The inauguration of the Central Busoga Diocese has been suspended indefinitely after the House of Bishops for the second time failed to elect its Bishop.
Anxiety rose last week as faithfuls anxiously awaited the announcement of the name of the first Bishop from the House of Bishops but in vain.
On July 31, announced just one name; Moses Paul Naimanhye, as the Bishop elect of Busoga.
On August 4, the Provincial secretary Rev. Canon Amos Magezi working on orders of theArchbishop Stanley Ntagali wrote to Busoga Diocesan chancellor Prof. David Justin Bakibinga instructing him to repeat nominations for Central Busoga Diocese citing a technicality in the first process.
However, even when nominations were repeated the House of Bishops again for the second time failed to elect the Bishop during their special meeting on the sidelines of the conference of clergy that was held between August 24, and 28, 2015 at Uganda Christian University-Mukono.
On 29th, the retiring Bishop of Busoga Diocese told the key stakeholders in central Busoga Diocese that covers the current political districts of Iganga, Namutumba, Kaliro and Luuka that the election of their bishop will be handled by his successor.
“I was told that some people complained about me that I am interfering with the election process and that I influenced the Electoral College there by suspending the process until I have retired,” Bishop Kyomya said.
He added that the archbishop also promised to first send some members from the province to guide the Electoral College on how to conduct nominations free from irregularities.
Some circles in the diocese say that some clergy and members of the laity also wrote strong petitions besides sending e-mails to various Bishops staining the personalities that had been nominated for consideration.
This therefore awaits the consecration of Naimanhye on January 24, 2016 and then at his convenient time will arrange for fresh nominations of candidates for the house of Bishops to elect one.
The province had gazetted November 1, 2015 as the consecration day for the central Busoga Diocese and its subsequent inauguration.
Central Busoga Diocese with its headquarters at Iganga was a resolution of the diocesan synod that sat in 2010 and resolved to carve more two dioceses from Busoga.
The other is East Busoga with its proposed centre at Bugiri but they have not yet fulfilled the requirements for being approved.
In May this year, the provincial standing committee approved central Busoga and its operation was only awaiting the election of a Bishop.
When contacted, the head of the laity in Busoga Diocese Andrew Mpaata said they will make consultations about the stalemate.
“Of course it’s a big shock because preparations for consecration were in high gear but we need to first analyze everything and seek proper guidance on what the next step should be,” he said.
