Kampala High Court finds Archbishop of Uganda has unfettered authority to oversee a diocese during a vacancy in see

Justice Lydia Mugambe of the High Court in Kampala has removed her 13 Oct 2016 injunction forbidding the Primate of the Church of Uganda, the Most Rev. Stanley Ntagali from appointing a commissary to oversee the episcopal election in the Diocese of West Ankole. On 8 Nov 2016 Justice Mugambe held Archbishop Ntagali was empowered by canon law to appoint a commissary for the diocese following the retirement of its bishop last month. Eleven clergymen had filed a petition in October asking the High Court to block the archbishop’s committee. They claimed Archbishop Ntagali had usurped authority belonging to the diocese in appointing a commissary to select members of the diocesan nominating committee. They claimed that they had been appointed by the diocesan synod to act as the nominating committee.  The Ugandan House of Bishops directed Archbishop Ntagali to intervene in West Ankole after the out-going bishop was found to have unduly influenced the local committee proceedings. The court found the archbishop had acted in conformity with canon law and that the complainants petition was without merit.