KABALE: Church of Uganda Archbishop Dr. Stephen Kaziimba has held a secret meeting with the estranged husband of the woman linked to a sexual liaison with Archbishop emeritus Stanley Ntagali.
According to reliable sources, Archbishop Kaziimba met Rev Christopher Tugumehabwe on Tuesday in Kabale town where he until last evening was reported to still be for pastoral duties.
It remained unclear if Ms Judith Tukamuhabwa, the woman with whom Archbishop Ntagali is alleged to have had an extra-marital affair,
Ms Tukamuhabwa, who now lives in Mbarara Town, has since filed for divorce, accusing Rev Tugumehabwe of cruelty.
A source that attended the Tuesday meeting, officially described as “private,” declined to divulge details of the discussions.
“Yes, the meeting took place, but I cannot reveal who attended or what was discussed,” the source said last night, declining further comment.
Archbishop Kaziimba was unreachable by the press time.
Information about the meeting in Kabale in south-western Uganda emerged hours after a crisis meeting planned yesterday in Kampala between the primate, selected bishops and Church of Uganda (CoU) elders to handle the fall-out from the allegations against Archbishop Ntagali failed.
Church of Uganda [CoU] officials said the Kampala meeting did not take place because Dr Kaziimba was still held up upcountry.
It is not known who initiated the Kabale meeting between the prelate and Rev Tugumehabwe, a lecturer at Bishop Barham University College Kabale, although a knowledgeable source last evening said a retired bishop in western Uganda played a role. We were unable to establish the purpose of the meeting.
In a related development, a mediator that court appointed to handle a case that Ms Tukamuhabwa filed at Kabale Chief Magistrate’s Court last month, seeking dissolution of her marriage to Rev Tugumehabwe, said he is not yet ready to proceed.
Mr Felix Bakanyebonera of M/s Bakanyebonera and Company Advocates told this website that he has not been served with all court documents regarding the divorce case, making it impossible to conduct the mediation hearing as initially scheduled.
“It’s true I was appointed as a mediator in this case but because I have not been served with the court documents that give the details of the case, I will postpone the hearing for another agreed date,” Mr Bakanyebonera said.
Last year, on December 7, Ms Tukamuhabwa through her lawyers of M/s New Mark Advocates, asked court to dissolve her marriage to Rev Tugumehabwe, which she claimed was “irretrievably broken” since all reconciliation efforts yielded no results.
Rev. Tugumehabwe declined to discuss the divorce case since it is already before court. In his first public comments about the alleged affair between his wife and Archbishop Ntagali, Rev Tugumehabwe said:
“I have no comment on the matter. The alleged adultery is her (Tukamuhabwa’s) own affair.”
We were unable to reach Ms Tukamuhabwa on her known telephone number.
Her father, Mr Wycliffe Turyamureba, said he brought up the daughter well after her mother died when she was only a year old, and he is heartbroken by allegations of her extra-marital affair with the retired archbishop.
“If it is true, it’s very bad for my daughter to involve herself in issues of causing confusion in the church. But the fact that she is a mature lady, she is answerable to her deeds,” Mr. Turyamureba said yesterday.
Some Christians in Kabale Town accused Ms Tukamuhabwa of causing confusion in the Church of Uganda.
“After a failed love affair with a reverend, why go for the archbishop? This suggests that they could some forces behind the scenes aimed at tarnishing the image of Church of Uganda,” Mr. Amon Mugisha, a Christian in Kabale Town, said.
