By Lawrence Mayanja
Makerere University Business School (MUBS) has celebrated Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala for his dedicated service to the Catholic Church and Uganda at large.
Led by the University Chaplain, Msgr. Dr. Lawrence Ssemusu, the Catholic fraternity at MUBS hosted and celebrated Cardinal Wamala as he was marking 29 years of his service as the cardinal.
As a sign of honoring his service, the university dedicated a building complex named Cardinal Wamala Students Centre, which he laid and blessed its foundation.
Msgr. Ssemusu said the three storeyed building which will accommodate halls, offices and boardrooms is estimated to cost over sh4bn.
Cardinal Wamala appealed to all Christians to ensure unconditional love and appreciation to God for all the good things he provides to them.
The university Catholic community first celebrated a mass thanking God for the life of Cardinal Wamala, who recently turned 96 years.
Though he is still intelligent, following his aging years, Cardinal Wamala performs most of the functions in the mass by the help of his assistant.
The event was graced by the Ambassador of Namibia to Uganda H.E Godfrey Kirumira who also doubled as the Chief fundraiser.
Kirumira pledged sh10m and also appealed to the rest of the Christians including the business community to join the fundraising drive to ensure that it materializes in a limited time possible.
The Principal MUBS, Prof. Moses Muhwezi also thanked the chaplain for the hard work, persistence and great contribution towards building the catholic community at the university.
He also pledged his personal support and the university’s contribution towards the development of the project.
The Ssaabafumbo, Lawrence Mayanja also appealed for support from all the wedded couples amongst the university Alumni.
Mayanja said this is the only way of giving back to the university’s Catholic community that blessed them for the time they were still students and after graduating in a number of ways.
“We believe that the inception of this project will be a great unifying factor to have us all back to support the cause,” he said.
Why Celebrate Cardinal Wamala?
According to Msgr. Dr. Ssemusu, naming this project after Cardinal Wamala is the only humble way the Chaplaincy could reward the Cardinal for his enormous contribution to the Church at MUBS.
“The students center will be our milestone monument to celebrate the 20 years’ anniversary of full catholic chaplaincy in MUBS which the cardinal effectively initiated and he has always supported,” said Ssemusu.
He added that it was as well the Cardinal’s wish to name the project after him of which he was eager to launch its ground breaking and fundraising drive.
Ssemusu noted that in the year 2004, the Cardinal requested management of MUBS for building space of a church now called St. Charles Lwanga, Padre Pio MUBS, which was successfully granted.
Cardinal Wamala is also credited to have appointed the first chaplain of the university in the year 2004 upon having granted the University a quasi-parish. The cardinal is also recognized for later having blessed the construction of the church project which is already running.
“We are what we are because of Cardinal Wamala. He has been with us at each and every step of our twenty years existence at MUBS. You have further chosen to celebrate your 29th Anniversary as Cardinal here at MUBS. We do not take this as an accident or coincidence: it is a clear, visible sign of love and affection. We shall ever be grateful,” Msgr. Ssemusu stressed.
Who is Cardinal Wamala?
Born 96 years ago on 15th December, Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala, is an Archbishop Emeritus of Kampala under the Roman Catholic Church. He was consecrated a priest on 22nd November 1981 by the late Bishop Emmanuel Kiwanuka Nsubuga and later created a Cardinal Priest of Uganda in 1994. Wamala served as Archbishop of Kampala until he retired on 19th August 2006 and was succeeded by the Late Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga.