President Museveni lays a wreath on the casket of the Late Archbishop Lwanga
President Yoweri Museveni has said doctors who were treating the Late Archbishop of Kampala Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, should give more details about the disease that caused his death.
On Monday, the Interim Archdiocesan Administrator Msgr Charles Kasibante and the archdiocesan health coordinator Dr Andrew Ssekitoleko said that Lwanga succumbed to Ischemic heart disease.
Reading a jointly signed document, Dr Ssekitoleko explained that the post-mortem was conducted by a team of senior pathologists in presence of two family representatives and two physicians delegated by the church adding that at the end of the exercise, it was established that the archbishop had a heart attack due to a blood clot in the heart vessels.
However speaking at Kololo Independence Grounds on Tuesday at the national day of mourning, Museveni said that it is difficult to understand how Lwanga could die of a condition that was well-known for long by his doctors.
According to Museveni, Lwanga’s doctors at one point failed on something they could have done.
Museveni hailed Dr Lwanga and his predecessors for the support they rendered during the liberation of Uganda.
President Museveni also remembered Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala for allowing the NRA guerrillas to access his plantations for food. He said the two were great sympathizers of the struggle and that even after the war, they invited him to Kyankwanzi for more talks about the country.
Museveni said the state will give official burial ceremonies to all religious leaders at the level of archbishop irrespective of who they are, especially when they are from the mainstream or traditional religious institutions.
Museveni also hailed Lwanga for being a development minded person. He cited the Twekembe Microfinance in Luweero, which is one of the largest and successful microfinance organizations in Uganda.
He hailed this as a move in the right direction by the religious leaders who previously taught to rely on God’s mercy for survival, instead of teaching them to multiply the little that they have.
Bishop Joshua Lwere, a member of the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda, who represented the Chairman, Sheikh Ramathan Mubajje, said they will miss Dr Lwanga for his bold fight for justice and his advocacy for dialogue, among others.
The Chairman of the Episcopal Conference Joseph Anthony Zziwa welcomed the decision by the president to accord the fallen cleric an official burial.
Lwanga was later honored with a 17 gun salute. He will be buried on Thursday inside Lubaga Cathedral.
-URN
