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
once said “the need to train manpower is so great…… we have many people who are baptized, confirmed but still remain babies” According to Him having trained manpower helps the Church to nurture men and women for ministry.
In the Diocese of Northern Uganda almost 90% of
the clergy went through Archbishop Janani Luwum Theological College including
the current Bishop of the Diocese of Northern Uganda Johnson Gakumba.
As we remember St. Janani let us continue to pray
and support the Theological College here in Northern Uganda.
Janani Jakaliya Luwum
(c. 1922 – 17 February 1977), was the Archbishop
of the Church of Uganda from 1974 to 1977
and one of the most influential leaders of the modern church in Africa. He was
murdered in 1977 by either Idi Amin
personally or by Amin's henchmen.
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."
According
to the later testimony of witnesses, the victims had been taken to an army
barracks, where they were bullied, beaten and finally shot. Time magazine said "Some reports even had it that Amin
himself had pulled the trigger, but Amin angrily denied the charge, and there
were no first-hand witnesses".
Janani
Luwum was survived by a widow, Mary Lawinyo Luwum and nine children. He was
buried at his home village of Mucwini in the Kitgum District. He is recognised as
a martyr by the Church of England and the Anglican Communion and his death is
commemorated on 17 February as a Lesser Festival. His statue is among the Twentieth
Century Martyrs on the front of Westminster Abbey in London.
