The former students and all the other stakeholders of St Joseph’s Seminary Nyenga are in a jubilant mood as they await the grand-celebration of the centenary of their former school, which will take place at the seminary at Nyenga (off Jinja Road) in Buikwe district on Saturday (March 16, 2024). 

The function will start with a thanksgiving mass presided over by the Bishop of Lugazi Catholic diocese, the Rt. Rev Christopher Kakooza at 10:00am.

The seminary’s centennial celebration has invoked sweet memories from its former students, who speak of its contribution to their life with great gratitude. Uganda’s minister of state for higher education, Dr. John Chrysostom Muyingo is one of the prominent alumni of Nyenga Seminary.

Bishop Christopher Kakooza with Hon. John Chrysostom Muyingo during the launching of the centennial celebrations of Nyenga Seminary at the seninary in Buikwe district last year.

 “I wouldn’t be what I am today if I did not come to Nyenga Seminary. It is from here that I learnt all the good manners that you can think about. The priests taught us table etiquette, smartness, self-respect and respect for others. They taught us how to conduct ourselves before people. They taught us the virtues of love, hard work and generosity. That is why you hear me helping elderly people and giving bursaries to needy students,” Muyingo testified.

Mr. Constantine Mpuuga, another prominent alumnus of Nyenga Seminary and current headteacher of Namilyango College also speaks highly of the seminary, which he says greatly enhanced the human qualities in him.

“Nyenga Seminary gave us solid moral formation. It is because of Nyenga Seminary that I am the reputable educational leader I am. The priests instilled in us the virtues of honesty, headwork, creativity, respect, tolerance, human solidarity and divine reverence,” said Mpuuga.

Alumnus Jude Lubega (the Vice-Chancellor of Nkumba University) also has wonderful memories of Nyenga Seminary which he says helped many of its students to discover their unique talents, including that of music.

St. Joseph’s Seminary Nyenga was founded by the Mill Hill Fathers in 1924. According to the reigning Rector, Fr Eugene Safari, the seminary which currently offers Secondary and Higher education alongside priestly formation has trained/groomed/taught many useful people who have served/serve the Church, the country and humanity, globally, with exceptional ability and commitment.

Fr. Safari mentions very influential Catholic Prelates such as the late Bishop Joseph Mukwaya (the former Auxiliary Bishop of Kampala Archdiocese and later Bishop of Kiyinda-Mityana), the former Archbishop of Tororo Archdiocese, the Most Rev. James Odongo (deceased) and the deceased Archbishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kampala, the Most Rev. Dr. Cyprian Kizito Lwanga as some of the many ministers of the Church that passed through Nyenga.

Safari also refers to several influential professionals (legal gurus, engineers, medics, educationists, entrepreneurs, etc.) as some of the alumni of Nyenga Seminary who were not able to attain their earlier priestly aspiration but still became very useful people in the country and elsewhere in the world. 

He mentions among others Hon. Dr. John Chrysostom Muyingo, Engineer Joseph Lukenge of Victor Construction Company, the former headteacher of Namilyango College, Dr. Peregrine Kibuuka (RIP), Entrepreneur Edward Mazinga (the proprietor of Divine Supermarket), the Assistant Commissioner for Private Schools and Institutions at the Ministry of Education, Dr. George Muteekanga, Mr. Ambrose Kibuuka (a prominent development consultant), the reigning headteacher of Namilyango College, Mr. Constantine Mpuuga and the Vice-Chancellor of Nkumba University, Prof. Jude Lubega.