By Gilbert Akampa Kakurugu and Leonard Kamugisha Akida
NATIONAL
The election of the new Bishop of Muhabura CoU diocese has generated mixed feelings in the diocese.
This is after the current bishop Rt. Rev. Cranmer Mugisha announced early retirement and as it is a norm in the church, the nomination committee sat and forwarded names of potential candidates to the Archbishop Stephen Kazimba Mugalu.
The allegedly nominated candidates are Rev. Eric Arinaitwe and Rev. Canon Godfrey Mbitse who the group say had been pre-proposed and endorsed before the nominations committee that sat on 10th January 2023.
Reports indicate that some of the christians opposed to the process in which the nomination exercise was conducted held a meeting at Mayor’s Gardens in Kisoro municipality to petition the Archbishop on the matter on January 16th.
However, the meeting ended prematurely after security in the district heavily deployed its men to block the meeting.
The deployment followed protest letters that were shared on social media urging christians to turn up in large numbers to protest what organizers termed as irregularities in the diocese.
These wrote a letter to the Kisoro Resident District Commissioner Hajji Shafiq Sekandi informing him of the meeting which he declined
Kisoro District Police Commander Richard Musisi says the group did not follow the right procedure as prescribed, under the Public Order Management Act.
The law states, among others that people seeking to have a public gathering need to request in writing to the Inspector General of Police 14 days prior to the day of the set event.
Musisi says the law also requires interested parties to reveal to the Police how many people intend to use the grounds so that adequate security is provided which the group faulted.
Yesterday’s events come on the backdrop of a letter widely circulated on social media dated 12th January 2023 directed to the Most Rev. Dr. Stephen Samuel Kazimba Mugalu on the subject of irregularities and illegalities in the nomination process of the 3rd Bishop of the Diocese of Muhabura.
The situation is not far different from North-Kigezi Diocese Rukungiri where christians are collecting signatures to file a petition to Archbishop Kazimba seeking for cancellation of the nomination of the diocese 6th Bishop after alleged names of the nominated candidates; Rev. Onesmus Asiimwe, Chaplain St. Francis Chapel Makerere and Rev. Kenneth Karyeija leaked in the media contrary to the COU constitution.
Christians dropped leaflets allover Rukungiri town inwhich they accused the Diocesan caretaker Bishop Emeritus Patrick Tugume Tusingwire of dishonesty and interferences in the nomination exercise.
In both dioceses, christians demand that Bishop Cranmer Mugisha, Bishop Muhabura and Bishop Emeritus Tugume Tusingwire (caretaker North-Kigezi) be excluded from the Episcopal Succession processes.
However, John Tereraho, the provincial Head of Laity for Muhabura diocese asks christians not to peddle misinformation and rumors to the public because the activities conducted by the nomination committee remain confidential.
He further said the selection of Bishops will not only be for Muhabura diocese but of five others including Mukono, North Kigezi, Luweero and Kotido.
