21 hours in captivity: Cardinal Wamala recalls his ordeal and talks about his life

Jul 17, 2009

EMMANUEL Cardinal Wamala has authored <i>The Reflections on the word of God</i> on about the 21 hours he was taken hostage by Saidi Bingo, at Rubaga on February 3, 1992. <i>Saturday Vision</i> gives highlights of the book.

EMMANUEL Cardinal Wamala has authored The Reflections on the word of God on about the 21 hours he was taken hostage by Saidi Bingo, at Rubaga on February 3, 1992. Saturday Vision gives highlights of the book.

HE entered the office and was given a seat. It was around 11:00am. From a polythene bag, he produced his weapons and said: “These are deadly, so unless I get what I want today, by two o’clock you will be dead.”

This ordeal, narrated by Emmanuel Cardinal Wamala in his autobiography, Reflections on the Word of God, is about the 21 hours he was taken hostage by Saidi Bingo. The incident took place at the Cardinal’s office at Rubaga on February 3, 1992.

Bingo demanded three people in return for the cardinal’s release. The manager of Florian Bar at Nakivubo, the cashier at the same bar and a man who, he said, had been with the cashier the previous night. He claimed they had infected his wife HIV/AIDS.

“He demanded that I call the president to surrender these people. I asked him; you know where they are and you have the weapons, why then ask me to ask the president?

“He said, ‘if the president knows you are arrested, he will take action.’ I told him my telephone could not reach the President. He said ‘Write to him.’ I wrote the letter and gave it to somebody to take it to the president,” Wamala narrates.

By the end of the ordeal, the two had become friends. The cardinal freely asked him questions and Bingo answered them. “He told me go on with my work while we waited for a response from the president. He allowed me to use the telephone, allowed my secretaries to come into the office and he let a nurse bring me a blanket at night.

“The next morning, he allowed a nun to bring me the vestments for saying mass.”

At one point, a girl went in to see the Cardinal. She asked for money for school fees but he said he was not in position to give her any. However, Bongo asked how much the girl needed, counted the money and gave it to her. “There were some elements of goodness in him. I don’t know what really disturbed him.”

The cardinal escaped when Bongo went to use the bathroom and forgot to lock the door. Bongo tried to pursue him but quickly pulled back when security operatives, disguised as priests, opened fire. He returned to the office and shot himself. “I forgive him as the Pope forgave the Turkish Ali Agra, who shot him on May, 13, 1981.”

The 470-page autobiography, written by Fred Ssekitto, the commissioner for information in Kampala Archdiocese, profiles Cardinal Wamala’s life and service to the church and Uganda. It also highlights his impact on society because of his integrity and fight for justice. It is available in bookshops at sh20,000.

Cardinal Wamala was born on December 15, 1926 at Kamaggwa, Lwaggulwe, Masaka, to the late Cosma Kyamira and Theresa Namayanja. He became a priest in 1957, bishop of Kiyinda-Mityana in 1981 and succeeded Cardinal Emmanuel Nsubuga in 1990. He has now retired from active service and resides at Nsambya.

Compiled by Juliet Lukwago

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