By Johnson Kanyesige
The former bishop of Hoima Catholic Diocese, Rt. Rev. Bishop Albert Edward Baharagate, has passed on.
His death was announced by the Bishop of Hoima Catholic Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Vincent Kirabo.
Baharagate is the Bishop Emeritus of the Catholic Diocese of Hoima.
According to Bishop Kirabo, Bishop Emeritus Baharagate passed away at Nsambya Hospital on Wednesday at around 11 p.m.
“Dear people of God, with deep sorrow, I announce the death of the Bishop Emeritus of Hoima Catholic Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Albert Edward Baharagate Akiiki, who has passed on at Nsambya Hospital,” he announced.
For the last 29 years, the prelate lived outside of the Hoima Diocese, but in 2020, he decided to return home, spending a year at St. Cyprian Parish in Hoima before he finally relocated to his home parish in Masindi.
Rt. Rev. Bishop Albert Edward Baharagate was appointed bishop of Hoima on July 7, 1969, and he resigned on March 9, 1991.
Baharagate was born on February 25, 1930, in Nyamigisa Village, in present-day Masindi District, in the Bunyoro sub-region, in the Western Region of Uganda.
He was appointed Bishop of Hoima on July 7th, 1969, and was consecrated a bishop on August 1st, 1969, by Pope Paul VI, assisted by Archbishop Sergio Pignedoli, Titular Archbishop of Iconium, and Archbishop Emmanuel Kiwanuka Nsubuga, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Kampala.
Of the 12 bishops consecrated that day, four were from Uganda, including Barnabas Halem’Imana, Bishop of Kabale; Sarapio Bwemi Magambo, Auxiliary Bishop of Fort Portal; John Baptist Kakubi, Bishop of Mbarara; and Baharagate of Hoima. Besides the four from Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria had two bishops each. Cameroon, Zambia, Gabon and Burkina Faso produced one bishop each.
Now, only one out of the 12 is still live. He is the former Archbishop of Lusaka, Zambia, Emmanuel Milingo who was ex-communicated and reduced to lay status in 2009 for going against church doctrines.
