Tracing Bishop Banja’s long journey to ministry

He later discovered that his surname was too long to pronounce, while his Christian name was associated with the Muslim faith.

He decided to change his name to Moses and shortened Omumaziwebabbanja to Banja.

Having been born in the family of 14 children; nine boys and five girls, Bishop Banja says raising school fees was not an easy task for his parents.

Fortunately, his parents valued education and they had to find ways of raising fees for all the children.

Ven Can Banja says both his parents were staunch Christians who served in a local church in Bbira Village, Wakiso District.

 They were also members of the fathers’ and mothers’ union respectively, which made it easy for them to nurture their children into God fearing citizens.

“Our parents used to take us to church to pray, but also serve in church. We did so many things, including cleaning the church and decorating it,” Bishop Banja recalls.

Banja’s father also worked in the printery section of Uganda Bookshop. This was his main source of family income.

When Banja clocked school going age, he was enrolled at Bogere Nursery in Kampala, and later attended Bbira Primary School Wakiso , Kassanda Muslim  Boarding  Primary School, Makai High School Natete and Makerere College where he sat for Uganda Advanced Education Certificate (UAEC) examinations. He offered Divinity, Economics, Geography and Luganda.

Canon Banja says although his call for ministry started when he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal saviour on December 3, 1989, while at Makerere College School.

 Upon completing Senior Six, Banja went back to his village and joined the ministry of Rev Elly Waswa, the current parish priest of Najjanankumbi who encouraged him to join Bishop Tucker Theological College, that is the current Uganda Christian University, an idea that he bought.

In 1992, he joined Makerere University and graduated in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in Divinity.

In 1996, he enrolled for a post graduate diploma in education at Makerere University and graduated.

In December 1996, he was ordained a deacon and a priest in 1998.

 Bishop Banja was posted to Gayaza High School as the school chaplain and a teacher of Christian Religious Education (CRE), Physical Education (PE) and Luganda language.

He also worked as school chaplain at Gayaza Junior School and also conducted prayers at Our Lady of Good Counsel, a Catholic-founded school that had a big population of Anglican students.

He served at Gayaza High School between 1996 and December 2000.

On January 1, 2001, he was posted to St Stephen’s Church Luzira as Assistant Vicar of Luzira Parish. He was also appointed chaplain of Luzira Secondary School.

Seven days into his new assignment, his fiancé , who is his current wife, Rev Canon Prof Olivia Nassaka, introduced him to her parents.

 On April 21, 2001, the couple tied the knot at St Paul’s Cathedral, Namirembe, and they were later blessed with three children.

 After the wedding,  in September 2001, he joined his wife who was by then pursuing her  master’s  programme in Theology  at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland .

Banja also enrolled for a Master’s degree in Advanced Studies in Education at Moray House, a branch of the University of Edinburgh.

When his wife completed her PhD programme, Bishop Banja had not yet done research for his master’s degree programme. Efforts to attach him to Nelson Mandela University in South Africa, where he was expected to conduct his research from, were futile.

 He was then awarded a post graduate Diploma in Education at the University of Edinburgh.

 Upon returning to Uganda, Bishop Samuel Balagadde Ssekadde assigned him to go and train the clergy at Uganda Martyrs’ Seminary Namugongo. However, Canon Banja requested to be posted anywhere near his wife who was by then working at Uganda Christian University in Mukono.

He was then posted to St Phillips and Andrews Cathedral Mukono in 2004, where he worked as Assistant Assistant Vicar  for six months. He was later appointed Diocesan Secretary.

Meanwhile, he enrolled for a master’s programme  in Organisational leadership and Management at Uganda Christian University. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to complete the course.

“I fell sick and I was admitted during examinations. By the time I recovered, my supervisors had gone back to their country and I couldn’t continue with the programme,” Bishop Banja explains.

 He was then posted to Namirembe Diocese in 2012 as Assistant Diocesan Education Secretary.  In 2018, he was appointed Assistant Human Resource Officer at Namirembe Diocese.

 In January 2021, he was posted as Archdeacon of Luzira Archdeaconry, a position he held until he was elected bishop.  However, he still holds his position of Assistant Human Resource Officer at Namirembe Diocese.