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All isn’t well inside the Church of Uganda’s Luwero Diocese where Christians are up in arms vowing to reject the leadership of Archbishop Stephen Kazimba Mugalu. They are accusing him of dictatorship and self-interest while trying to impose on their Diocese someone he is comfortable doing business with to serve as their Bishop.
The position of Luwero Diocese Bishop has controversially remained vacant since last July when the term of Bishop Eldard Nsubuga expired and couldn’t be renewed because of age and term limits provisions.
As of March that same year, the Diocesan Nominations Committee (DNC), that was established with full participation and involvement of Christians as is always the case everywhere, had commenced the process to get someone to take over immediately after Nsubuga.
Duly following the CoU Provincial Constitution and the relevant Provincial Canons, the DNC processed two names through a very competitive process and these two names were forwarded to the Kazimba-supervised Provincial office based at Namirembe. These were Rev Canons Abel Serwanja Merewooma and Godfrey Kasana.
Before submitting the names to the House of Bishops which (under the Provincial Constitution is mandated to have the last word on who becomes Bishop for any Diocese) could have the opportunity to execute its mandate, Merewooma’s name was removed on grounds that he hadn’t yet made out the mandatory 10 years of doing Pastoral Ministry work. So Merewooma’s removal on grounds of inadequate pastoral experience meant Godfrey Kasana remaining alone in the race. This made it impossible for the House of Bishops to continue processing the next Bishop for Luwero.
The DNC was ordered to repeat everything afresh so that two names would be forwarded to the House of Bishops as is required under the Provincial Constitution and Canons. On repeating the process, two names were forwarded namely Godfrey Kasana and Rev Canon Abraham Muyinda Nsubuga. Kasana prevailed and for weeks passed off as the Luwero Bishop-Elect as he awaited consecration.
But in what alienated Kazimba from many lay Christians in the Luwero Diocese, Kasana had his election cancelled or invalidated on grounds that he had integrity issues including siring children outside the wedlock. Ironically, Kazimba (who chairs the House of Bishops and effectively heads the Anglican Church in Uganda) permitted the sinking of Godfrey Kasana from the status of Bishop-Elect to some obscurity without requiring his accusers to adduce any evidence to corroborate their claims.
Naturally aggrieved, Kasana (supported by hundreds of lay Christians in Luwero Diocese) dragged Kazimba to Court protesting all this perceived mistreatment. The case is yet to be decided by the Ugandan Courts from where Kazimba could end up very humiliated and deflated with an egg on his face.
Sources now say that during one of the high level meetings convened to look into claims against Rev Godfrey Kasana, Kazimba lost his temper, became belligerent and threatened not to preside over his consecration ceremony in case fellow Bishops insisted on shielding him against unfounded allegations which had been made against him.
Because in July 2023 Bishop Eldard Nsubuga had to ease out, Mukono Retired Bishop James Sebaggala was deployed to serve as the caretaker Bishop for Luwero for 8 months which are expiring this coming March.
There had been hope that by that time, a new Bishop would have been consecrated only for Kazimba to frustrate things once again through his proxy Naboth Muhairwe who serves as the Provincial Chancellor (equivalent of legal head) for Church of Uganda. The Luwero DNC, comprising of 13 members and chaired by former Attorney General Prof Kiddu Makubuya, had processed two names afresh and forwarded the same to Kazimba who is mandated to relay the same to the House of Bishops which chooses one to become the Bishop.
Between November 2023 and 14th January 2024, the DNC had received and processed 13 applications from which Rev Abel Serwanja Merewooma and Rev Canon Samuel Kalibbala emerged the best.
The two names were supposed to have been forwarded to the House of Bishops to choose one best person but still Kazimba intervened through his right hand man Naboth Muhairwe, the Provincial Chancellor. This time the very unfounded excuse (which has caused many to confirm that Kazimba doesn’t wish anything good for Luwero Diocese) is that the two candidates sent through by the DNC don’t possess the minimum academic qualifications to become Bishop anywhere in the Ugandan Province.
In blocking the submission of the two names to the House of Bishops (whose members are increasingly becoming sick and tired of Kazimba’s foot dragging when it comes to Luwero), Muhairwe, acting on the Archbishop’s behalf, asserted that the Provincial Canons require someone to possess a minimum of a Bachelors degree in any field and a Post-Graduate Diploma which must be in Theology or Divinity.
This clearly contradicts the Provincial Constitution (the Principal law which the Canons only operationalize) because therein its provided that one only has to be 45 years and above besides having a Bachelors degree in any field (though Theology or Divinity would be ideal) and a Diploma in Theology or Divinity.
Ironically, as Muhairwe ought to know, there is no way the provisions of the Provincial Canons can prevail when faced with contrary provisions enshrined under the Provincial Constitution which is the Principal law governing all operations of the Church of Uganda Province.
In fact just late last year, Kigezi Diocese’s Bishop Gaddie Akanjuna faced resistance from Christians led by Nelson Habasa who argued that he wasn’t qualified to be Bishop because he lacked the minimum academic qualifications as stipulated and required under the Provincial Canons.
The matter was escalated to Court where a Judicial Review application was filed against his consecration. The Church of Uganda Provincial leadership unleashed their Provincial Secretary Rev Canon William Ogenga who swore a pro-Akanjuna affidavit making it clear that what is provided for under the Provincial Constitution was the final overriding position of the law and practice because the Provincial Canons are contradicting the same in which case they have to be disregarded because they are mere subsidiary legislation which has to be subordinated to the provisions of the Provincial Constitutionc which requires 45 years, Diploma in Theology/Divinity and Bachelors degree in any other field though Theology/Divinity would be ideal.
Indeed, Naboth Muhairwe, the Provincial Chancellor last week summoned the 13 members of Luwero DNC demanding that they start the nominations process afresh but they defied him and stuck to their guns even when he kept intimidating them that what he was communicating was an order from his Principal Dr. Stephen Kazimba Mugalu, the Archbishop.
The DNC members told off Muhairwe making it clear there are many Bishops in Uganda who are holding office with similar qualifications adding that Akanjuna is just one of the many. Muhairwe wouldn’t have any of that and proceeded to write to the Luwero DNC Chiarman Kiddu Makubuya demanding that the list of the two (Kalibbala & Serwanja Merewooma who has since qualified for the 10 year Ministry work experience) be disregarded. Makubuya refused, stood his ground and has since written a stinger to both Kazimba and Muhairwe.
Makubuya’s position has since been emboldened and fortified by his other members, especially females, who have directly written to Kazimba imploring him to prevail on his man Muhairwe to back off his illegal position. In their 5 page petition, the aggrieved DNC members remind Muhairwe and Kazimba that there is no way anyone can be expected or required to have the Post Graduate Diploma in Theology or Divinity because none of the Theology-training institutions which the Church of Uganda recognises in the country even offers such qualifications. They all offer mere Diploma in Theology or Divinity and not Post-Graduate Diploma in the same.
It has since emerged that the Kazimba-supervised Provincial headquarters in Namirembe has fronted names of four reverands from whom the Makubuya-led DNC for Luwero must choose or vote the two finalists to be sent to the House of Bishops. These are Reverands Godfrey Kyanda, Festo Kalungi, Abraham Muyinda and Rev Canon Wilson Kisekka. These are being portrayed as clerics the all-powerful Archbishop is comfortable doing business with for and on behalf of Luwero Diocese. The Luwero DNC members have been assured by Muhairwe, in a bid to cow and intimidate them, that disregarding the Archbishop’s wishes will lead to dire consequences which threat the defiant Committee members from Luwero have vowed to disregard.
This insistence to mess up the Luwero Bishop selection exercise once again has exposed Kazimba to being ridiculed a lot as many lay Christians and fellow Church leaders are now openly asserting that the Provincial Constitution only mandates his office and that of the Chancellor to receive and forward names to the House of Bishops as opposed to altering or doing anything on the list of two finalist candidates.
And there are growing fears that if the Kazimba provocation isn’t stopped, Luwero Christians (already feeling alienated and unwanted by the leadership at Namirembe) might consider breaking away from the Kazimba-led Church of Uganda.
It’s equally being alleged that Kazimba, a naturally paranoid person, is personally uncomfortable with either Kalibbala and Serwanja Merewooma which is why he is using the Provincial Chancellor to misinterprete and misapply the relevant Church laws in order to pave way for someone he will be comfortable doing business with.
The matter is equally sensitive politically coming to the fore on the eve of another major general election which the 2026 electoral process is threatening to be. Feeling alienated and excluded, thousands of Anglican Church influencers within the Luwero Diocese are likely to protest President Museveni’s perceived indifference and disinterest in the Kazimba mismanagement by embracing Bobi Wine’s NUP Party much more than they did in 2021.
This is something over which many in the intelligence community are increasingly becoming nervous as Kazimba moves to settle old scores while fixing those he isn’t comfortable doing business with.
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