Kanyandago stands for social justice, education

Rev Prof Peter Kanyandago says he will not relent in promoting social justice and preservation of the environment. PHOTO BY ALFRED TUMUSHABE

What you need to know:

  • The province covers the Archdiocese of Mbarara and the dioceses of Kabale, Hoima, Kasese and Fort Portal and is superintended by Archbishop Paul K. Bakyenga.
  • He championed the establishment of the African Research and Documentation Centre at Nkozi in 1996 to help in research and study of the African reality. This gave birth to a specialised library and museum.

Mbarara- Rev Prof Peter Kanyandago is a priest, canonist (Church lawyer), a philanthropist and an academic, as well as author whose various achievements and works have served as an inspiration to many.
He is well studied with a PhD in Canon (Church) Law from the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.

From his home Sub-county of Bitereko in Mitooma District where he established a community dispensary when he was still a student in the 1980s, to Mbarara Archdiocese where he served as Chancellor (legal advisor), he has always left a splendid record of achievements.
He also served as Rector at Kitabi Seminary and in Uganda Martyrs University, Nkozi, for 22 years, 10 of which as the deputy vice chancellor.
Those that have had the opportunity to work closely with him describe him as a man of great influence on Ugandan society.

Having left Uganda Martyrs University main campus (Nkozi, Mpigi District) in February last year, the 66-year-old, soft spoken canonist is currently employed at Nyamitanga, the headquarters of Mbarara Archdiocese, as director of Uganda Martyrs University Nyamitanga Campus and that of the University of Saint Joseph Mbarara Project, all initiatives of Mbarara Archdiocese.
The province covers the Archdiocese of Mbarara and the dioceses of Kabale, Hoima, Kasese and Fort Portal and is superintended by Archbishop Paul K. Bakyenga.

Starting a new university
“Archbishop Paul Bakyenga asked me to help start a university here at Nyamitanga. In 2012, when getting a university delayed because of technical issues, we asked Uganda Martyrs University, Nkozi, to open a campus here; so while I was still serving at Nkozi, we started a campus here. When my contract in Nkozi ended in February 2016, I did not want to renew it. I came here to be able to work full time,” says Prof Kanyandago.
Nyamitanga Campus currently has 215 students and more than 70 staff and exists alongside Nyamitanga College of Business Studies.
It is at the main campus in Nkozi that Prof Kanyandago has spent much of his work life-having spent 22 years serving in various capacities. “I can say I made a substantial contribution while there. I have never separated my academic and priestly work. We started with two faculties and when I was leaving, we had 10,” boasts Prof Kanyandago.

Illustrious career
He started as a lecturer in the Institute of Ethics and Development Studies, and rose through the academic ranks to become deputy vice chancellor for 10 years, in charge of students’ and academic affairs consecutively.
He was later appointed director of School of Postgraduate Studies (2007-2013) and became director of Research in 2013, a position he held until February 2016. He was promoted to associate professor at Uganda Martyrs University in 1995 and full professor in 1999.
“We insisted on quality and ethics; that’s how we built Uganda Martyrs University. Our first graduates never met any challenges when pursing post graduate studies in universities outside Uganda; nobody ever questioned their quality; even today. I remember one time when the President visited us, he said he would recruit our graduates into URA [Uganda Revenue Authority] because of the ethics that the university imparted in them,” says Prof Kanyandago.

African man
He championed the establishment of the African Research and Documentation Centre at Nkozi in 1996 to help in research and study of the African reality. This gave birth to a specialised library and museum.
“I am interested in the African reality, our African heritage,” he said, urging the young generation to take keen interest in preserving the African heritage.
He has been involved in various international research projects where he has been the local director.

As the Chancellor of Mbarara Diocese (1985-1990), his first posting when he returned from his PhD studies in Belgium, was in formulating some policies, including a diocesan personnel policy, and was involved in organising the first Mbarara Diocese Synod in 1986.
He assisted the Bishop John Baptist Kakubi (RIP) in whose office he worked.
At Kitabi (1991-1993) where he was in charge of the institution preparing young people to become priests, Prof Kanyandago promoted the culture of self-reliance using one’s hands.
“We had a banana plantation and we managed to get students to go there and work with their hands. We wanted them to appreciate the importance of the soil, and not to despise gardening. We have unfortunately identified digging with punishing, which creates a wrong impression about manual work. Many years later, I meet some former students who appreciate the advice,” he says.
When he was pursuing his Master’s degree in Belgium in 1979, Prof Kanyandago looked back at his home area and community and saw that they had no health facilities there.
With assistance from his European friends, he got money to buy iron sheets.

He mobilised the communities to make bricks and a dispensary was built.
“It’s now a health centre III; this is a private or community health facility serving people in Bitereko and Nyabubaare sub-counties and other areas. Eventually, a government health centre was established in the area but some people still prefer to come to Nyakatsiro Health Centre because of services,” he says.
Prof Kanyandago is also a judge in the Kasese Interdiocesan Tribunal which serves the five dioceses in the Western Uganda Ecclesiastical Province. They mainly deal in restoring broken marriages.
He will not relent in promoting social justice and preservation of the environment.
“I will carry on with liberation so that each person can have at least the minimum requirement for living a dignified life. Few people are having a lot and many are having little. Social justice means that everyone should have what to eat and what to drink,” says Prof Kanyandago.
He does advocacy for environmental protection.

He preaches this in churches and communities, and writes about all this in newspapers, journals and books.

Profile

Birth. Prof Peter Kanyandago was born in 1951 in Bukuba Village, Nyabubaare Sub-county, Igara, Bushenyi to Karoli Murungu and Angelina Bamwanga. Murungu was a pioneer catechist in the area.
The family later migrated to Nyerambire, in Bitereko Sub-county, Mitooma District.
Education. He completed junior education at Rushinya, near the present day St Kaggwa Senior Secondary School.
He went to Kitabi Seminary for O-Level and was later sent by Bishop John Baptist to Alokolum, Gulu, for A-Level (1971-1972).
He joined Katigondo Major Seminary to study philosophy (1973-1975). While at Katigondo, he was sent by Bishop Kakubi to Belgium to do a BA in Theology at the Catholic University of Louvain (1975-1978.) He returned to Uganda to be ordained priest on September 9, 1979.
He went back to Louvain for MA in Church Law.
He continued to do PhD in Church Law and defended it in 1985 at the same university. He returned to Uganda in 1985.