Revisiting rebirth of Nakiyanja-Namugongo

Jun 01, 2021

Nakiyanja is a few kilometres away from the Catholic Martyrs shrine. It is the exact place where most of the Martyrs were killed on orders of Kabaka Mwanga. 

Revisiting rebirth of Nakiyanja-Namugongo

New Vision Journalist
Journalist @New Vision

Church of Uganda is planning to construct an amphitheatre at the Nakiyanja ground in Namugongo. This follows the reconstruction of the Martyrs Museum just before the visit of Pope Francis to Nakiyanja on November 28, 2015. New Vision revisits the rebirth of Nakiyanja by the late retired Archbishop Livingstone Mpalanyi Nkoyoyo.

Nakiyanja is a few kilometres away from the Catholic Martyrs shrine. It is the exact place where most of the Martyrs were killed on orders of Kabaka Mwanga. 

26 young men, 13 Catholics and 13 Anglicans, were burnt together to death here on June 3, 1886, after they refused to renounce Christianity. 

The Anglican community honours 25 Martyrs. According to the brochure of Uganda Martyrs, Church of Uganda, 13 martyrs were killed at Namugongo (10 burnt and three clubbed to death) and the rest, including Bishop James Hunnington and Archbishop Janani Luwumu, were killed elsewhere.

But for long, the place at Namugongo has been overshadowed by the Catholic shrine. 

During the last Martyrs Day, June 3, President Yoweri Museveni criticised the Anglican clergy over failure to popularise the protestant martyrs. 

The president, who was the chief guest, said he initially thought there were only Catholic martyrs and asked the Church of Uganda to emulate their Catholic counterparts.

“Church of Uganda suffers from the disease NRM suffers: working and not talking. When you work and keep quiet, people think you don’t work,” he said. 

“Mobilisation and promotion is something that you need to work on. I am sorry, but you don’t bring it out very well.

However, the president was happy with the developments that have taken place at Nakiyanja. 

Museveni said this transformation from being local to national was laudable but challenged the leadership to look beyond.

“I want you to be international. Where I have been (Catholics’ shrine), it is more exciting and I used three languages because they made theirs international,” he said.

According to the Retired Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Livingstone Mpalanyi Nkoyooyo, this is what is happening right now.

History

Nkoyooyo says the land at Nakiyanja, making up 48 acres, was donated by Tefiro Kisosonkole the former Katikkiro of Buganda, in 1938.

Kisosonkole had also built a small Church at the place. The Archbishop, who insisted on referring to the place as Namugongo, said he did not know where the name Nakiyanja came from. 

According to literature, Nakiyanja refers to the two wells at the place which are said to have been pooled for washing bloody machetes after the executions.

Nkoyooyo says the place is called Namugongo. It is derived from the Luganda word “Omugongo” which means the back.

“The 25th kabaka of Buganda, Kabaka Kyabaggu of 1760 gazetted the area as an executions venue for mostly the notable personalities like princes, princesses, chiefs and pages who be considered a threat to his throne,” he narrated. 

“The convicts would be made to travel long distances to this place and many would get exhausted on the way. Whoever collapsed or resisted would be dragged by their backs (emigongo) all the way! They would reach the place with terribly bruised and eroded backs showing bare bones. That’s why the place was referred to as Namugongo.”

The place has hosted the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, who is head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. 

He made a pilgrimage in January 1984. The place has also been visited by two popes so far. 

Pope Paul VI on Saturday, August 2, 1967, and Pope John Paul II on Sunday, February 7, 1993.

 Main building

 Nkoyooyo says the Martyrs site has seen big developments in recent times. What used to be the main building, housing the remains of the martyrs, has been expanded and two new structures attached, to accommodate the new planned functions. 

The structure is being constructed in a traditional Kiganda way like a hut, with a large opening that enables visitors to see what is inside without entering.

The new middle section has an artistic impression of Mukajanga’s command centre in sculpture. Mukajanga was the chief executioner during the reign of Kabaka Muteesa I and Kabaka Mwanga II. 

Although Mukajjanga was responsible for the execution of martyrs, he died a baptised Christian who confessed salvation. He was baptized as Daniel and was buried at Kakiri-Buyoga.

 The place also hosts Ndazabazadde, the tree on which Mukajanga tied the pages before killing them (which has been preserved over time) and the sculptures depicting the burning of the martyrs. 

The sculptures are made with a mixture of cement and clay, surfaced with iron which gives a final metallic look. 

The only real item that was preserved from the 1886 martyrdom is Ndazabazadde, the dried tree where the martyrs were tortured from, beaten and their hands cut off.

The third section will be the Martyrs chapel, the altar of which is built at the exact spot where the remains (bones and ashes) were buried. 

In this chapel, there is a plaque that was donated by Pope Paul VI during his visit in 1969.

    The museum

According to Nkoyooyo, the middle section of the main building is being expanded to become a museum. The museum plan brochure says it will be a tower of three floors. 

The ground floor will accommodate administration offices, washrooms, reception, cash office and an introductory area initiating the visitors into the museum. 

The first floor will contain the artwork for the road to martyrdom and history that already exist. 

The second floor will accommodate the library, resources centre and education facilities. The third floor will have computers, surfing, photocopying, printing and other stationaries.

Nkoyooyo says the planned Uganda Martyrs Museum project will provide unique and meaningful artifacts to reflect the rich religious, cultural, social and political history of the Anglican church in Uganda.

“The museum is intended to make the place attractive and also to give honour to the brave Ugandans who sacrificed their lives for the Christian faith,” Nkoyooyo, who is also the chairman of the board of governors of Museum Project, said.

 Uganda Martyrs Museum website says it is budgeted to cost sh36b. It will be a profit-making venture to sustain itself, grow the project and contribute to the overall development of the church.

 “So far, we have already used sh1.5b,” he says.

Pope Francis’ visit

Nkoyooyo said by the time the pope visits, only the main building floor will be fixed but construction will continue.

 “Our target of building this Uganda Martyrs Museum was two years. We started on May 20 2014, even before the news of the pope visit came,” Nkoyooyo says.

 Plans

Nkoyooyo says the plan is to build staff houses in the neighbourhood. 

Two storied buildings of four houses each are already at the foundation level. Others in the process include new public toilets of 24 stances, 12 for men and other 12 for women, the modification of Namugongo Church of Uganda Primary School into a modern boarding primary school and the relocation of Namugongo Martyr's farm. 

Others are 19 gazebos (huts) that will be constructed for visitors waiting for their turn to go in the museum, a children centre for between five and 12 to freely explore their creativity and a well-facilitated police post.

The Seminary 

There is a Uganda Martyrs’ Seminary, Namugongo (UMS) on the premises. 

The parish priest, Rev. Canon Henry Ssegawa, says the seminary was founded by Namirembe Diocese in memory of the martyrs and also to mark the centenary of the Anglican Church in Uganda in 1977.

The seminary, which shares premises with the Anglican Church of Uganda Martyrs’ shrine, was inaugurated on September 26 1976, with 13 students. Ssegawa said. 

“It has now grown into a big theological college producing qualified priests and other graduates,” he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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