Rev Katakanya: 30 years after retirement

Clad in a wide brim hat and black gumboots, an elderly man holds a small hoe in one hand and a walking stick in the other. He digs with youthful energy. He picks grass and heaps it behind him. He moves on to the next stack of grass, digs it up and picks it up. After about 20 minutes, he takes a deep sigh raises his upper torso and straightens his back. He bends again and continues working. 

This is the Rev Can Ven Keith Katakanya, 91 at work on his farm with his employees who look too busy to even crack a joke. The farm which almost spans an acre has a cow shed with four heads of cattle at the eastern end, a vegetable garden and a pasture garden with legume trees and couch grass planted for feeding the cattle. 

The nonagenarian, retired as a priest in 1991 at 60 years, when he was five years shy of official retirement age to concentrate on building his home. 

Background
Serving the church from 1957 when he was inaugurated as a catechist from Buwalasi in 1957, Katakanya grew through the ranks of the church retiring as archdeacon of the Church of Uganda, heading Kyamate Archdeaconry (now Deanery of the South Ankole Diocese). 

Katakanya was transferred from church to church at times to be the founding priest at some churches where he was posted including All Saints Church Mbarara. While he enjoyed the church pleasantries and a good environment, he had little property and many people to take care of. 

“At times you realise that what you are doing is good, but when you go away you have nowhere to rest. I realised this in 1970s. People advised me to buy land in the village and add to what our father had left for me. However, I realised I wanted land near town where I could easily access my peers in old age. I managed to save up Shs500 and bought this piece of land gradually until I bought off this whole piece [of land] for Shs1,000,” Can Katakanya says.

At the different churches he worked, the cleric says he was given good housing with enough land to till and grow food for his family which enabled him to educate children without a care about other needs. He realised it was a false paradise that woke him up to the future reality of retiring and starting from scratch. 
Education and work life

Born on February 14, 1931 to Samson and Leah Mbasa in Kararwe, Itojo, Ntungamo District, Katakanya attended Kinoni Primary School for six years. Later he joined Kako Junior Secondary School in Masaka District from 1955 to 1956. 

While he was given admission to do Clinical Medicine, he opted to pursue a lay reader certificate at Buwalasi graduating as a catechist in 1957. He was then posted to Kinoni Church of Uganda in Rwampara where he worked until 1958 when he was transferred to St James Ruharo in Mbarara. 

He served at Ruharo until 1960 when he was chosen to study an ordination course for reverends. On Independence Day, he was ordained priest of  Church of Uganda and posted to Bunyaruguru, current day Rubirizi District. Meanwhile he had started a family. He served in Bunyaruguru until 1964. 

In 1985, Katakanya was sent to serve at All saints Church Mbarara as the pioneer ordained priest there. In 1966, he was sent to Oakland Theological School, UK for further studies which he says changed his perspective. 

“I found out the people there never expected good from Africans, even when I was the best in class, they never  thought  it was possible. They treated us with low regard, but I stayed committed, went through the challenges and I returned sharper and willing to preach more,” he says.

On return he was made chaplain at Muntuyera High School, Kitunga. 
From Muntuyera, the father of four was posted to Mbarara High School. Alongside chaplaincy, he was appointed the Ankole diocesan secretary in 1975, a position he held for five years. Then, he was posted to serve as archdeacon for Kyamate in Ntungamo District where he served until his retirement. 

“To me church service was a call to serve God and save his people. We served with dignity and retired. Today it is different, people enter church to enrich themselves, we never looked at anything except church that is why we still got some appointments after serving,” he explains.

Post retirement
After his retirement, Katakanya served at different boards and commissions of local government as chairperson district public accounts committee, district service commission, district land board Ntungamo District, chairperson of schools boards, and health centres.

“These appointments helped me get some allowance to take care of my children but also to establish my home after retirement. I retired into a semi-permanent home with earth floor whereas I used to live in houses with cemented floors. “

“I started life afresh but I wanted to do this. If I had waited for my retirement age, I would have failed. Now, I believe I have at least lived my life. All my children are graduates, I still have land and I still work. Hopefully, I will leave something for the people who come after me,” he says.

He has since established a new house, developed a farm with cattle, goats and sheep, a banana plantation among other projects where the family gets some income. 

The couple wakes up at 5.30am every day for prayers in the house. Thereafter, Katakanya leaves the house to supervise  the milking at times he does the milking, looks after other projects and settles back to the house at 10am when he returns to bed for about  three hours. 

The wife on the other hand wakes up when the milk is ready to prepare breakfast and the couple takes it together  or occasionally with their employees and their son Paul if he has not left for work. 

Katakanya also tills his farm in the morning. In the afternoon, he  goes to Ntungamo Town Centre where he meets his friends, reads a newspaper and returns home. At 6pm, he does some exercises in his compound takes dinner at 7.30pm and with his wife, they retire to bed at 8.30pm. 

At times, he says, he is invited to perform some church duties including preaching, baptism and training priests which he enjoys. He is more focused on developing family land.

“Every time I see something new I want to change, I believe I should leave my family home a better place. I want to change my farm, have better cattle breeds, make my banana plantation more productive and my homestead better.  This is why I work every day,” he says.

Currently
Bible study and reading newspapers, listening to radio and watching TV, especially international news channels keeps him on tabs with the world.

Married for 59 years to Margaret Katahwa, the Rev Can Katakanya believes a good marriage with love and good choices is necessary for long life.

“To live better after work, one must have made right choices, the first choice is marriage, have a good wife whom you love, and raise good children,” he advises adding that behaviour, the food and what you drink matters.

“My wife and I have never taken alcohol, we eat the food we cook ourselves.  And, while serving, make sure you prepare so that when you retire, you remain relevant. This helps a lot and I believe we still have more time to live,” the 91-year-old concludes.

Others say
His son Paul Katakanya: “My father is a man who can work harder than a 19-year-old, he thinks of things that a 40-year-old has given up on. He is still ambitious at his age the way he was when we were young and he encourages us to work. He is special.”

His wife Ms Margaret Katahwa Katakanya: “We are past the age of thinking hard. I will continue to love my husband because this is the time we are waiting for God and have to support each other.”