{UAH} Pojim/WBK: I witnessed Archbishop Luwum’s sentencing - Commentary - monitor.co.ug

http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/-witnessed-Archbishop--Luwum--sentencing/-/689364/2624752/-/u3dn87/-/index.html

I witnessed Archbishop Luwum's sentencing - Commentary

In Summary

They were not even told what the gathering was about. Those who are familiar with Amin's brutal ways of dealing with people who ignored his orders will agree with me that we had no alternative but to attend.

In my newly published memoirs titled: 'Son of a rat catcher', I stated in chapter 25 (Reflections) that I was among the few civil servants who witnessed the sentencing to death by a 'kangaroo military court' of Archbishop Janani Luwum of the Uganda Anglican Church and two cabinet ministers on allegations that they were plotting to overthrow Idi Amin's government.

"After the 'charges' were read ", I wrote, "all present were asked to decide by raising their hands whether the 'accused' deserved imprisonment or death. Since we were seated amid a forest of uniformed army men all of whom voted in favour of the death sentence, we (the civil servants) had no alternative but to raise our hands when they raised theirs, albeit, timidly. My only consolation is that I survived to tell the story", I concluded.

Since then, some bloggers on Internet have misrepresented what I wrote and erroneously asserted that I was 'conscripted' to sit on that 'kangaroo court'.

The truth is that senior government officials, including managing directors of which I was one, were commanded through a radio announcement to attend that function 'without fail'. They were not even told what the gathering was about. Those who are familiar with Amin's brutal ways of dealing with people who ignored his orders will agree with me that we had no alternative but to attend.

At about 9 am on February 16, 1977, high-ranking military officers, cabinet ministers, religious leaders, permanent secretaries, heads of government departments and managing directors of government companies took their seats outside Nile Hotel (now Serena). They were surrounded by a large crowd of uniformed soldiers who kept standing throughout the ceremony.

In front of us, a collection of well-polished weapons, mainly guns, had been displayed for purposes we did not understand until Jumba Masagazi, the minister of Education at the time, was asked by either Col Maliyamungu or Gen Adirisi, the vice president, to read a prepared document which contained accusations against certain individuals that they were plotting to overthrow the government.

Abdalla Anyuru, a former chairman of the Uganda Public Service Commission who looked like he had been tortured, was also asked to read a list of people who included Archbishop Luwum, Minister of Lands Erinayo Oryema and Minister of Internal Affairs Oboth Ofumbi. The list was obviously not drawn by the reader.

All the people on it were accused of engaging in subversive activities such as those that Jumba Masagazi had earlier outlined.

Fortunately, some of the people mentioned were not at the gathering and those who heard their names on the radio or who were tipped off by their friends or colleagues immediately fled to neighbouring countries.

They disguised themselves in all sorts of ways and at least one of them, a colleague and friend of mine called Mark Ofwono, was reported to have escaped to Kenya in a coffin. A fellow journalist asked me how I felt when they read the name of the Archbishop. 'Stunned', I answered, not only by the allegations against the Archbishop, but because many of the other people named were known to me. While we were struggling to hide our emotions, Gen Adirisi asked how the 'accused' should be treated. The forest of soldiers having opted for the death sentence, the alternative of sending them to jail was not even repeated by Adirisi.

If my memory serves me well, Amin was not at that gathering but was most likely directing and monitoring the show from his office at the conference centre only a few metres away.

It was during the commotion that followed the soldiers' verdict that the Archbishop was snatched from that gathering because I remember hearing Bishop Festo Kivengere of Kigezi who had been sitting with his fellow bishops crying out loudly: "Where is my Archbishop? Where has he been taken? Give me my Archbishop".

Thereafter, the ministers, religious leaders and permanent secretaries were ordered to report to the conference centre.

"All those who have not been mentioned should leave this place in five minutes", the announcer added. Followed by Mr Ongunduru, the director of the Immigration Department at the time, I fled through the gate facing the Crested Towers and later returned to my office at the Voice of Uganda. 

Mr Kiwanuka is a journalist, a retired foreign
service officer and author of 'Son of a rat catcher'

I witnessed Archbishop Luwum's sentencing - Commentary - monitor.co.ug
http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/-witnessed-Archbishop--Luwum--sentencing/-/689364/2624752/-/u3dn87/-/index.html‎

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