Today is Janan Luwum Day.
That Janan Luwum was killed on February 16, 1977 is not in dispute.
What is, depending, on what version you hear is how her died and who killed him.
The general belief that has been propagated for the last 47 years since his death is that he was killed by Idi Amin who accused him of being an agent of Dr Milton Obote.
Amin’s government claimed that Luwum and two others had died in a motor accident as they were being taken for interrogation after their confession.
Yet people who worked closely with Amin including the late Henry Kyemba, dispute this narration.
In his book, A State of Blood, Kyemba gave a graphical description of Luwum’s final hours, leaving no doubt as to how he was killed.
“The archbishop had been shot through the mouth and at least three bullets in the chest,” Kyemba wrote saying a day earlier Luwum and two other ministers had been arrested and told to confess that they had engaged in subversive activities.
However Hussein Lumumba, a son to Idi Amin disputes this version. In several social media posts, Lumumba has claimed that Luwum died after a scuffle with his assigned driver Capt Moses Okello. He said Luwum was driven along Kintu Road towards Fairway Hotel.
Lumumba has since claimed that the vehicle in which Luwum was travelling was later sighted in Mbale and was being used a prominent politician. So that is where we are. Which version is true?
Who was Luwum?
Luwum was born in 1922.
His father was a convert to Christianity. As a boy Janani spent his time herding the family’s cattle, goats and sheep.
His father could not afford for him to go to school until he was 10 but then Janani worked hard and went on to Gulu High School and then on to Boroboro Teacher Training. Janani taught in a primary school before he was converted in 1948.
He became very active in the East African revival movement. First he studied to be a lay reader, and then a deacon.
He was priested in 1956. Early on his leadership skills became apparent and he was chosen to do a one year course at St Augustine’s College in Canterbury, UK.
After working in parish work and at Buwalasi Theological College he returned to Britain to study at the London College of Divinity, returning to Uganda to become Principal of Buwalasi.
In 1966 he became Provincial Secretary and in 1969 he was consecrated bishop of northern Uganda.
In 1974 Janan Luwum became Archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Boga-Zaire. Three years previously Colonel Idi Amin had overthrown the government and established a military dictatorship. Amin’s regime became infamous around the world.
Thousands of people were arrested, beaten, imprisoned without trial and killed. Archbishop Luwum often went personally to the office of the dreaded State Research Bureau to help secure the release of prisoners.
Tension between Church and state worsened in 1976. Religious leaders, including Archbishop Luwum, met to discuss the deteriorating situation and asked for an interview with Idi Amin to share their concern.
The President reprimanded the Archbishop. But Archbishop Luwum continued to attend government functions.
One of his critics accused him of being on the government side and he replied: “I face daily being picked up by the soldiers. While the opportunity is there I preach the Gospel with all my might, and my conscience is clear before God that I have not sided with the present Government which is utterly self-seeking. I have been threatened many times. Whenever I have the opportunity I have told the President the things the churches disapprove of. God is my witness.”
On 5 February 1977 the Archbishop’s house was raided by soldiers who said they had been ordered to look for arms. On 8 February the Archbishop and nearly all the Ugandan bishops met and drafted a letter of protest to the President and asked to see him.
A week later, on 16 February, the Archbishop and six bishops were publicly arraigned in a show trial and were accused of smuggling arms. Archbishop Luwum was not allowed to reply, but shook his head in denial.
The President concluded by asking the crowd: “What shall we do with these traitors?” The soldiers replied “Kill him now”.
The Archbishop was separated from his bishops. As he was taken away Archbishop Luwum turned to his brother bishops and said: “Do not be afraid. I see God’s hand in this.”
Additional information from various internet sources
