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UGANDA: Anglican Bishop Hailed as Saint by East Africans
By Godfrey Olukya
VOL African Correspondent
www.virtueonline.org
October 31, 2020
Martyred Anglican Bishop James Hannigton is a cornerstone of Christianity in East Africa, say local Anglicans who are asking the government to make it a public holiday.
On October 29th 1885, the first Anglican Bishop of East Africa was brutally murdered in Uganda at the order of the local king Kabaka Mwanga.
But that did not stop Christianity emerging in the eastern region and later becoming the leading religion.
It is for that reason that Anglicans from East Africa who turned up for the commemoration service at the spot he was killed at Kyando village, Mayuge district, requested the government of Uganda to make that day a public holiday.
The Archbishop of the Province of Church of Uganda His Grace Samuel Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu, urged the government to help in the development of the pilgrimage site where Bishop James Hannington was slain as well making October 29, when he was killed, a public holiday in Uganda.
"Bishop Hannington, like the Ugandan Martyrs, is also recognized as the first Anglican Church martyr in Uganda who was killed in Kyando. We need 5 million shillings to start on the development of the Kyando pilgrimage site and erect a church in honor of Saint Bishop James Hannington," he said.
The Anglican Bishop of Busoga diocese, Samson Nayimanye said; "The government had promised to make the day on which he was killed a public holiday. We are reminding the government to put the promise in action.''
An Anglican priest from Kenya, Rev. Peter Ojambo said that Hannington did not die for nothing. "Hannington laid the foundation station of Anglican Church in east Africa. He deserves a public holiday,'' he said.
The Rev. Samuel Morungo said; "Bishop Hannington is a hero who deserves being always remembered."
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has said that the Christian faith stands on a firm foundation since martyrs' blood is the seed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In a speech read for him by Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi during the commemoration of Bishop James Hannington day at the site of his martyrdom, Museveni hailed the immense love of God that Bishop Hannington showed by risking his own life in the heart of Africa in fulfillment of God's eternal command of spreading evangelization.
He said that in spite of his eminent killing, the Bishop still stood firm and kept on reciting scriptures from the Bible until he was killed on October 29, 1885.
President Museveni commended the church for her continuing crucial role in extending social services to the people in key areas like health and education.
He reminded the people that while working for the coming of God's Kingdom they should not neglect their own lives on earth.
Uganda parliament speaker Rebecca Kadaga, promised to raise the matter of development of the Anglican Shrine in Kyando on the floor of parliament and promised to support all efforts of the church of Uganda to develop the area both as a religious and tourism site.
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