwum Memorial
Centre
“Days before Luwum was killed, we
went to Namirembe Cathedral to seek refugee because of the letter the bishops
had written. But Amin followed us there,”
Retired Bishop Ben Ogwal Abwang, Luwum’s successor as northern Uganda Bishop
Celebrated six years of Bishop Johnson episcopal ministry in the Diocese
on 20th Dec 2015 with baptism of traditional Chiefs from Koch and many
more Christians. By the way the Acholi Traditional leader Rwot Awic was
the one who invited missionaries to come to Northern Uganda before
1904. Rwot Oyat was baptized Solomon. The bishop gave a Bible and
Prayer book to Solomon. Thereafter a small fundraising was conducted and
money as well as pledges were raised for fitting all the glasses of the
Church.
Just days to the historical memorial prayer at
the site where St. Janani Luwum the former Archbishop of Uganda Rwanda, Burundi
and Boga Zaire was laid to rest. The service is slated for 16th
February 2015 at Mucwini the home village of St. Janani. The Current Archbishop
of the Church of the Province of Uganda his Grace Stanley Ntagali is already in
Kitgum. He had a stopped over in our Diocese and had Lunch together with his
team and a cross section of the Christians of the Diocese of Northern Uganda led
by Bishop Johnson Gakumba.
At Janani Luwum Theological College, the
Principal Sandra has organized the students to attend the service. The college,
situated in Gulu, is a brainchild of St. Janani Luwum. St. Janani
Luwum
was born in the village of Mucwini in the Kitgum District to Acholi parents. He attended Gulu High School and Boroboro Teacher Training College, after which he
taught at a primary school. Luwum converted to Christianity in 1948, and in
1949 he went to Buwalasi Theological College. In 1950 he was
attached to St. Philip's Church in Gulu. He was ordained a deacon in 1953, and the following year he was
ordained a priest. He served in the Upper Nile Diocese of Uganda and later
in the Diocese of Mbale. In 1969 he was consecrated Bishop of the
Diocese of Northern Uganda at Gulu. After five years he was appointed
Archbishop of the Metropolitan Province of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Boga (in Zaire), becoming the second African to hold
this position. On 16 February 1977, Luwum was arrested together with two
cabinet ministers, Erinayo Wilson
Oryema
and Charles Oboth Ofumbi. The same day Idi Amin convened a
rally in Kampala with the three
accused present. A few other "suspects" were paraded forth to read
out "confessions" implicating the three men. The archbishop was
accused of being an agent of the exiled former president Milton Obote, and for planning to
stage a coup. The next day, Radio Uganda announced that the three had been
killed when the car transporting them to an interrogation center had collided
with another vehicle. The accident, Radio Uganda reported, had occurred when
the victims had tried to overpower the driver in an attempt to escape. When
Luwum's body was released to his relatives, it was riddled with bullets. Henry Kyemba, minister of health
in Amin's government, later wrote in his book A State of Blood, that "The bodies were bullet-riddled. The
archbishop had been shot through the mouth and at least three bullets in the
chest. The ministers had been shot in a similar way but one only in the chest
and not through the mouth. Oryema had a bullet wound through the leg."
