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 Janani Luwum
was born in 1922. His father was a convert to Christianity. Janani was sent
to school and eventually became a schoolteacher. In 1948 he was converted.
He became very active in the East African revival movement, and became a lay
reader, then a deacon, and then a priest in 1956. He was chosen to study for
a year at St Augustine's College in Canterbury, England. He returned to
Uganda, worked as a parish priest, and then taught at Buwalasi Theological
College. He made a second visit to Britain to study at the London College of
Divinity, returning to Uganda to become Principal of Buwalasi. In 1969 he
was consecrated bishop of Northern Uganda.
The Church in Uganda began with the deaths of martyrs (see Martyrs of
Uganda, 3 June 1886, and James Hannington and his Companions, Martyrs, 29
October 1885). Around 1900, Uganda became a British protectorate, with the
chief of the Buganda tribe as nominal ruler, and with several other tribes
included in the protectorate. In 1962 Uganda became an independent country
within the British Commonwealth, with the Bugandan chief as president and
Milton Obote, of the Lango tribe, as Prime Minister. In 1966, Obote took
full control of the government. In 1971, he was overthrown by General Idi
Amin, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. Almost immediately, he began a
policy of repression, arresting anyone suspected of not supporting him.
Hundreds of soldiers from the Lango and Acholi tribes were shot down in
their barracks. Amin ordered the expulsion of the Asian population of
Uganda, about 55,000 persons, mostly small shopkeepers from India and
Pakistan. Over the next few years, many Christians were killed for various
offenses. A preacher who read over the radio a Psalm which mentioned Israel
was shot for this in 1972.
In 1974 Janani Luwum he became Archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and
Boga-Zaire. As we have seen, it was a time of widespread terror. 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, jointly approached Idi Amin to share their
concern. They were rebuffed. 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."
Early in 1977, there was a small army rebellion that was put down with only
seven men dead. However, Amin determined to stamp out all traces of dissent.
His men killed thousands, including the entire population of Milton Obote's
home village. On Sunday, 30 January, Bishop Festo Kivengere preached on "The
Preciousness of Life" to an audience including many high government
officials. He denounced the arbitrary bloodletting, and accused the
government of abusing the authority that God had entrusted to it. The
government responded on the following Saturday (5 February) by an early
(1:30am) raid on the home of the Archbishop, Janani Luwum, ostensibly to
search for hidden stores of weapons.
The Archbishop called on President Amin to deliver a note of protest, signed
by nearly all the bishops of Uganda, against the policies of arbitrary
killings and the unexplained disappearances of many persons. Amin accused
the Archbishop of treason, produced a document supposedly by former
President Obote attesting his guilt, and had the Archbishop and two Cabinet
members (both committed Christians) arrested and held for military trial.
On 16 February, the Archbishop and six bishops were tried on a charge 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."
The three (the Archbishop and the two Cabinet members) met briefly with four
other prisoners who were awaiting execution, and were permitted to pray with
them briefly. Then the three were placed in a Land Rover and not seen alive
again by their friends. The government story is that one of the prisoners
tried to seize control of the vehicle and that it was wrecked and the
passengers killed. The story believed by the Archbishop's supporters is that
he refused to sign a confession, was beaten and otherwise abused, and
finally shot. His body was placed in a sealed coffin and sent to his native
village for burial there. However, the villagers opened the coffin and
discovered the bullet holes. In the capital city of Kampala a crowd of about
4,500 gathered for a memorial service beside the grave that had been
prepared for him next to that of the martyred bishop Hannington. In Nairobi,
the capital of nearby Kenya, about 10,000 gathered for another memorial
service. Bishop Kivengere was informed that he was about to be arrested, and
he and his family fled to Kenya, as did the widow and orphans of Archbishop
Luwum.
The following June, about 25,000 Ugandans came to the capital to celebrate
the centennial of the first preaching of the Gospel in their country, among
the participants were many who had abandoned Christianity, but who had
returned to their Faith as a result of seeing the courage of Archbishop
Luwum and his companions in the face of death.
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