Orombi rejects rumors he is running for president: The Church of England Newspaper, September 16, 2012 p 7.

Henry Orombi (left) with his successor as Archbishop of Uganda, Stanley Ntagali (right)

The Primate of the Church of Uganda, Archbishop Henry Orombi has denied rumours that he will enter politics following his retirement from the church in December.

“If politicians do their duty, people are blessed just as they are blessed when we perform our duties,” the archbishop said on 9 September 2012 in his sermon at Christ’s Cathedral in Bugemebe in the Dicoese of Busoga.

In an address to a meeting of the Ugandan House of Bishops on 7 January 2012, Archbishop Orombi issued a call for the election of a new archbishop and said he would retire following the installation of his successor in December.  In a statement given to The Church of England Newspaper in January by the Church of Uganda, Archbishop Orombi said he was leaving office a year before his mandatory retirement at age 65 in order to focus on mission and evangelism.

“I want to use my retirement to preach the Gospel single-heartedly. This has been my single passion and I want to fulfill the call while I can still do it,” the Archbishop said.

The archbishop affirmed his plans to take up a ministry of preaching and evangelism this week, stating “people should not be misled that I’m retiring to join politics. Someone in Kampala approached me inquiring about my plans to contest for the country’s presidency and even offered to support the bid. But even in retirement I will continue with God’s ministry not politics.”

The archbishop was quoted by the Kampala newspaper, New Vision as saying “I cannot get tired of this ministry, though I can give way for someone else to be Archbishop. Our role as a Church is to guide the county. We are not competing against political leaders, rather we work as partners.”

First printed in The Church of England Newspaper.

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