The making of Christ’s Cathedral Bugembe

Rev Can Waibale’s appointment entrusted him with the duty of spreading the word of God among locals of Masese and other parts of rural Busoga. He had already enjoyed considerable success in the counties of Bulamogi and Busiki. In fact, he is credited for having planted St Michael’s Church in present-day Namutumba.

The biggest challenge he faced was reaching the communities that were uncomfortable journeying to churches in Jinja town.

St Andrew’s Church in Jinja had too many Europeans and other Christians from communities of British protected persons. St James’ Church in Jinja town was surrounded by many Asians who constituted the biggest percentage of the population of the town.

According to Dr Frank Nabwiso, who has extensively researched on several matters around Busoga Sub-region, Masese where Rev Can Waibale was staying was ruled out because it had a very sparse population. It did not help matters that the landscape was not in line with his vision of the kind of church building he wanted.

“His idea was to replicate Namirembe Cathedral, a big church in Busoga [Sub-]region and one built on a hill with a commanding view,” Dr Nabwiso says.

Birth of an idea
Rev Can Waibale had come up with a sketch of the kind of church that he wanted in 1952 while studying theology in one of the colleges near Cambridge University.

It is not clear whether he had seen a church similar to it, but consultations with friends and fellow theology students resulted in the development of sketches and draft structural drawings. He then invited others to discuss once he had been named archdeacon. The idea was soon tabled before some of the parishioners.

“That set the stage for consultative and planning meetings driven by the need to build a separate church, not in Jinja town. They (Jinja) did not like it. There were too many Indians there. And they wanted something where the Africans would feel free to go and worship,” Dr Nabwiso says.

The meetings were attended by among others Yekonia Kaira Lubogo, the Ssaza chief of Bulamogi who later became treasurer of the Busoga Local Government; Dr Ivan Kadaama, the district medical officer of Busoga who at independence became the first director of Medical Services; and Abiasali Kalikwani who was the assistant veterinary officer of Busoga.

Enter Busoga Kingdom
The meetings concluded that a project of such a magnitude could not be possibly pulled off without the involvement of the Busoga government. In February 1955, Henry Wako Muloki was elected Kyabazinga of Busoga. It was a case of an Anglican taking charge of a government of Anglican administrators.

“The secretary general, Yeseri Mulondo; the treasurer, Yeseri Lubandi; the secretary for agriculture, Yekonia Walukamba; the chief judge of the Native Court, Zedekia Wambi; and the secretary for works, William Mwangu, were all Anglicans,” Dr Nabwiso says.

Mulondo, a former deputy headmaster at Busoga College Mwiri, became a member of the Legislative Council before taking over as secretary general.

Lubandi, Walukamba, Mwangu, and Wambi had all gone through Busoga College Mwiri. The Anglican and Mwiri connections made it relatively easy for the project to get the required endorsement.

The idea also gave the Muloki administration the perfect excuse for transferring the Kyabazinga’s Palace to a quieter place than Bugembe, which was becoming increasingly noisy on account of a growing population.

“In 1958, the same year in which they began constructing Wanyange Girls’ School, the Lukiiko passed a motion to transfer the palace to Igenge hill. It was during the same debate that the motion was made to donate the land where the cathedral is and the house of the Kyabazinga to the Church of Uganda to allow for the project to commence,” Dr Nabwiso says.

Rat attack
Work on the building had not commenced by 1962 when Muloki was removed from office. However, Kyabazinga Nadiope declined to occupy the official residence, preferring to move into his private residence in Budhumbuli.

There are conflicting accounts around the circumstances under which he declined to reside in the house. The only thing that the parties agree on is that he was attacked by a rat.

Coming at the height of an intense rivalry between himself and Muloki, Nadiope was quick to blame the attack on Muloki.

“We were still very young, but we were told that he abandoned the palace because he had been bitten by a rat. He believed that his rivals from Bulamogi had sent the rat to bite him,” Patrick Miyingo once told Saturday Monitor years before he passed on.

Dr Nabwiso, however, says that Nadiope, who was also into the produce trade, had turned the residence into a store for his grain. The attack, Dr Nabwiso added, occurred when Nadiope had gone to check on his grain.

The incident served to expedite the handover by the Busoga government of the residence and the rest of the land on the hill to the Church of Uganda.

Construction
Internal rivalries in the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) and conflicts between the central government and the Mengo government soon led to the arrest on February 22, 1966 of ministers Grace Ibingira, Dr Emmanuel Lumu, George Magezi, Balaki Kirya, and Mathias Ngobi. This forced Nadiope to temporarily flee into self-imposed exile in Nairobi.

The attack on the Lubiri later that year and the subsequent introduction of a republican constitution meant that work could not begin until 1968. When construction began, the pace was extremely slow.

It was not possible to establish the identity of the firm that started the work. What is clear is the work was affected when President Amin declared “an economic war” and expelled Asians from Uganda.

No funds, no materials
Once the “foreign” contractors had been ordered out, Jinja Construction and Joinery (JC&J) Limited was drafted in to complete the work.

“The work that they immediately wanted us to do was to build the walls because that cathedral had pillars, it had the roofing on, but the finishing of walling, windows, and everything that goes with finishing was not there,” a son of one of the proprietors of the firm told Saturday Monitor.

JC&J, however, soon found themselves in trouble. There was scarcity of building materials.

“Accessing building materials was a very big challenge. The bricks were coming from Uganda Clays Kajjansi, but securing them was very difficult. You had to book. Getting timber was also hard because Uganda did not have any functional sawmill,” Mr David Wakudumira, a former Mayor of Jinja, recounts.

Eventually timber was acquired from the Works ministry. There were, however, no screws, bolts, locks and glasses to finish the job. It is here that Bishop Kikuni Bamwoze, who had been consecrated Bishop of Busoga in 1973, sprang into action.

It was thanks to his connections that the lower glasses were filled and the doors and locks were fitted. The challenge though were the upper glasses and lighting facilities.

Those had to wait until March 1982 when a grand fundraising was held. Thanks to the intervention of Dr Luwuliza Kirunda, then Internal Affairs minister, the deficit was met and the building was later that year opened by President Milton Obote.