Madi and West Nile dioceses are to lead prayers at the Janani Luwum Day national celebrations at Wii-Gweng in Muchini sub-county, Kitgum district tomorrow, Friday, February 16, 2024.

The 47^th murder anniversary of the late Archbishop Janani Jakaliya Luwum will be held under the theme “Hope Beyond Affliction from the book of Lamentation 3:21-26”. Luwum was the archbishop of the Church of Uganda from 1974 to 1977.

According to the local organising committee led by Canon Gladys Oyat, over 400 pilgrims who trekked to Kitgum from different places of Northern Uganda and Kampala had reached the place by yesterday.

The committee was by yesterday hopeful that President Yoweri Museveni will grace the occasion as the chief guest.

The commemoration is organised by the Church of Uganda in collaboration with the Directorate for Ethics and Integrity, the local organising committee based in Kitgum and the family of Luwum.

Luwum was murdered on February 16, 1977, together with two cabinet ministers, Wilson Erinayo Oryema and Charles Oboth Ofumbi during the regime of former Uganda president Idi Amin.

The Government in 2015 declared February 16 of every year a public holiday in honour of the prelate.

Early this week, the Government reechoed its plan to build a modern sports stadium at St Janani Luwum's burial site.

The state minister for economic monitoring in the Office of the President, Beatrice Akello, on Tuesday informed Parliament that plans are in advanced stages to build the stadium.

On April 13, 2022, a team led by the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda met with Museveni together with the finance minister and they discussed the development of Mucwini into an international pilgrimage and tourist site.

Akello said Museveni guided that the masterplan should include a modern sports stadium which can generate income for the church for sustainability and maintenance of the site.

She noted that the first step towards the development has seen the Luwum family officially donate the land on which the late archbishop was buried at Wii-Gweng, Mucwini, to the Church of Uganda Diocese of Kitgum.

Who was Luwum?

Luwum was born in 1922 in Mucwini, Chua, to Eliya Okello and Aireni Aciro. His father was a convert to Christianity. He was sent to school and eventually became a schoolteacher.

In 1948, Luwum accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Saviour. His conversion was so deep that he gave up teaching to join church ministry full-time. He became active in the East African Revival Movement and became a lay reader, then a deacon and later a priest in 1956.

He taught at Buwalasi Theological College and later became its principal. In 1969, he was consecrated bishop of Northern Uganda.

Luwum’s leadership focused not only on preaching and spreading the word of God, but also on the holistic development of people and communities; he repeatedly appealed to Ugandans to live together peacefully and in harmony. He was among the early visionaries for the sustainability of the church through the Church House Project.

In 1974 Janani Luwum became Archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Boga-Zaire (Eastern DR Congo).  It was during a time of widespread terror after Idi Amin had overthrown President Milton Obote three years earlier in 1971.

As Archbishop, Janani Luwum often went personally to the office of the dreaded State Research Bureau to help secure the release of prisoners.

Early in 1977, there was a small army rebellion that was put down with only seven men dead. Amin, however, determined to stamp out all traces of dissent. His men killed thousands.

On Sunday, January 30, 1977, Bishop Festo Kivengere 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 (February 5) by an early morning (1:30am) raid on the home of the Archbishop, Janani Luwum, ostensibly to search for hidden stores of weapons.

A week later, on February 16, the archbishop and six bishops were publicly arraigned in a show trial and were accused of smuggling arms. Luwum was not allowed to reply, but shook his head in denial.

The president (Amin) concluded by asking the crowd: "What shall we do with these traitors?" The soldiers replied "Kill him now".

The archbishop was separated from the other bishops. As he was taken away, Luwum turned to his brother bishops and said: "Do not be afraid. I see God's hand in this."

The next morning it was announced that Luwum had been killed in a car crash.