How the world reacted to Luwum''s murder

Feb 13, 2015

Janani Luwum was a fearless, outspoken leader who stood for justice. Today, we tell you how the world reacted to his murder.



The inaugural national celebration to recognise St. Janani Luwum’s contribution to the fight against Idi Amin’s tyranny will be held on February 17. New Vision is until February 16 publishing stories about the fearless, outspoken leader who stood for justice. Today,
Ronald Mugabe brings you the story of how the world reacted to his murder.

Memories of the tyrannical regime of self-proclaimed ‘Conqueror of the British Empire’, Field Marshal Idi Amin Dada are the kind that would ignite wild feelings of fear and a sense of worthlessness for many a Ugandan that lived in his time. It was a regime characterised by inexplicable murders and absence of rule of law.

But quite significantly, none of Amin’s violent murders disfigured Uganda’s history and shocked the world like that of then Anglican Archbishop Janani Luwum.

Right from the time Amin came into power, the Church had painfully endured the mandate to maintain a good relationship with him and at the same time defend its flock from his bloodthirsty iron hand.

However after six years of this perseverance, the situation grew much more unbearable. On February 16, 1977, Luwum and two other senior cabinet ministers (internal affairs minister Charles Oboth-Ofumbi and lands minister Lt. Col. Erinayo Oryema) were arrested and murdered shortly after.

According to Uganda: The bloodstained Pearl of Africa and its struggle for peace, a book published by Fountain Publishers from the pages of Drum Magazine, their arrest came after 3,000 soldiers chanted at a rally “Kill them, kill them” when the three were presented publicly after being accused of treason through an alleged coup plot.

Henry Kyemba, a political figure who was the Minister of Health in Idi Amin’s government reveals that the news of the archbishop’s murder was globally received with disbelief.

“Many people, including many foreigners, could not come to terms with the fact that Amin could do something like that in a predominantly Christian country where religious conflict was nonexistent,” he recollects.

According to him, Radio Uganda; which was the mouthpiece of the state, immediately issued a statement that the archbishop had been killed in a motor accident. Kyemba, who authored A State of Blood, says that this statement was concocted.
 


Archbishop Luwum with Oryema in 1969. The two were murdered eight years later by Amin. (Courtesy photo)


“At the time, I was health minister and the statement read that the Ministry of Health, through its casualty department, had made a conclusive report stating that the cause of the archbishop’s death was a motor accident,” he says.

“I was greatly disappointed that my ministry was being dragged into that mess but if I had come out to issue a statement of denial, it would have tantamounted to suicide. I would not have lived to see the next day.”

Kyemba reveals that the medical personnel at Mulago Hospital refused to write the post-mortem report to confirm the Government’s claims.

 “I’ve got great respect for a doctor I only remember as Dr. Kafeero, who was the head of the pathology department at the hospital. He bravely refused to write a report to corroborate the claim that Archbishop Luwum had died in an accident,” he mentions.

He says that Amin later decided to use his army medical team to write the report stating that the archbishop’s death was due to a motor accident.

Kyemba says he does not fully recall the particular leaders and media houses that condemned this unfortunate act but what he remembers well is the fact that many media houses in the UK profoundly condemned it.

“Apart from former Tanzania president, Julius Nyerere, there were very few leaders who could come out to condemn Amin. They preferred to maintain their silence and let the Ugandans decide on the matter,” the then health minister explains.

To Nyerere, Amin was “a murderer, a liar and a savage”.

“In the perspective of history, he will go down as one who damaged the cause of African nationalism. His rule of Uganda became a synonym for barbarity,” Nyerere said.
 


From left, Amin; Festo Kivengere (fled Uganda); Yona Okoth (escaped) and Henry Kyemba (published book)


Uganda: The bloodstained Pearl of Africa and its struggle for peace documents that the Tanzania’s Daily News gave a graphic account of the archbishop’s murder.

According to this paper, the archbishop had, during an interrogation by Amin and a number of other officers, refused to sign a confession and was ordered to lie on the floor.

“His cassock was pulled up and he was undressed. Two soldiers in turn began to whip the archbishop. In the middle of the whipping, he began to pray. But these prayers seemed to incense Amin who then shouted wildly and started to use obscene language before striking the archbishop,” read an excerpt from the paper.

The report went on to reveal that the archbishop’s ordeal was halted for about 30 minutes as Amin broke off to hear the BBC’S World News and Focus on Africa.

It is after this that the furious Amin pulled out his pistol and fired twice into the archbishop’s chest, killing him instantly.

 Like the Daily News, media houses, political and church leaders in Africa and Europe dismissed the official version of the deaths as a pack of lies hence sparking a wave of international protests.

Canon Burgess Carr, the West African leader of the All Africa Conference of Churches said: “We are alarmed and terrified by indications that the murder of the archbishop may be a part of a terror campaign unleashed against Christians in Uganda.”

Andrew Young, the US ambassador to the UN, described the archbishop’s death as ‘an assassination’ and likened it to the reported suicides of prisoners in South Africa.

Kyemba says other world leaders like Sir Edward Heath (prime minister of the UK from 1970 to 1974), Jimmy Carter (39th president of the US) and Pierre Trudaeu (Canada’s Prime Minister from 1968-1979 and 1980-1984) were some of the leaders who strongly stood up against Amin and condemned Luwum’s murder amongst other atrocities.

Kyemba adds that after his escape from Uganda to the UK, media houses; the Sunday Times in particular, picked special interest to extensively cover Amin’s brutality.

“Harold Evans, who was the editor-in-chief, took particular interest in the archbishop’s murder. He assigned a reporter called Russell Miller to interview me on a series of stories which ran for three consecutive weeks. This was prior to the publication of my book A State of Blood, he recollects.

“The BBC also reported on the incident a number of times because the story of the archbishop’s murder was a hot potato world over.”
 


Henry Kyemba swearing in as health minister before Amin. (Courtesy photo)


Kyemba adds that apart from the US, UK and Canada, Israel and France also came out strongly to condemn Amin’s gruesome murder of the archbishop.

However, Kyemba mentions that while the White media were vocal against Amin’s acts, the Black media; including the blacks in America did not see very much wrong with what he had done.

“Because of Amin’s colour, the black community in the US, especially Roy Inns, who was a very close friend of Amin, were sympathetic with him. They liked the way he was hostile to foreigners. But even when he killed the archbishop, a fellow black, they could not condemn him.”

According to him, it was difficult telling the Black community that what Amin was doing was wrong.

The February 1977 murder of the three prominent Ugandans drew an indelible mark in the regime’s ability to hold the country together.

Prominent religious leaders, including the bishops — Benon Ogwal of Gulu, Yona Okoth of Bukedi and Festo Kivengyere of Kabale fled the country.

The murder of the archbishop awakened much of the world to the brutalities of the regime and a concerted campaign to remove Idi Amin took a new turn; with the Church’s blessing as world leaders especially in the US, UK, Canada and elsewhere were urged to double their efforts towards that end.


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A STREET IN LUWUM'S HONOUR

By David Lumu & Hannington Nkalubo

It is one of the most famous and busiest streets in Kampala. However, many Ugandans are unaware of the origin of its name. Named after the late archbishop Janani Luwum, Luwum Street is one of the main centres of trade in Kampala.

From shopping arcades, taxi cabs, bodabodas, retail shops, restaurants to mobile phone shops; the street is a beehive of activity.
 


Luwum Street named after Archbishop Janani Luwum has changed name twice. (Courtesy photo)


The street is also a brief script that tells the story of Janani Jakaliya Luwum, the former Archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Boga-Zaire 38 years ago. The archbishop was murdered on February 16, 1977 by former Ugandan president Idi Amin.

After the fall of Amin regime in 1979, a committee comprising church elders and government officials was constituted to find a way of honouring Luwum.

Naming the street

One of the proposals from this committee was to change Emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa Road in the city centre to Luwum Street. It was Amin who had named the road after the Central African Republic dictator, Jean Bedel Bokassa.

This street was changing name for the second time. Before being named Bokassa Street, it was Alidina Visram Street.

Visram was the first Indian trader in Uganda. He was born in India and moved to East Africa in 1863 at the age of 12. He was a famous trader in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. He traded in ivory, gold and coffee.

Visram owned a big shop on Luwum Street. His shop was tucked inside the current old structure that houses Maria Galleria Arcade. The 0.5km street starts from the Mini Price junction, all the way to the Namaganda Plaza junction, and then Entebbe road.

Luwum Street now has over 50 big buildings. Some of these new arcades include; MM Plaza, Namaganda Plaza, Zai Plaza, Maria Galleria, JBK Hotel and Avemar Shopping Mall, Jemba Plaza and H&B Plaza. The others are Majestic Plaza and Kizito Towers.

 Problems on the street

Some traders that New Vision interviewed said that these days, the street is no longer safe, especially at night. The traders singled out Zai Plaza Corner, City House, Maria Galleria and the stretch between JBK hotel and Avemar Shopping Mall and Namaganda Plaza as being dens of criminals at night.

They said these areas harbour iron bar- wielding thugs, pickpockets, prostitutes and drug dealers.


Veteran business persons recollect Luwum Street’s history

 Damalie Nalwanga, businesswoman:

All goods coming in the country were sold on this street. All types of goods ranging from brand new trademark clothes, footware for ladies and gentlemen and their children were sold on this street. I will never forget that day we received the news of the death of the archbishop.

We first received the news from unofficial sources. But when Radio Uganda broadcast it, we were shocked. It was also not clear how he had died. Some said that he had died in an accident, while others said Amin had killed him.

After the fall of Amin, our street was named Luwum. The business community welcomed this change. Some people, who were working here, have shifted from the street. In the past, it was as busy as Kikuubo today. But now business has gone down.

I think the reason for the shift of businesses was the demolition and selling of old structures, which were mainly owned by Indians. Luwum Street is historical for us the Anglicans, but it is now dominated by Muslims. But this is not surprising. Muslims are very hardworking. Yet for us Christians, we just look on. In fact, if we don’t work hard, we shall lag behind yet we are the core of the history of this street.

Haji Asuman Bukenya, businessman:

When it was Bokassa Street, it had traffic lights between Mutasa Kafeero Plaza and Yamaha Centre. The few big shops and shops at the time were owned by Karim Hirji, a businessman.

Hirji had two shops; one on Gadith Plaza opposite Mutaasa Kafeero and the other was opposite Avemar Shopping Mall. There was also a shop of the sister of Princess Elizabeth Bagaya of Toro at the current Avemar Shopping Mall, where Amin used to hang out.

There was also another rich man called John Pambalex, who now owns a big farm in Gayaza. Pambalex had big stores here and he was one of the big shots on the street. The other prominent businessman was Edward Mugalu.

Unfortunately, he was killed. The street also had a company called Kabubbu, which used to sell suits. The other person who dealt in the suits was Haji Matovu. Matovu had a big shop and was the only person who used to import suits.

There was also Hajji Anuna Omar also owned a large clothing shop. There was no Ugandan owning a building on the street until Amin expelled the Asians. When Amin gave the shops to native Ugandans, they were mismanaged. City House is one of the famous buildings on the street.


Also related to this story

What was it about Janani Luwum that irked Amin?


 

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