New Vision (Kampala)
3 June 2008
Posted to the web 4 June 2008
Anne Mugisa And Juliet Waiswa
Kampala
THE family of Mukajjanga Kibuuka Musigula, the chief executioner of the Uganda Martyrs, has apologised to the Church of Uganda, 122 years after he killed the Christians.
Namirembe Bishop the Rev. Samuel Balagadde Ssekkadde told pilgrims at the Namugongo Protestant Martyrs’ shrine yesterday that Mukajjanga’s grandchildren delivered their written apology to the provincial offices.
“We forgave them and welcomed them to the body of Christ and recruited them into the ministry of the Church of Uganda,” Ssekadde said as the crowd cheered.
Mukajjanga’s grandchildren, said Ssekkadde, confessed they had been haunted by his grim reputation, prompting them to shy away from Christians.
Mukajjanga’s remains are buried at Buyonga in Kakiri, about 30km from Namugongo, at the well-maintained Buyonga tombs.
The Protestant shrine was built on the spot where the martyrs were burned and the stream where Mukajjanga washed his hands allegedly to cleanse himself.
The executions started in January 1885 with the killing of three young Christians, Rugarama, Kakumba and Sserwanga at Busega.
By the end of January 1887, a total of 45 martyrs had been killed: 22 Catholics and 23 Protestants. The bulk of the martyrs, 25 of them, were burned where the Protestant shrine stands, on June 3, 1886. Of these, 13 were Protestants and 12 Catholics. Charles Lwanga was burned at the site where the Catholic shrine stands, about a kilometre away.
Other martyrs were beheaded, chopped to pieces, castrated and burned in Busega, Nakivubo, Munyonyo, Mityana, Mengo, Old Kampala, Namanve and Takkajjunge.
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