When Amin arrested, deported the first Bishop of Karamoja

In a moment filled with joy and anticipation, the House of Bishops of the Church of Uganda elected Reverand Venerable Micheal Chorey as the fifth Bishop of Karamoja Diocese.

This eagerly anticipated event on July 4 this year held special significance in the northeastern diocese as the incumbent bishop had reached retirement age. The community waited with hopeful anticipation to receive their next spiritual leader, carrying forward a longstanding legacy of faith and service established over decades.

As the new bishop awaits his consecration and enthronement scheduled for August 25 this year, the election in Karamoja evokes memories of the diocese’s challenging beginnings, when its first bishop William Brian Herd was compelled to abruptly depart from his newly established role.

In 1976, Herd, who had dedicated 16 years to serving in Uganda, and specifically Karamoja region, was named Bishop of Karamoja. Karamoja had been separated from the greater Soroti Diocese.

“For the faithful in Karamoja, it was a momentous day filled with joy,” reminisced Bishop Joseph Abura, the outgoing fourth Bishop of Karamoja.

Amidst ceremonial splendour, Herd, a member of the Bible Church Men’s Society, brought hope and spiritual guidance to the entire Karamoja province. His consecration and enthronement took place on January 11, 1976, and was presided over by Archbishop Janani Luwum. It was a moment of unity and promise for the region.

Bishop Abura fondly recalls Herd’s journey in Karamoja, noting that Herd initially arrived as a lay missionary and dedicated his life to preach the word of God and serve the region. Abura describes Herd as a visionary leader with ambitious plans for the area’s development.

“Most of his work was centred here. He arrived as a layperson, he married his dear wife from here, pursued further studies, and progressed from being a deacon to the priesthood and eventually became Karamoja’s first archdeacon and subsequently its first bishop,” Abura told our reporter.

Reflecting on Herd’s relationship with the community, Abura, who said that he met the man in person, emphasized the mutual affection and respect shared between Herd and the people of Karamoja.

“He was not only a great man and a profound teacher of the gospel but also remarkably humble,” Abura added.

He goes on to lament that despite the excitement and high expectations surrounding Herd’s appointment, political unrest in Uganda cut short his tenure as bishop, forcing him to leave the country.

“I can say that Karamoja missed him dearly, and he also missed Karamoja. He was a bishop we had for a very short time, or I should say, we never truly had him,” he opined.

Two years prior to Herd’s ordination as bishop, in May 1974 Janani Luwum was consecrated as the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Boga-Zaire. During this period, the political climate in Uganda was turbulent and tense. The military government of President Idi Amin Dada was dealing with dissent within the army.

A group of soldiers led by Brig Charles Arube had attempted another coup two months earlier, in March 1974, to overthrow Amin. The human rights situation deteriorated forcing Archbishop Luwum to constantly call out the government for its excesses. The situation continued to get worse as the government became more paranoid.

It’s in this climate of fear that Herd’s episcopal ordination took place in January 1976. Fourteen months later, Archbishop Luwum was killed and Herd was back in Northern Ireland, not for a holiday but after being expelled from Uganda. Many other bishops and other church leaders had run into exile after the brutal murder of Archbishop Luwum in February 1977.

They included, among others, Bishop Festo Kivengere of Kigezi Diocese, Bishop Yona Okoth of Bukedi Diocese and Canon Eustace Kamanyire who at the time was the provincial secretary. Bishop Herd, then the last remaining white Anglican bishop in Uganda, was arrested and subsequently deported on grounds that Christians in Karamoja were at risk.

The government was in a hurry to expel the missionary bishop that he even left his family behind. Records indicate that the bishop was arrested on March 3, 1977, before being deported under “mysterious circumstances” by President Amin. However, other sources reported that his deportation was linked to alleged “passport irregularities”. The said irregularities remained unclear given that the bishop noted that his documents were due to expire in a month’s time and he was sure they would be renewed.

Amidst these events, reports emerged of President Amin’s alleged compilation of a death list targeting 7,000 Christian professionals. Disturbing accounts detailed squads dispatched to remote villages, where brutal executions reportedly occurred using hammers and axes, as reported by the USA-based newspaper, the Lincoln Star, on March 5 of that same year.

Records from the Archives of the Episcopal Church show that during that turbulent period, four other Anglican bishops fled Uganda upon learning that their names had been included on a “death list.” In a report published by The Paducah Sun another USA-based newspaper, Herd expressed that his expulsion was so abrupt that his wife remained behind to hastily pack their belongings.

According to a photograph copyrighted by Victor Patterson of Belfast, UK, Herd was welcomed back to Northern Ireland by his father and another unidentified man. In a statement to the Church Times of London, Herd denied reports that the Anglican Church in Uganda was in a state of collapse.

“The strength of the Ugandan Church lies in the whole body of believing Christians even if some of the leaders are missing,” he said. “The life is within the whole membership. Far from collapsing, the Church is vigorous, vibrant and of steadfast faith. Churches are packed to the doors, people are finding Christ and God’s work is going forward.”

Even after Amin was removed from power, Herd did not return to assert his episcopal roles in the diocese but instead chose to remain in his homeland. Bishop Abura expressed that he and other clergy and faithful from Karamoja would make it a point to visit ‘their bishop’ whenever they had the chance to travel to the UK.

“The first time I visited him, he was joyful and greeted us in our (local) language. Another time, I found him bedridden and unable to speak, but I believe he could hear us. We prayed for him, and at the end, I saw his lips uttering ‘amen’,” Abura recounted.

Bishop Herd later peacefully passed away in 2016, and his wife also passed away in 2019. But, by and large, with the deportation of Herd, the young diocese was left without a shepherd for three years. During this period, the Bishop of Soroti, the mother diocese, took charge.

With the end of the Amin regime, Karamoja eventually received another bishop. Howels Davies, a former soldier in the Royal Air Force and an architect. He was invited by Archbishop Silvanus Wani to assume the episcopal responsibilities in the “drought-stricken” Karamoja, as documented in Volume 182 of The Living Church.  

Archbishop Wani had been hurriedly elected in May 1977 to replace the murdered Luwum as the church prepared for the centenary celebrations in June of the same year. At the time of his invitation, Davies, who had previously served as a missionary in neighbouring Kenya and as provost of Nairobi Cathedral from 1974 to 1979, was in Britain where he resided with his wife and their six children.

However, despite the considerable promises he made before coming to Uganda and the high expectations of the locals, in 1987 Davies retired under what many writers described as cagey circumstances without handing over the tools. He returned to his homeland and became the vicar of St. Jude’s in Wolverhampton.

His unexpected departure left the diocese once again at a crossroads without a leader. The then 11-year-old diocese had already seen two bishops leave their post. It was placed under an administrator with the assistance of Archdeacon Venerable Peter Lomongin. Shortly after that very year, Lomongin became the third bishop of Karamoja diocese. He served this area till his death in 2006.