New Catholic bishop Joseph Obanyi Sagwe set for consecration

Isikuti drums were beaten, trumpets blown and ululation rent the air at Kiboswa market on Friday as a new bishop was carried shoulder-high across the Kisumu-Kakamega county border.

All that was a curtain-raiser for Saturday’s consecration of Kakamega bishop Joseph Obanyi Sagwe at the Bukhungu Stadium in Kakamega, where President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to be the chief guest.

Rev Obanyi had been escorted to the border by his former bishop at the Kisii Diocese, Joseph Mairura Okemwa, Homa Bay Bishop Philip Anyolo and Kisii deputy governor Joash Maangi.

Hundreds of Catholics broke into song and dance at the Kiboswa trading centre that is at the boundary of Kisumu, Nandi and Vihiga counties as the 47-year-old cleric alighted from his car to take over the leadership of the diocese that covers Vihiga and Kakamega counties.

At the end of the event, the Isikuti dancers escorted Rev Obanyi to a car whose number plates had been customised to bear his name. He was also given police escort to his new home in Mukumu.

Thousands of faithful were also waiting to receive him at St Peter’s Seminary School in Kakamega.

Rev Obanyi arrived at the border point in a convoy that had snaked its way from the Kisii diocese, where the new bishop had been the vicar-general since 2005.

END OF AN ERA

The faithful from Kakamega Diocese had arrived at the centre using various school buses and waited patiently beside the dusty Kisumu-Kakamega Road to have a glimpse of their new shepherd.

Before his arrival, what most people had seen of him was a picture of his face that had been printed in banners stuck on cars that had been parked at the venue.

Rev Obanyi’s installation on Saturday will mark the end of an era in Kakamega Diocese that has been led by Bishop Philip Sulumeti for the last 37 years.

He will be the second bishop of the church jurisdiction that was created in 1987 after the Kisumu Diocese was split.

The faithful were optimistic that the change of guard will signal the dawn of better things for the diocese.

“I hope Fr Obanyi will take over from where Bishop Sulumeti has left,” said 45-year-old Imelda Andala, who travelled from Shikoti parish to witness the new bishop’s entry.

“Rev Sulumeti was a good man whose sermons we will miss and whose message of peace will forever remain in our hearts.”

For Mr Victor Lumeti, who hails from the Shiseso diocese, the new church head should ensure that priests are rotated regularly.

“He should see to it that no priest stays at one station for more than three years. My observation is that if a priest stays any longer, problems are inevitable,” said the 47-year-old.

Addressing the public at Kiboswa, Rev Obanyi said he expected to adapt to his new position as soon as possible.

“I will become one with you and for you,” said the cleric who was a basketball player, thespian and cross country runner in his student days.

He was named the new and second bishop of Kakamega on December 5 last year by Pope Francis, making him succeed Bishop Philip Sulumeti who retired in November 2012 according to the Canon Law that governs the Catholic Church.

Bishop Sulumeti will be the chief consecrator at Rev Obanyi’s installation.

WOULD BUILD A HOUSE

Ikolomani MP Bernard Shinali told the faithful that Kakamega was lucky to have got the bishop at the helm because of his generosity and welcoming nature.

“The whole nation will be in Kakamega today because of the big event we shall be holding,” he said, adding that the residents would build Rev Obanyi a house so that he would have no need of returning to his home after retiring.

Meanwhile, faithful at the Kisii Diocese purchased a brand new Mitsubishi Pajero vehicle as a farewell gift to Rev Obanyi, the second born in a family of four children whose parents John and Theresa Sagwe have since died.

The Bishop-elect says doubling up as a parish priest had prepared him for the task ahead to shepherd the flock in the Kakamega.

“I got strength and inspiration from working with Christians at the grassroots,” he said.

The cleric was born in Nyakemincha village, Nyamira County, in March 1967.