Church vows not to abandon Fr Grimes in Namasagali ‘bush’

The remains of Fr. Grimes being brought for the final mass in his honor at the Namasagali college ceremonial grounds.

Namasagali, Uganda | ALFRED GERESOM MUSAMALI | Mill Hill Missionaries from the United Kingdom (UK) have expressed interest in reviving their cooperation with Namasagali College in Kamuli, Uganda, where Rev Fr Damian Grimes served as headteacher for 34 years and was buried on Saturday, 28th September, 2024.

Jinja Catholic Diocese has also announced establishment of a full-fledged parish in Namasagali which has hitherto been a vicariate under Kamuli Deanery. Rev Fr Ben Wakabi aka Kyuma Kiyaka, the Dean of Kamuli, who represented Jinja Diocese Bishop Charles Martin Wamika, said the Church could not abandon Fr Grimes alone “in that bush”, thus the decision to establish the parish.

Fr Grimes, a UK Mill Hill Missionary, arrived in Uganda in 1959 and worked in educational institutions till 2002. He was Namasagali headmaster between 1967 and 2000 when he was, due to disagreements over management, acrimoniously forced out. Namasagali was Uganda’s oldest and then most prestigious private, co-educational, fully boarding establishment, with a secondary school and the country’s first private university.

Fr Grimes died in the UK, aged 94, on 4th September but the Namasagali Old Students Association (NOSA) and GoU sought a special dispensation from Mill Hill and the UK Government to return the remains of the UK passport holder, back to Namasagali for burial.

The standing instruction in the Catholic Church is that priests are buried wherever death finds them.

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni contributed UGX100m (US$26,600) towards the cost of repatriation, with the rest of the estimated UGX270m (US$72,000) being fundraised by NOSA and well-wishers. First Deputy Prime Minister Rebecca Kadaga, a Namasagali alumnus, was among the mourners and heavily influenced the repatriation.

President  Museveni eulogized Fr. Damian Grimes as a selfless man who strived for the betterment of others at the expense of his wellbeing. In a message read by Businessman and old student, Patrick Bitature at the burial of Grimes at Namasagali on Saturday, Museveni noted that, Grimes’s act of helping students excel regardless of their social backgrounds shaped their future for good.

Museveni argues that, such acts of non-sectarianism endeared Fr.Grimes to his learners.

Museveni notes that, Fr. Grimes lived a legacy of prioritizing people’s interests over their identity, which largely explains why he is praised for the contribution in the transformation of the society.

Namasagali College was in 1967 transferred from Kamuli town where it had been established as Kamuli College in 1965 to the current site, inheriting a disused railway terminus and harbour along the River Nile, accordingly changing the name.

When Fr Grimes took over headship from Fr Patrick Neville, a fellow Mill Hill Missionary, he converted the disused site into a bustling school offering an all-round curriculum, with boxing, dancing, swimming and chess among the unique offerings to its students. Some other reputable schools at the time emphasised focus on bookwork, calling the co-curricular activities offered in Namasagali “useless”.

“Grimesianism” as they are called, have since going through Namasagali, nevertheless, excelled on the national and international landscape, especially as lawyers, media practitioners, teachers, entertainers and politicians.

After Fr Grimes left, however, the Namasagali system totally collapsed, forcing the Government of Uganda (GoU) to take it over over as a poorly funded, ill-staffed and inadequately populated Universal Secondary Education (USE) institution with day and boarding sections offering free education on one side and the Busitema University Marine Science Campus on the other. Progress in reviving the institutions back to lost glory has been very painfully slow.

At the burial, Kamuli District Council Chairperson Maxwell Kuwembula challenged his fellow Ugandans to protect, promote and sustain development efforts of foreigners who leave behind their physical and intellectual investments.

Kuwembula called upon parents, teachers and policymakers to benchmark the system of Fr Grimes to see if there are aspects that can be replicated and improved upon. He pointed out that when Asians were expelled by then General Idi Amin in 1973, they left in Uganda thriving industrial and commercial investments which Ugandans failed to sustain.

Holding basket is Rev Fr Ben Wakabi Kyuma Kiyaka  (New Machine) Empogoma ye Kamuli  fundraising for establishment of a new parish at Namasagali, Kamuli, Uganda, where Rev Fr Damian Grimes was buried on Saturday, 28th September, 2024. The Catholic Church has vowed not to leave Fr Grimes alone “in that bush”, thus establishment of a new parish where there has hitherto only been vicariate.

“When Fr Grimes was chased away, we the Ugandans, given our slow methods and the laxity with which we conduct public affairs, failed to move things. This is a manifestation of our negative spirits,” said Kuwembula, calling upon all Ugandans to, instead, embrace the spirit of value addition. He contrasted the “Grimesian” system under which girls wore skimpy dresses and were compelled to dance with boys of their own age but were also nurtured to respect their bodies so that they do not fall into early, premarital pregnancy with the current situation where promiscuity is nationally rampant.

“We are putting to rest a gallant teacher, patriot, a person who added value to everything he touched, that made this village that anyone else in the country would have otherwise looked at as a remote place that cannot produce anything into a place that produced great people upon whom the country is even riding. We pride in his efforts, and wish to thank everyone for the endeavours to bring his remains back to the home he made together with us in Uganda,” he added.

Namasagali College Board of Governors chairperson Baker Magunda urged NOSA to put more effort in rebuilding their alma mata.

“As Jinja Diocese begins rebuilding the church by creating a parish in Namasagali, we, the alumni, should also begin rebuilding the school,” said Baker Magunda, Board of Governors chairperson and 1979 to 1985 alumnus.

“For us to keep the light burning that Fr Grimes started in this place, I do ask that we keep visiting. I am going to put up a mausoleum, make it as beautiful as we can so that you can keep visiting and pay your homage,” he added.

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