16/02/2022
THE DEATH OF SAINT JANAN LUWUM
By William Cheptoek
It is now 45 years since Archbishop Janani Luwum was killed.
St Janani Luwum is one of the recognised ten martyrs of the 20th century. He was murdered by Ugandan president at the time “Idi Amin Dada” in 1977. The Saint’s murder was a wake-up call for the international community about the inhuman regime that was taking place in Uganda.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
On the night of February 5th, soldiers stormed the Archbishop’s residence at Namirembe and claimed to be looking for hidden weapons. They assaulted and abused the Archbishop and his family. This happened for over two hours as they ransacked the place too. At the end of the search and torture, no weapon was found.
In response to this, all Bishops assembled at Namirembe and wrote a letter to Idi Amin on February 8.
On February 14, Amin organized a meeting at State House, Entebbe. He sent one of the cabinet minister to collect the Archbishop from Namirembe to the State House. Amin berated and insulted the Archbishop at length, before he released him to be returned to his home in Namirembe.
At this point, relatives and friends implored the Archbishop to leave the country. Various embassies and outside churches came on board and offered to safely get him out of the country. He was very grateful, however his response was always the same, “If I, the Shepard, flee, what will happen to the sheep?” Janani had all the opportunities to leave, but he was so courageous and he chose to stay.
On February 15, Archbishop Janani, all the Bishops and senior public servants were summoned through Radio Uganda, to report the following morning to Nile Mansions which is today’s Kampala Serena Hotel, for a “very important event”.
How Janani was arrested.
February 16th early morning, the Archbishop left Namirembe to report to Nile Mansions as required.
The so called “very important event” at Nile Mansions turned out to be an egotistic and crude trial for the Archbishop. This was staged by Amin and his henchmen. The trumped-up charge was attempting to overthrow the Amin regime.
The trial went on and at the end, Vice-President Mustafa Adrisi turned to the gathering and asked, “What should we do with these traitors?” The assembled soldiers roared back: “Kill them!” This question was asked three times, and the response was the same.
A group of soldiers then stepped forward and separated the Archbishop from the other Bishops. Some Bishops wanted to accompany him, but the soldiers insisted, “His Excellency wants to see him alone.”
As he was being led away, the Archbishop turned to his fellow Bishops, smiling gently, and said, “I am not afraid. In all this, I see the hand of God.” This was the last time he was seen in public.
He was taken inside Nile Mansions, where Idi Amin was waiting for him. All the humiliation and torture started there.
The death of Archbishop Luwum
At about 4pm in the afternoon, the Archbishop was delivered to the headquarters of the State Research Bureau (the regime’s much-dreaded secret police outfit) in Nakasero as a battered and abused prisoner. He was taken to dungeon Cell No. 1, located in the basement of the building.
At night, Idi Amin Dada himself arrived at the premises, accompanied by few of his men , including close associates Bob Astles and Lt Col Jumba Masigazi. The Archbishop was taken from his cell to the first-floor office of Farouk Minawa. This is where Amin and the team were waiting.
It is in this office that Idi Amin decided to commit the murder of the lovely Archbishop. After all the insults and attacks made on his life for some time, Amin then shot the Archbishop at about 9pm. (May his soul rest in peace)
This murder spot (Minawa’s office) actually overlooks the compound of his own All Saints cathedral, just some 100 meters away. In the same night, two of the cabinet ministers, Oboth Ofumbi and Erinayo Oryema were murdered too.
The next day, February 17, a statement was released in the morning narrating that the Archbishop and the two ministers had died in a car accident. Meanwhile, the soldiers were already on their way, secretly transporting the body to Kitgum District. At the same time, the Church leaders and some family members were waiting to bury the Archbishop at Namirembe.
The burial of Janani
The soldiers reached Mucwini in Chua Kitgum District (the ancestral home of the Archbishop) in the night of February 17. However, they decided to quietly drive past Mucwini, continuing to Bana Bana military barracks in Madi-Opei, some 24 kilometers north where they spent the night.
On February 18, the soldiers came back to Mucwini from the barracks and headed straight to the family compound. They hoped to quietly bury him there.
They found the Archbishop’s mother-Mama Aireni and the family matriarch alone at home. She objected their plan to burry Janani and insisted that they take the body to the churchyard by the primary school, at Wigweng, the hill beyond the little valley of Oraa-labolo.
The soldiers then proceeded to Wigweng, as directed by Mama Aireni. They arrived there at night. They left the coffin inside the little church and returned the following morning. As they were away, some daring relatives and friends sneaked in and using a lantern lamp, they fully examined the body in the coffin. This viewing has provided people with details about the gruesome wounds and torture inflicted on the Archbishop.
On the second day at Wigweng, the locals identified a final spot where the soldiers finally succeeded to sink a grave. After a simple, hurried ceremony, attended by a small gathering of relatives and family friends, the Archbishop was finally laid to rest at about 3pm on February 19, 1977.
