{"id":24688,"date":"2022-01-15T13:57:30","date_gmt":"2022-01-15T13:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=24688"},"modified":"2022-01-15T12:50:51","modified_gmt":"2022-01-15T12:50:51","slug":"ssembuya-was-a-national-hero-says-ex-katikkiro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssembuya-was-a-national-hero-says-ex-katikkiro","title":{"rendered":"Ssembuya was a national hero, says ex-Katikkiro"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>Former Katikkiro (prime minister)of Buganda, Mr Joseph Mulwanyamuli Ssemwogerere, has eulogised deceased industrialist Christopher Columbus Ssembuya, as a great national hero, saying his immense contributions to Uganda\u2019s economy must be emulated.<\/p>\n

Ssembuya, 85, who died on Tuesday, was also lauded as a man of many firsts.<\/p>\n

After quitting his job as undersecretary in the 1960s, Ssembuya and younger brother Wilberforce Buwule started a hardware business that later became to be known as Sembuule Steel Mills in the \u201870s.<\/p>\n

The business also saw the rise of several innovations including banks, insurance companies, television, and telecommunications, among others.<\/p>\n

Ironically though, the man who aimed for the highest, and literally touched the sky, according to his family and employees, spent his last 15 years, jobless, wishing his once big company Sembuule Investments would resurrect.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s absurd that as a country we have not appreciated this great industrialist enough,\u201d Mr Ssemwogerere said at the requiem Mass at St Paul\u2019s Cathedral Namirembe on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was wondering that this man has never received any medal of honour. Maybe, I didn\u2019t pay enough attention. But it would be surprising if he didn\u2019t receive one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause even his family has a rich heritage in our economy. His father [Yafesi] Magulu was a renowned cocoa farmer in East Africa. And I was happy to know that one of Ssembuya\u2019s sons [Stephen] is handling a chocolate making company.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Mr Stephen Ssembuya told Saturday Monitor that his father received a medal at the Independence Day celebrations in 2019 in Sironko District.<\/p>\n

Mr Ssemwogerere narrated how Ssembuya and the then Finance minister Mayanja Nkanji (RIP) persuaded him to resign his Resident District Commissioner job in Masaka, to become managing director of Sembuule Investment Bank from 1991 to 1993, when he became Katikkiro.<\/p>\n

Relatives and friends attend a funeral service for the late Christopher Columbus Ssembuya at St Paul\u2019s Cathedral Namirembe on January 13, 2022. PHOTO\/FRANK BAGUMA<\/p>\n

He said Ssembuya was passionate about Africans being more innovative and influential.<\/p>\n

Offering employment<\/b><\/p>\n

Through various investments, Ssembuya impacted countless lives and many like Emmanuel Katongole, the proprietor of Quality Chemicals, would scale even greater heights.<\/p>\n

Mr Deo Kayemba, the chairman of Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA), said in 1988, while a fresh graduate, Ssembuya employed him at the bank.<\/p>\n

When Ssembuya, alongside fellow local investors; James Mulwana, and Gordon Wavammuno, among others, revived UMA, he convinced them to employ Kayemba.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd later when I told Ssembuya that I was appointed UMA chairman, he was happy but he challenged me. \u2018Now can\u2019t you aim higher to become chairman of the World Industrialists Federation? That\u2019s typical of the Ssembuya we\u2019re celebrating,\u201d Mr Kayemba said.<\/p>\n

Mr Edward Mubiru narrated how he became manager of the main bank branch in Jinja.<\/p>\n

He said the late Ssembuya tasked him and Mr Kayemba to open the bank\u2019s main branch outside Kampala.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found a place in Jinja and after interviews, an applicant from the World Bank looked likely to become the branch manager. But a few weeks before the appointment was confirmed, Mr Ssembuya told Mr Mubiru that he wanted him to take the job.<\/p>\n

It sounded weird\u2026but he told me that the initial appointee did not have a wife or children\u2026 \u2018but you can\u2019t defraud the bank because you have a family to protect and you have nowhere to hide\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He gave Mr Mubiru three days to make up his mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I could turn down the offer but on the third day, Ssembuya asked me \u2018how do you plan to manage the Jinja branch?\u2019 I told him he had given me time to decide. He said that was a diplomatic way to soothe me into the job but his appointment was final,\u201d Mr Mubiru recounted.<\/p>\n

When Mr Mubiru relocated to Jinja, he stayed in a hotel near the bank premises, before shifting to a house he had rented nearby. \u201cBut Ssembuya and his brother Buwuule bought brooms and cleaned the two rooms. I was deeply flattered by these two men and quickly left the hotel room,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Ms Rachel Lubega, Ssembuya\u2019s first born child, said although many knew her father as a businessman, he was an avid Anglican, who tasked the religious administrators to save it from extinction by building more Anglican churches.<\/p>\n

His wife Ritah and 12 children pledged to uphold Ssembuya\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n

Ssembuya was laid to rest yesterday at his ancestral home in Kikwaya, Nkokonjeru, Mukono District.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Former Katikkiro (prime minister)of Buganda, Mr Joseph Mulwanyamuli Ssemwogerere, has eulogised deceased industrialist Christopher Columbus Ssembuya, as a great national hero, saying his immense contributions to Uganda\u2019s economy must be emulated. Ssembuya, 85, who died on Tuesday, was also lauded as a man of many firsts. After quitting his job as undersecretary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":24687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-24688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nSsembuya was a national hero, says ex-Katikkiro - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Katikkiro (prime minister)of Buganda, Mr Joseph Mulwanyamuli Ssemwogerere, has eulogised deceased industrialist C ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssembuya-was-a-national-hero-says-ex-katikkiro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ssembuya was a national hero, says ex-Katikkiro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Katikkiro (prime minister)of Buganda, Mr Joseph Mulwanyamuli Ssemwogerere, has eulogised deceased industrialist C ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssembuya-was-a-national-hero-says-ex-katikkiro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-15T13:57:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/01\/img-61e2c308b2057.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssembuya-was-a-national-hero-says-ex-katikkiro#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssembuya-was-a-national-hero-says-ex-katikkiro\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Ssembuya was a national hero, says ex-Katikkiro\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-15T13:57:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssembuya-was-a-national-hero-says-ex-katikkiro\"},\"wordCount\":763,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssembuya-was-a-national-hero-says-ex-katikkiro#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/01\/img-61e2c308b2057.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssembuya-was-a-national-hero-says-ex-katikkiro#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssembuya-was-a-national-hero-says-ex-katikkiro\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ssembuya-was-a-national-hero-says-ex-katikkiro\",\"name\":\"Ssembuya was a national hero, says ex-Katikkiro - 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