The former Primate of the Church of Uganda, the Most Rev. Stanley Ntagali, has apologized to the church and to the families of those involved for having sinned by committing adultery.
On Thursday 22 April 2021,the Church of Uganda celebrated sixty years of self-governance with a service of thanksgiving held at Paul’s Cathedral in Namirembe. After a closed door business meeting held before lunch, the bishops gathered with invited guests at 3:00 pm at the cathedral, where projects marking the anniversary were to be unveiled.
The Primate of Church of Uganda, the Most Rev. Stephen Kaziimba, invited Archbishop Ntagali to “greet the crowd” which included church and civic leaders led by the guest of honor, former prime minister Amama Mbabazi.
After offering a few pleasantries to the congregation the Archbishop Ntagali stated: “In the spirit of the East African revival, of which I am a product, I have a confession. On Christmas Eve, 1974, as a young man, I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ and I still love the Lord because he has loved me and I have loved to serve him over the years.”
The video of the proceedings indicates the congregation immediately became silent. One participant told Anglican Ink “you could have heard a pin drop” at that moment.
“Sadly, I fell into the sin of adultery,” the archbishop said.
“I confessed to the Lord to forgive me and I want the church to forgive me, my brother bishops, all our partners, brothers and sisters in the vineyard of the Lord, the entire Church of Uganda and all partners all over the world.”
The archbishop asked the pardon of the husband and family of the woman with whom he had the affair, the Rev. Christopher Tugumehabwe, and then stated:
“I want to continue on that solid rock, so, my life is focused on eternity because the worldly things will end but one day, I will stand before the Lord to give accountability of what I did in this world. That is more important for me than anything else. I thank the Lord for loving me and I will continue serving Him until He calls me home. Praise the Lord.”
The congregation erupted in applause and singing of hymns, while bishops embraced the penitent archbishop. A person present told Anglican Ink the archbishop’s apology was in keeping with the religious ethos of the East African revival movement, but also noted that this was perhaps the first time that a “big man” — a term reserved for the top of the political, civic or religious hieararchy in sub-Saharan Africa — had ever offered a public apology for his sins in Uganda.
