By Mulengera Reporters
As his lawyers continue fighting hard to get the High Court (on appeal) to overturn the arrest of Rubanda district deputy speaker Peirre Mbabazi Ntegyereize from Rubanda prison, the contemnor himself has pulled the rug under their feet by cracking and signaling to the Church of Uganda leadership readiness to withdraw his complaint in which he had objected to the continued retention of Kigezi Anglican Diocesan Bishop Gaddie Akanjuna. He seems to believe that this could bring to an end his current predicament.
Inheriting the fight from original petitioner Nelson Habasa who came under a lot of pressure and cracked, Pierre had maintained his petition challenging the nomination, election and consecration of Akanjuna on grounds that he lacked the qualification of ordinary diploma in either Theology or Divinity at the time of becoming Bishop.
Archbishop Kazimba Mugalu, to whom Pierre originally addressed his petition, recently instigated the Kampala-based CoU Provincial Tribunal to convene meetings and begin inquire into the complaint. The tribunal, which is a key organ in the CoU, comprises Counsel Naboth Muhairwe, Bishop Sheldon Fred Mwesigwa (also the Provincial Dean), Rt Rev Onesmus Asiimwe, Bishop Ssalongo Bukomero of Mityana, Rev George Turyasingura of East Rwenzori, Rt Rev Hozero Ponez of Nebbi Diocese and Rt. Rev John Wilson Nganga etc. They are supposed to be 9 in total (6 bishops, a clergyman or woman and two lay Christians).
By some coincidence, on the day the tribunal began hearing the complaint, Pierre was seized by security operatives who got him arraigned before a Magistrate in Rubanda where he controversially was sentenced to serve three years in prison over contempt of court-related violations. This related to long-running court proceedings between him and some of his siblings over meddling into he affairs of their late father’s estate back home in Rubanda.
The timing was strange and the harshness which saw the Magistrate sentence him to three years, as opposed to a maximum of six months, also intrigued many, according to legal sources closely involved in trying to secure his freedom. His lawyers had hoped the sentence would easily be overturned upon appeal but the appeal they filed hasn’t been treated as a matter of priority by the High Court to which it was lodged.
In the subsequent tribunal sessions, Bishop Gaddie Akanjuna (who has to cease to be Kigezi bishop at the beginning of 2027, implying he roughly has one year to go) had his response or defence entertained. He simply asserted that Pierre who petitioned had no locus to do so since, in his view, for such a petition to be competently instituted it must be backed by three serving CoU priests and two lay members.
But Pierre’s legal representatives and supporters have pushed back against this argument by asserting that the Kigezi Bishop should equally speak about the qualifications issue. One such lawyer argues that the provisions of the CoU constitution which Akanjuna is basing on, relates to a petitioner seeking to oust a bishop who is already in office instead of challenging the qualifications-related circumstances under which he ascended office.
PRISON LIFE CRACKS UP PIERRE
As all that exchange of ideas and arguments goes on, Pierre is increasingly becoming a broken man. In his absence, his wife and children have lived destitute life. And on his part, Pierre (a vocal Museveni cadre) is regretting why he got into the anti-Bishop Gaddie Akanjuna fight in the first place. His wife has been angry at the anti-Akanjuna actors who instigated her husband into the fight yet right now, in her view, they aren’t doing enough to help him regain his freedom.
Some of the anti-Akanjuna fighters have vigorously been against Pierre’s willingness to apologize for ever fighting the incumbent Kigezi bishop. One of them told journalists in Kampala a few days ago that it made no sense for Peirre to take such a path because there was no direct connection between his arrest and his fight against the bishop.
“What if he apologizes and denounces the fight and nothing happens. Members of the Akanjuna camp can’t make that mistake because any attempt to help him regain freedom after his apology will only implicate them, which is why they have no reason to be moved by his written apology. Officially he is in trouble for contempt of Court with which the Bishop and those backing his election have nothing to do,” the anti-incumbent Bishop gentleman told reporters in Kampala earlier this week.
Saying it’s him who knows the hell he has been through inside that Rubanda prison, Pierre has ignored all those people and has gone ahead to send out a hand written apology calling for peace and reconciliation between him on one hand and supporters of Bishop Akanjuna on the other.
He makes it clear he is withdrawing all the complaints he had lodged before the provincial tribunal disputing the 2022 election of Gaddie Akanjuna as the Kigezi Bishop. “Without any influence from anyone, now as a born-again Christian, I have decided to withdraw all cases I had raised on Rt. Rev Gaddie Akanjuna, unconditionally for the continuity of Christianity and strong church,” his hand written letter reads in part. He signs off and attached his phone number.
Written from the controversial cadre’s prison cell, the apology note is copied to his family members, the Kigezi Bishop, all retired bishops of Kigezi diocese, all the reverends, his lawyers and the entire body of Christians.
Whatever way it ends, the dust raised by Pierre’s fight against the Kigezi church leadership has deepened divisions and also caused the moral credibility of the church in the area to diminish, with many castigating Archbishop Kazimba Mugalu for not acting as decisively as would be desirable. Home to not less than 300,000 Christians, the diocese in question geographically covers the three Kigezi districts of Kabale, Rubanda and Rukiga. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
