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Article Published on:
3rd June 2004. |
| No drunkards at Namugongo |
By Carolyne Nakazibwe As thousands of Christians flocked to the Uganda Martyrs Shrine at Namugongo for the annual pilgrimage, the business community hovered over them like hawks. June 3 has, of late, become as much a day for brisk business and sealing love affairs, as it is one for making spiritual headway. Godfrey Kaggwa, 21, is a practising Catholic who has made the pilgrimage three times. This year, however, was different. He looked forward to the day with purely mercantile instincts. “I work at Caesar’s Palace Hotel over there,” Kaggwa said, pointing across the street from the shrine. “We think we will be in good business, so I will be on duty, not here,” he said in an interview last week as the first pilgrims started trickling in. Even though a special evening prayer session was going on inside the shrine, Kaggwa said the day had lost much of its Christian meaning. Yet for many other people, nothing can kill their strong belief in the day and its spiritual significance. Caroline Ninsiima, 13, knelt on the church veranda and followed the special prayers faithfully to the end. “I come every year because I love the prayers,” she said. Every June 3, Catholics the world over commemorate Uganda Martyrs Day in memory of the 45 Christians murdered by Kabaka Mwanga in 1885-1886 for converting to Christianity. By last week, the Martyrs Day Organising Committee had put final touches to the arrangements, and if the networks in place were anything to go by, other business people would not be as lucky as Kaggwa. The committee chairman, Msgr. Richard Kayondo, said that unlike previous years when the annual pilgrimages had changed from prayer alone to a beer tasting party complete with illicit sex, mobile bars and discos were banned this year from the shrine’s grounds. Kayondo said he is no longer worried about reading about a sleazy side of Namugongo in a local tabloid. “That problem comes in if the lighting and security systems are bad. We are going to have good lighting and deploy over 500 policemen,” he said. The committee is trying to reinforce the sanctity of the shrine and the annual commemoration. Even the discotheque in the nearest town of Kyaliwajjala was ordered closed for “security reasons,” according to Kayondo. Kayondo, the vicar general of Lugazi Diocese, also disclosed that 1,000 pilgrims and 70 priests from Kakamega Diocese in Kenya would attend this year’s event. Other pilgrims are trekking in from upcountry dioceses, while more are coming from the United States, Nigeria and other countries. By Sunday, a group of 76 Kenyan pilgrims had made it to Namugongo on foot. The prefect of the Justice and Peace Congregation, Cardinal Renato Martino of Italy, was also due in Namugongo, Kayondo said. The usually colourful ceremony, which had run up a Shs 40 million cost by last week, had the added scheduled spice this year of a 300-member choir from the organising Diocese of Lugazi with Bishop Matthias Ssekamanya, as the main celebrant. At least 300 priests had arranged to participate in the service. The number of people who flock to Namugongo annually is hard to establish, but Kayondo estimated it could be about one million. |
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