The Mufti of Uganda Sheikh Shaban Ramadhan Mubajje representing the Inter Religious Council at the final sendoff of the late archbishop Nkoyoyo applauded the late for being among those that started up the Inter Religious Council.
He also delivered Ushs 500,000 as a contribution from Uganda Muslim Supreme Council Secretariat.
The Service, led by The Most Reverend Stanley Ntagali, is the last in a series of activities organized to send off a man, whose legacy will live in the Church of Uganda for generations. At 80, Nkoyoyo succumbed to Pneumonia at Kampala Hospital on Friday.
He will be laid to rest this afternoon at a site near the Anglican Martyrs Shrine near the museum, a project he spearheaded and worked so tirelessly to complete, even in his retirement. At this same venue, on June 3, 1969, Nkoyoyo was ordained a reverend.
48 years later, his remains were ushered into the building for a special prayer led by the Bishop of Namirembe Diocese Wilberforce Kityo Luwalira. Archbishop Ntagali also offered a blessing before the police band accompanied the casket out of the building alongside a procession of members of the clergy.
Nkoyoyo served as Archbishop of the Church of Uganda from 1995 to 2004. During his leadership, he pioneered many visionary initiatives, including upgrading the Bishop Tucker Theological College in Mukono into Uganda Christian University, the first university in Uganda to be privately chartered.
The university has now grown from the original 120 students to more than 12,000 students on the main campus, at two constituent colleges, and a number of study centres around the country.
He leaves a legacy of several orphanages and primary schools, including ones that care for the blind and other physical disabilities started early in his ministry together with his wife, Ruth.
In retirement, Nkoyoyo was able to combine his entrepreneurial gifts and ministry passions into such projects as building the Rest Gardens Retreat Centre in Bweyogerere, establishing the Words of Hope Radio Ministry, and leading the fundraising and construction efforts for the Uganda Martyrs Museum in Namugongo.
In addition to all the projects and ministries he initiated, Archbishop Nkoyoyo was, at heart, an evangelist. He was a tireless preacher, taking every opportunity to give his testimony and calling people to repentance and into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Who is Nkoyoyo?
Livingstone Mpalanyi Nkoyoyo was born in 1938 in a family of 25 children. His father was Erisa Wamala Nkoyoyo, a sub-county Chief in Busimbi, present day Mityana district.
He attended Mpenja Primary School in Gomba before moving to Aggrey Memorial School and then Mityana Junior Secondary.
Nkoyoyo dropped out of school after completing Junior Secondary School and became an auto mechanic. He would later explain that his father’s nature of work, which involved constant movement with his large family, made him drop out of school.
In 1959, while attending a youth camp at Ndoddo Church in Gomba, the 21-year-old Nkoyoyo got saved.
On May 1, 1965 Nkoyoyo married Ruth Nalweyiso at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Namirembe. Together, they had five children – Isaac, Naomi, Martin (deceased), Margret and Julius.
Nkoyoyo would soon give up his work in the garage for full-time ministry. Beginning as a Church Teacher, he enrolled for ordination training course, thus starting the journey that would see him become a priest in 1969, a bishop in 1983 and archbishop in 1995.
