Ntegyereize was a Bishop for all regions

The bishop’s stuff remained judiciously carried by a female priest near the grave. On the eastern side of the fresh grave, another beautifully made grave is inscribed with the names Kaaka Jocelyn Ntegyereize, his wife who passed on in 2013. 

A presumably drunk or mad man with tattered trousers stood on the head of the grave with a seeming stuff, brandishing it and responding to every word the lead bishop would utter in prayer, tears flowed from his eyes. 

At the end of the ceremony, the two graves lay in the compound of the St Peters Cathedral Nyakatare in Kanungu town council, southern part of the church a stone’s throw from the church, the Diocesan offices and the Mothers’ Union conference centre built and mostly endeared by the fallen two lovers sleeping in the twin graves. 

Creation of the diocese

In 1995, the diocese of Kinkizi was created as the third independent diocese from the Diocese of Kigezi getting her independence from the North Kigezi Diocese. Rev John Wilson Ntegyereize then dean of Emmanuel Cathedral of North Kigezi diocese and archdeacon Kinkizi Diocese was consecrated first bishop of the diocese marking a new era for the Anglican Christians in the then Kinkizi County. 

Bishop Ntegyereize reigned at the diocese from May 7, 1995 to October 10, 2010, a 15-year period that many say changed lives in one of the most rural areas of Uganda. 

On Thursday May 6, morning, Bishop Ntegyereize passed at Bwindi Community Hospital, one of the many health centres he founded. 

“He was the pioneer of the diocese and he laid a strong foundation for this diocese and the church that we are proud of. He built schools, health centres and hospitals, water systems and started modern farming in Kanungu District. He was a developmental person and indeed he worked so hard to have this area developed.” Bishop Dan Zoreka, the current Bishop of the Diocese of Kinkizi, says. 

Background 

Born on September 9, 1946, Bishop Ntegyereize married his first wife Jocelyn in 1971 with whom he had four daughters; Pricillah, Sarah, Loice and Hozanna Ntegyereize. Hozanna has since passed on.

When Jocelyn died in 2013, Bishop Ntegyereize married Pamela with whom they have another girl, Sparkle, now three years old.  

In 1998, Bishop Ntegyereize and his friend Rev Can John Basingwire, sat in the bishops house at Nyakatare, wrote a 15 page memorandum with every detail and later delivered it to President Museveni through Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi demanding the creation of Kinkizi District, later granted as Kanungu District. 

“There was Kinkizi yes, but it was nothing, and few people thought it would be an independent district from Rukungiri. When he became bishop, ambitions increased, he started developing infrastructure as the church, schools came up, roads were built, waters schemes and when this was done politicians came in to cement the district status,” James Kaberuka, the Kinkizi West MP says. 

The politician

Canon Basingwire remembers the night they sat and wrote the memorandum and how it was delivered to the president.

“When he became a bishop we found there was something lacking, we could not easily manage the diocese without managing the politics. We sat the whole night in his room in the bishop’s house, wrote the memorandum,” Rev Can Basingwire reminisces. 

Besides that, he stood by his truth regardless of what was going on. For instance, in 2001, Bishop Negyereize swore an affidavit against the Electoral commission in favor of Dr Kizza Besigye following a contested election. He said he appeared at the polling station only to be told that his vote had already been cast. 

Dr Chris Baryomunsi, the Kinkizi East MP who at different times fell in conflict with Bishop Ntegyereize in hi political journey, eulogised him as a truthful individual who worked for all.

“Bishop Ntegyereize was not a bishop of the Anglican faith only but for all the people of Kanungu. He touched lives of all the people and formed a development agenda for the whole district. He was a hero who would speak the truth as it is as a real Mukiga,” Baryomunsi says. 

The legacy

As the bishop, he banned liquor brewing in Christian families also leading a campaign to cut down banana plantations used in making that liquor almost in all parts of Kanungu. 

In modernizing farming, Bishop Ntegyereize started annual farming and household development competitions for villages in the diocese with all religions participating through the years he was the Bishop. He revised burial rules in the diocese in a book he wrote in 2007 categorizing Christian burial services provided by the church into three; regular church goers and known faithful, non-faithful and irregular church goers, the non-baptized and was also the first bishop to commission church services for persons who have committed suicide. 

Through the Kinkizi Integrated rural development program (KIRDP), he developed an annual convention for all leaders and business community in the Kanungu district a platform that created a fora for key initiatives including tourism development, health and education reinvigoration, tea farming improvement as well as increased investment in key sectors by people born in the district. 

The father

At home, he became a father, a family man and a counselor for his children. Lois Ntegyereize, one of his four daughters says his dad was just a father not anything else.

“There was no time he came home as a bishop, he would leave office at work and become a father. He would take us out every Sunday after church and make us happy. I will remember him as Dad, not the Bishop that others think he was.” Ntegyereize says. 

When his wife died in 2013, he developed several illnesses that brought him down. He was treated in India for Kidney problems, high blood pressure and diabetes among the many illnesses. 

 “In his last days he developed heart failure; his lungs were filed with water, he never breathed well, remember he had high blood pressure (hypertension), diabetes and his kidneys never functioned well. Lungs could not transfer enough oxygen to the rest of the body and thus developed cardiac arrest which ended his life.” Dr Birungi Mutahunga, medical executive officer Bwindi Community Hospital.