NAMUGONGO – Anglican and Catholic leaders have revealed that the June 3 Martyrs Day celebrations at Namugongo will be attended by a few people, who will include religious leaders and government officials.
Namirembe Diocese Bishop Wilberforce Kityo Luwalira said that only 40 people have been invited to attend prayers.
“I have been informed that authorities have allowed us to hold prayers which will be attended by very few people but we advise the believers to stay safe at home safe and tune into the different media to follow as they join in the prayers,” Bishop Luwalira said at the press conference held at Namugongo Martyrs Shrine on Monday, June 1.
Rev. Fr Joseph Mukasa Muwonge, the promoter of the Uganda Martyrs in Kampala Catholic Archdiocese, said they have invited only 20 people for prayers to be led by the Archbishop of Kampala, Dr Cyprian Kizito Lwanga.
He revealed that Masaka Diocese which was set to be lead the celebrations will only hold prayers in their area while other believers will attend through the media.
The annual celebration was set aside in honor of the martyrdom of 45 young men who converted to Christianity between 1885 and 1887 to the annoyance of the then Kabaka, Mwanga II of Buganda, who ordered that they be burnt to death. Millions of pilgrims from within and outside Uganda descend on Namugongo, the site where the majority of the converts were martyred, in celebration of their bravery.
