How the Kabaka met Pope

By Muwonge C W Magembe, Researcher 

OUR HISTORY

On July 26, 2001, when John Paul II was the pope and Emmanuel Cardinal Wamala was still the archbishop of Kampala, President Yoweri Museveni appointed new ministers. 

He named Zoe Bakoko Bakoru as the minister of gender, labour and social development.

Afterward, Bakoko announced that the Government would be paying sh5m monthly to each of the then nine cultural and traditional leaders like Kabaka Ronald Mutebi II. 

The Kabaka, through the Katikkiro of Buganda, Dan Muliika, rejected the pay. 

His refusal was communicated to government in a letter dated March 24, 2006, stating: “I have been advised and I have accepted the advice and the Ssabasajja (Kabaka Mutebi) has been briefed and graciously agreed to, that as matter now stand, it will not be prudent for the Kabaka to accept payment of any regular remuneration from the Uganda government.” 

Along the way, when John Baptist Walusimbi was the Katikkiro, Kabaka graced a ceremony at Sseroma Christian High School in Mukono. 

Also in attendance were Walusimbi and Israel Mayengo, the minister for general duties in the office of Katikkiro. 

Actually, Walusimbi and Mayengo travelled in the same vehicle, a white Land Cruiser, to and fro. 

Later in the evening after the aforementioned ceremony, Walusimbi and Mayengo decided to go to the Kabaka’s residence, the Banda Palace and thank him for gracing the ceremony. 

Upon arriving at the palace, Walusimbi left Mayengo in the parking yard and entered into the living room, where Kabaka was resting. After a while, Kabaka and Walusimbi came out. 

And when Kabaka saw Mayengo outside, he asked him to join him in the living room as Walusimbi walked to his vehicle. 

The moment Mayengo stepped inside, he told Kabaka: “Ssaabasajja, I want to first of all thank you for rejecting Museveni’s pay. Let us leave that money for those other poor cultural leaders.” 

As soon as Mayengo finished saying that, Kabaka adjusted a little in his seat and then laughed. And when Mayengo requested for his permission to leave because he did not want to keep Walusimbi waiting for long, the Kabaka, who was still smiling, did not let him leave. 

They, therefore, prolonged their talk, to the extent of discussing the proposal that Buganda Kingdom should establish a sugar factory at Sango Bay. The proposed name for the product is Kasubi Sugar.

Right: Kabaka Mutebi and the Nnaabagereka Sylvia Nagginda arriving at the home of Bishop Lwanga (right) to meet Pope Francis.

Lwanga's appointment 

At the time of Kabaka-Mayengo meeting, the pope was Benedict XVI. He replaced John Paul II, who died on April 2, 2005. 

Benedict’s papacy began on April 19, 2005, after defeating the archbishop of Buenos Aires (Argentina), Mario Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, who is now the pope. 

Benedict got 84 votes against Bergoglio’s 26. Cardinal Wamala was among the 84 cardinals who cast their votes in favour of Benedict. 

On August 19, 2006, when Benedict clocked a year and five months as the pope, Cardinal Wamala retired as the archbishop of Kampala. 

Although Wamala had recommended Bishop John Baptist Kaggwa as his preferred successor, the pope appointed Dr Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, on the advice of the nuncio, Christophe Pierre. 

And when Cardinal Wamala, who was at Ggaba Seminary, was informed that the Vatican had officially announced Lwanga as his successor, he curiously asked a priest next to him: “Have they announced Kaggwa or Lwanga?” 

Weeks later, Cardinal Wamala introduced Lwanga to Kabaka at a private function, which lasted about an hour, at Banda Palace. 

The cardinal and Lwanga were accompanied by Msgr Wynand Katende, Tofiiri Malokweza and Robert Sempa. During his term as the archbishop of Kampala, Lwanga highlighted Buganda Kingdom demands like federalism. 

For example, during the 2010 Easter Mass at Rubaga Cathedral, which was also attended by then vice-president, Prof Gilbert Bukenya, Lwanga delivered a strong message entitled “The unanswered question that needs public debate to reach a consensus for the good of our national unity and stability; The Buganda-Uganda Question.” 

He proposed the formula of an accord between Buganda and the rest of Uganda, similar to the one existing between Italy and the Vatican. Behind the scenes, Lwanga pushed for the wide dissemination of his Easter message. 

Indeed, his obedient priest, the Episcopal Vicar for public relations, Msgr Katende, came up with an opinion article, “Bishop Lwanga’s Federo remarks are a tip on unresolved national issues.” 

Muwonge C W Magembe, Researcher

Invites to Pope  

Besides underscoring the interests of Buganda Kingdom, Lwanga lobbied for Pope Francis visit to Uganda, the land of Roman Catholic martyrs. 

Pope Francis, an Argentinean, became pope on March 13, 2013, after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on February 28. Francis won on the fifth ballot and when asked whether he would accept his election, he replied: “Although I am a sinner, I accept.” 

Thus, the hitherto Cardinal Bergoglio, adopted the papal name of Francis, in honour of St Francis of Assisi, an Italian who founded the religious order of the Franciscans in 1209. Francis also adopted a motto, “Having mercy, he called me.” 

When Francis had spent only six months as the pope, Lwanga requested him to visit Uganda. He extended the invitation during his private meeting with the pope in the Vatican on September 23, 2013. 

Four months later, Lwanga was pleased when Pope Francis, who was aboard his papal plane while returning to Rome after his pastoral visit to Philippines on January 19, 2015, answered a journalist, that: “The plan is to go to the Central African Republic and Uganda, these two, this year (2015).” With no further details of the planned visit announced, it caused an internal squabble between Lwanga and the nuncio, Archbishop Michael Blume. 

Lwanga, who wanted the visit to last at least four days, was incessantly calmed down by Blume, to wait for an official communication from the Vatican. 

And when Blume became more and more distressed that Lwanga, through a female journalist, was selectively leaking stories about the pope’s planned visit, without his consent as the nuncio, he (Blume) threatened to resign. 

Amid the Lwanga-Blume strained relations, the Vatican finally issued a statement in June 2015, confirming the pope’s visit to Uganda and Central African Republic. 

But in a turn of events, the final programme not only indicated that Lwanga’s request for a four-day visit had been reduced to three, but also showed that the pope had included Kenya on his African pastoral visit. 

He would visit Kenya first, for three days (November 25-27), then Uganda for another three days (November 27-29) and the Central African Republic for 39 hours.

Nnaabagereka of Buganda, Sylvia Nagginda and Kabaka Mutebi receiving gifts from Pope Francis.

Meeting Kabaka 

The revised programme partly caused the dropping of the original arrangement by Uganda Episcopal Conference to have the pope spend at least a day in the four ecclesiastical provinces of Uganda, namely, Kampala, Gulu, Tororo and Mbarara, the way Pope John Paul II did in 1993. 

With Pope Francis’ visit, all the events he graced were confined in the archdiocese of Kampala, whose ordinary was Lwanga. If there was enough time for the pope, he would have visited the four ecclesiastical provinces of Uganda, where he would have met the respective cultural/traditional leaders. 

For example, in Mbarara, that’s where he would have met the kings of Rwenzururu, Toro and Bunyoro. In Tororo, he would have met the Kyabazinga and other cultural leaders from eastern Uganda. Then Gulu would have been the meeting point for cultural leaders from northern Uganda. 

The pope was only able to have a private meeting with Kabaka Mutebi at the residence of Archbishop Lwanga in Rubaga. Lwanga had briefed the handlers of pope that Ssekabaka Mutesa I, the grandfather of Kabaka Mutebi, is credited for having invited and also warmly welcomed the Roman Catholic missionaries to Buganda, to the extent of surrendering his palace at Rubaga for their activities. 

The palace used to be at the spot where Rubaga Cathedral is now situated.

The writer/researcher, Muwonge, wrote a book, President Idi Amin: A narrative of his rule (1971- 1979). It costs sh100,000 at Uganda Bookshop, Kampala.