Archbishop of Nairobi to organise Jonah Lwanga burial
Orthodox Archbishop Makarios of Nairobi has been appointed the caretaker and overseer of the burial of Metropolitan Jonah Lwanga, who died on Sunday evening aged 76.
Mr John Kibuuka Bossa, one of the administrators of the Orthodox Church in Uganda, said Monday that Archbishop Makarios was assigned the role by the African head of the Orthodox Church sitting in Egypt, Patriarch Theodore II.
Mr Bossa also revealed that the late prelate left for Athens, Greece, for his pastoral work about two months ago, but fell sick there.
Fr Nicholas Bayego, dean of St Nicholas Orthodox Church in Namungoona near Kampala, added that about two years, Lwanga was diagnosed with cancer.
“Two years back, he started wishing us and others goodbye, [saying] he had played his part and that it was time for him to meet the Lord,” Fr Bayego said.
He said Archbishop Makarios is expected to take over all the burial arrangements as soon as the body arrives in the country.
Sources at the church Monday said Archbishop Lwanga will be buried near the grave of his mother, Kezia Babitaka, in Ddegeya, Luweero District, on a date yet to be confirmed.
When reporters visited Namungoona church, the seat of the Orthodox faith, a handful of faithful had gathered to mourn the archbishop.
Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Sekikubo, a renowned Orthodox faithful, said: “He was an open man and a voice of the common man. He also openly criticised the government on issues of corruption, intrigue, selfishness and human rights. His death is a loss to the nation.”
Opposition leader Kizza Besigye said: "A great moral voice and leader goes to be with the Lord. Metropolitan Lwanga has had the courage, confidence and moral activism consistent with a man of God. It’s worrying that such moral patriarchs are endangered, yet most needed in Uganda today." BY DAILY NATION
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