Many Ugandans believe that sainthood is reserved only for religious people, and not politicians or soldiers, but Catholic history is littered with saints who on earth were kings, queens, emperors, or even generals.

The debate on whether former Tanzanian president, Julius Nyerere, deserves to be canonised by the Catholic Church has sparked a storm. "Saint" is a posthumous title given to a person who has received official recognition by the Church for having lived a holy life. Canonisation is the ceremony of announcing a saint and comes after beatification, which is the first stage in the process of recognising someone as a saint.

A Kampala friend who earlier supported the move to have Mwalimu Nyerere canonised recently called to inform me about his sudden change of heart. According to him, Nyerere was after all a dubious politician. He came to this conclusion after reading Prof. George W. Kanyeihamba's story in The Observer [titled 'How Nyerere embarrassed Lule'), which revealed how the Tanzanian leader and his UNLF colleagues plotted and finally managed to oust former Ugandan President, Prof. Yusuf Kironde Lule.

"Prof. Kanyeihamba's series helped to expose Nyerere's true colours as a selfish man who tried to impose his friend the late Dr. Milton Obote on Ugandans," my friend now says. He is not alone. Simon Peter Muwonge of Makerere University alleges that Nyerere's mother used to be a fulltime witchdoctor in Butiama village, according to his Tanzanian roommate.

Kayanja Michael, a businessman in Nakulabye, claims that Nyerere "first of all pretended to be helping Ugandans to depose Idi Amin only to turn around and demand compensation from the Ugandan Government. I don't see any sainthood qualities in him." According to Kayanja, Nyerere presided over so much poverty in Tanzania that when his soldiers (bakombozi) invaded Uganda, "they were robbing innocent Ugandans of simple things like watches and radio cassettes."

NO OBJECTION

I personally see nothing wrong with Tanzanians presenting Nyerere's canonisation request to Rome. The Vatican has committees that thoroughly investigate each request before deciding whether to canonise or beatify someone.

At each of the two stages, vivid miracles must be performed by the saints-to-be. And there is no time limit within which the canonisation has to be done. Whereas for some saints it took just a few years to be canonised, for others centuries went by. Our own Uganda Martyrs were beatified in June 1920 by Pope Benedict XV (not the current one), 34 years after their execution. They were eventually canonised on June 22, 1964 by Pope Paul VI.

For others like St. Joan of Arc, the canonisation process took centuries. She was burnt alive in 1431 at the age of 19 and only got canonised 450 years later, on May 16, 1920. St. Magdalena of Canossa, Italy, died in 1835 and was beatified by Pope Pius XII in 1941 with the miracle necessary for her canonisation being officially recognised in 1987. She was made a saint only recently by Pope John Paul II on October 2, 1988.

As for the likes of St. Francis of Assisi, probably the world's best known and most beloved saint, he died on October 4, 1226 and was canonised only two years later.

The same applies to St. Clare of the Franciscan order and elder sister of Agnes. She was canonised in 1255 by Pope Alexander IV just two years after her death. For St. Maria Goretti (1890-1902), the canonization process took 12 years. For some, Nyerere is a "sinner" who deserves no Church recognition. Not me. Of course he made mistakes, but who hasn't? And he could have died a repented man. Consider St. Paul when he was still known as Saul. During the time of St. Stephen's martyrdom, Saul was an ardent Pharisee who persecuted the young Christian church and arrested Christians.

On his way to Damascus, Jesus appeared to him and converted him into a great believer. Today St. Paul is considered the church's great "Apostle of the Gentiles". Mwalimu Nyerere should be remembered for his good side when still in power. He helped in the liberation struggle of several front line states, thus reducing the suffering of the black people. And unlike many African presidents, Nyerere is not known to have stolen and kept millions of dollars in Swiss bank accounts. Does Tanzania have huge buildings and business empires belonging to the Nyerere family? No.

Some Ugandans believe that only religious people can become saints; never politicians, soldiers or the rich. What a wrong conception!

There is an endless list of former politicians, kings, emperors and even soldiers canonised by the Church.

St. Casimir (Kazimiri) the second son of king Casmir IV of Poland, administered the state of Poland between 1481-1483 during his father's prolonged absence in Lithuania.

He was known for his piety as he used to fast, sleep on the floor, with his charity towards the poor knowing no bounds. In Norway, there was St. Olaf Haraldson. Having been elected King of Norway in 1015, Olaf became a Christian and stamped out heathenism and the ancient system of land tenure. He argued that it was not fair for members of the royal family to own big chunks of land when their subjects were mere squatters.

No wonder king Olaf was later deposed and expelled from Norway by some powerful royal and clan members. In France, King Louis IX was a deeply religious man during his reign. Each day he attended two masses and spent long hours in prayer and acts of penance. King Louis had rare sympathy for the poor and less fortunate. He founded many hospitals, a home for the blind and a shelter for reformed prostitutes.

Each day king Louis fed 100 poor people and ministered to the lepers. He decried bribery and injustice in the French judicial system. He died on August 22, 1285 and was canonised by Pope Clement X in 1671.

The Catholic Church also canonised queens and empresses, including St. Elizabeth of Portugal (1336), St. Margaret of England (1250), St. Matilda of Germany (968), St. Canegundes- empress of Luxemburg (1039), St. Bathildis (660) and St. Helena - mother of Costantine the Great who turned her palace into a church.

And anyone who thinks soldiers can never be holy? There was St. Florian, a Roman army officer (304), St. Victor of Marsailles (290), St. Vincent of Lerins (445). Who can forget St. Joan of Arc who in 1429 bravely led the French king's armies to victory when the city of Orleans was almost falling into English hands?

Another soldier to turn a saint was Spain's St. Ignatius of Loyola. So will Nyerere make it? Only time will tell. After all, the Vatican may make its decision centuries from now when all of us are long gone.