By Mulengera Reporters
At the instigation of Justice Musa Ssekaana, members of Church of Uganda’s Provincial Tribunal last Tuesday converged at CoU Conference Centre in Lweza, off Entebbe Road.
They were here to formally receive and inquire into Rubanda Deputy Speaker Pierre Mbabazi Ntegyereize’s petition challenging Bishop Gad Akanjuna’s continued stay in office as the boss for Kigezi Anglican Diocese which comprises of Rukiga, Rubanda and Kabale districts.
Pierre Mbabazi, who officially was locked up for contempt of court-related offences, has been leading a group of disgruntled Christians who badly want Akanjuna out of the job. Indeed, the controversial Hamurwa Sub County Councillor has for years been fighting hard to achieve his objective by petitioning several offices and authority centers.
The newly-constituted Tribunal is headed by CoU’s Provincial Chancellor Counsel Naboth Muhairwe. Other members include eminent sons and daughters of Uganda including Ankole bishop Sheldon Mwesigwa, Rt Rev Onesmus Asiimwe, Bishop Bukomero Ssalongo of Mityana, East Rwenzori diocese’s Bishop Rt Rev George Turyasingura, Nebbi Diocesan Bishop Hozero Ponezi, Rt Rev John Wilson Nganga and others.
THE GENESIS:
At the beginning of 2022, Akanjuna became the Bishop for Kigezi diocese but this was through very controversial circumstances, which preceded the then incumbent area Bishop George Bagamunda’s curious decision to retire and ease out of the office one year before clocking the mandatory retirement age of 65 years.
This actually prevented Rt Rev Onesmus Asiimwe, who was then serving at Chaplain for Makerere St. Francis Chapel, from being eligible to vie for the position because he had only accumulated 9 years of pastoral service as opposed to the required minimum of 10 years.
In the end, the Senior Counsel Bruce Kyerere-headed search committee ended up forwarding two names (Rt Rev Gad Akanjuna & Rev Canon Milton Nkurunnungi) to the house of bishops to choose one.
However, following the controversial dropping of Rev Canon Geoffrey Byarugaba who had been backed by a group of eminent lay Christians from the diocese like deputy BoU Governor Dr. Augustus Nuwagaba), sections of church members became aggrieved and petitioned the Archbishop Dr. Stephen Kazimba Mugalu.
In the end, the job was given to Gad Akanjuna whose installation was protested on grounds that he lacked the key requirement of possessing an ordinary diploma in either theology or divinity. After ignoring the protesting voices, the CoU leadership went ahead to arrange the consecration ceremony for the Bishop-Elect. The date, which had originally been put at June 2022, was even brought forward to May.
On realizing the pressure was too much from all corners, Nelson Habasa and lawyer Drake Twebaze, who initially had been prosecuting the petition, got cowed and bowed out of the fight. This left many Christians, who were uncomfortable being led by Akanjuna, feeling hopeless and alienated.
There was growing public pressure for someone to step forward and do something. That’s how the controversial Rubanda district Deputy Speaker Pierre Mbabazi stepped forward to spearhead the petition. It turned out there was no Provincial Tribunal validly in place after the previous one’s mandate expired.
The High Court in Kampala was petitioned after it turned out that the CoU top leadership in Kampala wasn’t in a hurry to act. The internal mechanisms had all been explored to no good end. Akanjuna’s godfathers in Kampala and Kigezi worked up the phone and proved too relentless.
At the end of what many saw as a very long tunnel, Justice Musa Ssekaana delivered a ruling in which the CoU leadership was directed to quickly constitute the Provincial Tribunal to have the disgruntled Kigezi Diocese Christians’ anti-Gad Akanjuna grievances comprehensively inquired into.
So, last Tuesday, the members of the newly constituted Provincial Tribunal convened at Lweza to receive evidence and commence their inquiry. However, Pierre Mbabazi, the complainant who was supposed to tender that evidence, was unable to make it there, having been arrested hours before the Lweza session got underway.
Leveraging the services of one of Pierre Mbabazi’s sisters-in-law, who has a big and powerful Commissioner job in Kampala, Akanjuna’s powerful prayers ensured that, at the time he was expected at Lweza, Mbabazi was somewhere else, having been earlier on required to appear before a Magistrate back home in Rubanda.
He was quickly sentenced to a jail term of three years and the charges related to contempt of court; deriving from a long running family dispute between him and his siblings regarding the management and distribution of their father’s estate.
At Lweza, fortunately his lawyer managed to be present and it was her who submitted the case against Bishop Gad Akanjuna, who also was given chance to respond to claims that are being made against him, illustrating his unsuitability and wrongness of the 2022 decision to make him the new Bishop for Kigezi Diocese.
As lawyers try their best to find some remedy so that Pierre Mbabazi, who continues to languish in jail, gets out some day and continues serving his people of Rubanda, there is growing resentment towards Bishop Gad Akanjuna and this is one dispute which Archbishop Kazimba ought to find a way of solving quickly or else serious disintegration erupts among Kigezi Diocese’s more than 300,000 law Christians.
Because they think they can use him to maintain political leverage and influence, while cashing in on the big opportunities the office of Bishop controls in the Kigezi territory, many powerful people are actively backing Bishop Gad Akanjuna’s continued stay in office, notwithstanding the wide spread public resentment, and these include Ministers, army generals, MPs and private sector businessmen.
There are many life-changing decisions any incumbent Kigezi Diocese bishop can have the last word on including those relating to the multi-billion Water & Sanitation project.
One of the things that make whoever becomes Kigezi Diocese bishop very powerful, this Water & Sanitation project has an annual budget that is bigger than that of Kabale local government. Meant to enable the Church significantly contribute towards solving the acute water supply/access problem in the three districts, the project is funded mainly using grants from USAID, European Union and multi-lateral financial institutions like the World Bank.
Yet that isn’t all. Unfettered access to State House and control over area tycoons (like Mayor Enock Kazooba, Kedrace Mutabaazi, Henry Turyagyenda, Enturire maker Mrs. Kiiza, Joshua Mutekanga, Ivan Batuma, Richard Shaka, Johnson Karuhize, Eng John Kimanzi & Sylivia Arinaitwe Rukiga etc) all make the position of Kigezi Diocese a very significant one.
The Kigezi Diocese Bishop also naturally has control over politicians hailing from the area, head teachers running prominent church-founded schools, control over plenty of prime land, control over the 17 health centers and Rugarama hospital among others. All these levers combine to make the position of Kigezi Diocese Bishop much more powerful than any casual observer might think. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
