UGANDA: Archbishop Bakyenga was a Great Pastor of Rare Leadership Skills, Says AMECEA Chairman
The late Archbishop Paul Kamuza Bakyenga, Emeritus of Mbarara Archdiocese
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
As the region of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) mourns the loss of Archbishop Paul Kamuza Bakyenga, Emeritus of Mbarara Archdiocese in south-western part of Uganda, the chairman of the association has remembered the Prelate for his unique personality especially in leadership.
The first Archbishop of Mbarara Archdiocese died on Tuesday, July 18, at Nsambya Hospital in Uganda’s capital, Kampala at the age of 79 after serving as a Prelate since 1989.
While appreciating the life of the late Archbishop Bakyenga, AMECEA chairman Bishop Charles Sampa Kasonde expressed that the Lord gave the region a “great pastor” who demonstrated rare leadership skills when, he served as chairman of the regional body from July 2002 to July 2008.
Speaking on behalf of the AMECEA bishops in a message addressed to the current Local Ordinary of Mbarara, Archbishop Lambert Bainomugisha and copied to the president of Uganda Episcopal Conference (UEC) Bishop Joseph Anthony Zziwa of Kiyinda-Mityana Diocese, Bishop Kasonde disclosed that at the dawn of the Third Millennium, the late Archbishop led the association through the “challenge of seeking new ways of responding to the calls for deeper evangelization and the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.”
It is during the reign of the late Archbishop Bakyenga as the AMECEA chairman that HIV/AIDS epidemic became one of the most serious threats that challenged not only the countries within the region but also most developing countries especially in the sub-Saharan Africa. This saw Archbishop Bakyenga spearhead the 15th AMECEA Plenary Assembly that was held in Mukono, Uganda, in the year 2005 to be convened under the theme “Responding to the Challenges of HIV/AIDS in AMECEA Region.”
Bishop Kasonde sent sincere condolences to all those who have shared in the late Archbishop’s life: biological family members, the government, the Catholic Church in Uganda, the Religious, the clergy especially those whom he formed to priesthood while serving as a formator and those among whom he stayed and worked with as Shepherd.
“My sympathies also go to you the Catholic faithful in the Archdiocese of Mbarara for whom he passionately worked with enthusiasm and zeal to promote holistic evangelization and development,” Bishop Kasonde of Solwezi Diocese in Zambia shared in his condolences message highlighting that the late Archbishop had inspiring homilies and a beautiful voice which moved many hearts whenever he chanted the offertory and Eucharistic prayers during Mass.
“If we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to God” (Rom. 14:8). In Jesus Christ, whether alive or dead, we mutually depend on one another as individual parts of one body, the Church,” he concluded referencing Saint Paul’s message in the letter to the Romans.
