Church House completed; Fifty year dream fulfilled

By Rt. Rev. Dr. Fred Sheldon Mwesigwa

On Friday, August 24, 2018 at Kampala Road Plot 34, a 50-year dream will become fulfilled when the proverbial Church of Uganda Church House Project will be inaugurated by Pesident Yoweri Kaguta Museveni who offered 300m in 2003 during ground breaking.

The fifteen storied building towering over and lighting up Kampala skies, which is going to cost the Church of Uganda about 17 million dollars, has a scintillating history that has spanned different political epochs and church leadership.

The genesis of the Church House, which apparently is officially known as St. Janan Luwum Church House, can be traced to the provincial assembly of 1966 which resolved to establish Church of Uganda House Company Ltd to solicit funds to embark on a mega building project.

This period coincided with the handover of church leadership from the British Missionary Leslie Brown to the first African Archbishop Erica Sabiti. According to archival church records Uganda Christian University, in 1970, a resolution was made of constructing a twelve storied building estimated at ten million Uganda shillings.

Apparently in 1970 there was a mutual understanding for church of Uganda to exchange their building site on Shimon road with Bank of Uganda for security reasons. In 1971, Church of Uganda Company Ltd was formally incorporated with shareholders being the eighteen dioceses at the time.

As Ugandans were preparing to celebrate the centenary anniversary of Christianity, the 1975 provincial assembly led by Archbishop Janan Luwum approved a centenary committee proposal that the Church of Uganda House be a centenary symbol for the whole life of the church. Archbishop Janan Luwum spoke about the Church House passionately and it was dear to him, according to Bishop Charles Ordurkhami.

The murder of Bishop Janan Luwum on 17th February 1977 prior to the centenary celebrations powered cold water on the dream of building the Church House. Nevertheless, efforts were made in mobilisation of resources for the project and architectural plans for the Church House were approved in July 1977 while structural plans were to be submitted in phases. At that time the estimated cost had risen to 60m Ug Shs.

A fundraising committee comprising of Archbishop Wani, Lt Col. Ndahendekire, Can. Bikangaga, Eng. Kasozi Kaaya among others was constituted in 1978. According to the archival records a grand fundraising for the Church House was planned at Lugogo Tennis court on 30th June 1978.

A launch of the fundraising appeal at city square on 5th March 1978 raied 8.5m Ug Shs. The biggest contribution was from HE. Idi Amin Daada who donated 3m cash. Unfortunately since a minimum of 20m was needed by the contractors to start building, work could not begin. Worse still the banks needed equity of about 40% to be raised by Church of Uganda before qualifying for a loan.

Sadly efforts to procure 1 million metres of Centenary cloth which was expected to raise good money could not take off since Nytil Jinja lacked dye stuff which needed foreign exchange equivalent to 500,000shs. Matters were not helped by the failure of the church to get a government guarantee for a loan.

Following the liberation war of 1979 there was a resurgence of the spirit of a nation re-born and the desire to build, not only the nation but the church, through a mega project. Interestingly despite the church leadership courting missionaries and foreign development agencies to fund the Church House project, majority were advising the church to engage in short term agricultural projects.

In 1983 when the Late Archbishop Yona Okoth took over leadership, there was renewed effort to kick start the building project but the task was monumental. On 5th May 1984, in his charge to provincial assembly, he reiterated the dream of Church House Project as a key historical monumental and capital investment revenue project that would finance church work. Moreover he said, ‘so far we have raised 20m. I need not emphasize that this is inadequate, I am given to understand that even a small residential house costs more than this to build, these days. No doubt we need to pull up our socks.'

He stressed that, ‘in terms of development programmes, we have three out-standing and long-standing projects: the building of Church House, consideration of the work of UCCH Ltd and establishment of a pension scheme'. He pledged to tour the 18 Dioceses to raise funds for Church House Project, however he was not able to kick start the project. When the late Nkoyoyo was enthroned on 29th January 1995, he was so passionate about the project.

According to Emeritus Bishop George Tibesigwa who worked as provincial secretary under him, building plans for the Church House were re-designed at the time and strategies put to raise money country wide from institutions, companies and individuals, many were awarded certificates. My 86 year old mother would often quote Late Archbishop Nkoyoyo thus, ‘okwagala nobutayagala Church House eggya kuzimbibwa' meaning, ‘By hook or crook Church House will be built'.

Apparently despite his passion and raising of monies, he was not able to kick start the project. It was not until the time of Archbishop Orombi that the long-standing dream was to become a reality! According to Tayebwa Rutamwebwa a member Board of Directors UCCH Ltd who signed on the MOU with Equity Bank, the main funders of the completed project, UCCH Ltd consisted of Justice Chebrion, Justice Hellen Obura, Rev. Aaron Mwesigye, Bishop Sekadde and Mrs Jane Kabale.

Their main task was to kick start, build and complete Church House. The task was to be completed through liquidating some prime properties in Bukoto and Industrial area as part of efforts to raise the equity of 30/%. According to Bishop Orombi Former Archbishop of Church of Uganda, the beginning of engaging with Equity Bank started with an invitation of former Archbishop Wabhukala of Kenya who invited the Great Lakes Archbishops to discuss economic empowerment following the grim future of Anglican provinces that were being donor funded by provinces that were promoting homosexuality and liberal theologies.

Archbishop Orombi met with Mr James Mwangi the CEO of Equity Bank and later on the process was started. Since then Dioceses of the Church of Uganda were tasked to contribute through buying shares and fundraisings were carried out. The biggest contribution to Church House project has been Museveni in form of 300m that was offered as seed money when construction was beginning. Archbishop Stanley Ntagali will be credited for his passion and energy in completing what Bishop Orombi started and what earlier Archbishops dreamt about and strived for.

The Church House Project has taken a total of 15years to be complete and has been met with challenges like a legal stalemate which led to loss of time and money devaluation. The completion phase of the project has been steered by Eng. Hilary Obonyo Chairman UCCH Ltd and the property is solely owned by the Registered Trustees of the Province of Uganda through shareholding by the different dioceses. As the Janan Luwum Church House is inaugurated 23rd August 2018, it will be a tale worth being told across generations as it spans seven Archbishops and seven presidents.

The writer is the Bishop of Ankole Diocese and a Director of Uganda Church Commissioners Holdings Ltd (2011 - 2018)