Ssekadde send-off plunges Namirembe deeper in crisis

Furthermore, the bishop, without giving details, said the Namirembe Diocesan constitution was to be amended to align with that of the Province of the Church of Uganda.

The elephant in the room, however, was the all-male choir of Namirembe Cathedral that earlier this year was suspended by Banja. 

The suspension upended a tradition that had lasted 87 years in which the choir had come to embody the Anglican identity in Uganda. 

In May’s diocesan council, Bishop Banja—who had just replaced the now retired Bishop Wilberforce Kityo Luwalira—stunned the Anglican community in Uganda when he dissolved the choir citing indiscipline and impunity. 

In an unusual tirade, Banja lectured the cathedral’s principal choir on ministry and evangelism, at least as understood in the Anglican Church tradition.

“Choral singing in the church,” charged Banja, “is both a calling and a service to God. It is hardly soaked in theatricals or self-pleasure, but rather about spreading the Good News to others, using our talents to exalt God.”

He added: “Since my ascendancy to the bishopric, I have particularly observed in our cathedral that the choristers have greatly backslidden in their service to God, especially in the 10 o’clock service; not least undermining the clergy, chiefly myself, the current bishop.”

Months after Banja suspended the choir and, through Fred Mpanga—the diocese’s chancellor who also doubles as the cathedral’s chair of laity—ordered fresh registration of choir members, it had been anticipated that the bishop would give the council a brief of what happened. He, however, gave it a pass. 

Sources who attended the meeting, but spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed that Banja said the issue should be addressed by those who are ever at Namirembe Hill. 

By this, he meant that it should be left to the cathedral’s Dean, Rev Canon Jonathan Kisawuzi, who will retire at the end of this year. Kisawuzi will be replaced by Venerable Dunstan Kiwanuka Mazinga who has been the archdeacon of Gayaza Archdeaconry.

Monitor understands Kisawuzi told the Diocesan Council that ever since the choir had been suspended it has been registering new members who have been going through a certain criterion.

“Those who had the qualifications have been readmitted to join the choir and others are still going through a process. The choir has those who are entering and those who are leaving. Some think that there are people who were born to sing in this choir and they will never leave, but that’s not the case,” Kisawuzi said, adding, “As a church, we have those who enter the choir and those who leave it. Only those who meet the set qualification are allowed in the choir.”

Choir standards drop

Though Kisawuzi didn’t specify the qualifications needed to join the choir, people familiar with the goings-on say that the newly constituted choir was “haphazardly put up”. They add that the new members didn’t go through the tests that are normally subjected to those who want to join the historic choir. 

For young boys to be admitted into the Namirembe choir, they sit examinations and are graded as probationers who sport black cassocks; cathedral choristers, who sport black cassocks and white surplice; Junior Singing Boys, who sport black cassocks, white surplice, with a thin blue ribbon; senior singing boys, who sport black cassocks, white surplice with a wide blue ribbon; junior choristers, who sport black cassock, white surplice with a thin red ribbon; and senior choristers, who sport black cassocks, white surplice, with a wide red ribbon. 

Besides the quality of the choir going down, the decision by the bishop to reconstitute the choir has been met with contempt by senior choir members. 

We understand that the aforesaid members have so far refused the forms as directed by the leadership. This has led to dwindling numbers of choir members. 

The standards of the Namirembe choir are that for it to be considered to be fully constituted there should be 60 choir members, but ever since the purge was announced the numbers have been down to the extent that on October 6, there were only nine choir members. The numbers on October 11 and October 13—11—were just as bad. 

“The choir no longer sings the way it used to sing. This is not the Namirembe choir that we used to know,” one of the Namirembe churchgoers recently posted to the cathedral’s platform. 

Ssekadde send-off drama

When he was dissolving the choir Bishop Banja said this was informed by the members’ refusal to sing during the requiem service of the Rt Rev Michael Ssenyimba, the former dean of Namirembe Cathedral. 

Another accusation by Banja was that on Easter Sunday he told the choir to sing a Luganda hymn titled Yimuka Ojje eri Yesu as a congregational welcome gesture to those responding to his altar call. 

He was clear about substituting the pre-planned recessional hymn, and for the organist to play the organ voluntarily. Still, the pleas, the bishop alleged, fell on deaf ears.

Though Bishop Banja wasn’t happy with the choir’s performance at functions, the decision to purge it seemed to have not worked. This is because the skeleton of the choir that has been assembled thus far seems to be not up to scratch.

Issues arose recently when former Namirembe Bishop Samuel Balagadde Ssekadde passed on. We understand that the church wanted to give Ssekadde a glorious send-off backed by a great choir performance. 

Since many of its senior members are part of the group who are still deemed as persona non-grata because they refused to refill forms as demanded by Mpanga, the stage would be set for drama to unfold. 

With the choir seemingly stuck in a rut, a motley crew of senior choir members decided to go against the church into the vestry and dress and join other choir members to send off Bishop Ssekadde. 

Some of the senior members who defied the church leadership and joined the choir during Ssekadde’s funeral service included Paul Luggya, an organist who joined the Namirembe Cathedral Choir in the early ’90s. 

He was identified and groomed by renowned pianist Fiona Carr and took lessons in organ playing and maintenance in British cathedrals such as that of Liverpool. 

This, according to a choir leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, makes Luggya the best organist in Namirembe if not the country. He was, therefore, needed at such a function. 

Another senior member of the choir who joined the group was John Musoke Ssekibaala, who joined the choir as a boy and has since received apprenticeship training as a choral director embedded with prominent English Cathedral Choirs of Bristol, Liverpool, and Winchester. 

Ssekibaala has also directed the Namirembe church choir on several national and international occasions and performances, including recordings.

Besides being a good singer and director, it’s understood that Ssekiabaala had to join the choir because he is an in-law to Ssekadde. This point was emphasised by West Buganda Bishop Henry Katumba Tamale, the master of ceremony during Ssekadde’s funeral service at the cathedral. 

Monitor also understands that, in his will, Bishop Ssekadde, who was close to Namirembe choir members, made it clear that his service should be led by the 10 o’clock Namirembe Cathedral Choir as it is famously known. 

It’s within this context that even choir members, who have refused to fill the Banja administration forms on grounds they had already taken oath to be lifetime choristers of the cathedral, attended and sung during Ssekadde’s funeral service. 

Stalemate ahead of Christmas

The presence of choir members, more so Ssekibaala and Luggya, is said to have annoyed Mpanga who is said to have hijacked a recent meeting that was called by Kisawuzi to resolve the standoff with choir members. 

People familiar with the workings of the Church say once Mpanga took over the meeting, he demanded those who sang during Ssekadde’s send-off at Namirembe without filling in forms, as demanded by the church leadership, write apologies. 

When Monitor reached out to Mpanga, he refused to respond to the allegations. 

“I cannot comment about the cathedral issues because I’m not the cathedral spokesperson,” he said.

The choir standoff should be understood within the context of the questionable process leading to Bishop Banja's elections to the episcopacy in which he edged out nine other candidates. This didn’t do him any favour, with his legitimacy always questioned at the cathedral by those who didn’t support his candidature.

Banja’s opponents say under the stewardship of Mpanga, who is also dismissed as a foreigner at Namirembe Hill owing to the tenure he served as chancellor of Mukono Diocese, the process that catapulted the new Namirembe bishop to the coveted seat was blighted by opaqueness, politicking, intrigue, accusations and counter-accusations, gagging, manipulation, and all manner of uncouth things. Mpanga denied these accusations, asking for proof.

In the Anglican Church, a chancellor is a legal adviser appointed by the diocesan bishop. His roles include advising the bishop and diocese on secular and canonical law. In fact, during the last Diocesan Council meeting Bishop Banja took a few minutes of his speech to remind his opponents that he is the bishop of Namirembe.

“On December 10, in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ, 2023, a bishop [of Namirembe] was elected and consecrated. If there is anybody who has yet to come to terms with that, they could be members of the cathedral or those who are here, I pray that you should go and tell them that the bishop of Namirembe exists and he is serving the Lord,” Bishop Banja said.

With each party sticking to its guns, it remains to be seen how the Namirembe Church choir will perform the famed Christmas carols without its star veteran performers. The festive period is just a heartbeat away.