In Uganda, and, indeed, many parts of Africa, the wife of a bishop plays a big role in the church where her husband is shepherding the flock. Many of them are considered as church leaders and several people rely on them for guidance.
As the new bishop of Namirembe Diocese, Bp. Moses Banja, got consecrated and enthroned on December 10, Irene Best Nyapendi tells us more about the wife of the new bishop.
The prayers that the Rev. Can. Assoc. Prof. Olivia Nassaka Banja has been saying for her husband have been answered. The Venerable Canon Moses Banja got enthroned and Olivia will assumed the position of a bishop’s wife.
The 56-year-old is the Vice-Chancellor of Ndejje University, a position she has held for one year now. Her appointment made her the third Vice Chancellor of Ndejje, and the first woman to hold that position in the university. Banja was the Dean of the School of Education at Uganda Christian University (UCU) for about a year prior to her appointment at Ndejje one year ago.
Olivia was head hunted for the position at Ndejje because of her stellar performance and tested legacy as an administrator at UCU.
At UCU, she became the first female dean of the university’s Bishop Tucker School of Divinity and Theology in 2008 and served in the position till June 2014, when she became UCU’s Director for Teaching and Learning. It was from this position that she switched to head the UCU School of Education as its dean in September 2021.
As early as 1993, Olivia was the curate of St Andrew’s Cathedral Mityana Diocese and was made the acting vicar of the same cathedral the following year.
She was part of UCU’s inaugural staff members when the university was established in 1997, serving as a lecturer and also the Female Students’ Warden. In 2004, she was promoted to the position of senior lecturer and was part of the team that developed the first PhD programme at UCU the Doctor of Ministry.
A holder of a bachelor’s degree, three master’s and a PhD, Olivia was ordained deacon in the Church of Uganda on December 19, 1993. She says the day she committed her life to God was the day she “saw her path.”
Also in 1993, she was a recipient of a First Class in Bachelor of Divinity at the Bishop Tucker Theological College Mukono, which later became UCU. In 1996, she earned a Master of Arts in Religious Studies of Makerere University and added another master’s degree – MA, Mission and Ministry of St John’s College, Nottingham University in the UK the following year.
And Olivia was not done yet with her master’s degrees. In 2000, she earned her third, Master of Theology by Research of the University of Edinburgh. In the same year, she started her PhD course in the same university, graduating in 2004.
For all that Olivia has achieved, her parents – James Lwanga and Daisy Ndagire played a big part, in educating a girl at a time when many frowned upon sending their girls to school because of gender stereotypes.
For her primary education, Olivia attended Bat Valley Primary School, and Nakasero Secondary School for her secondary education. Both Bat Valley and Nakasero are located in Kampala.
She married Moses Banja in April 2001. Olivia says she spends her free time cooking and reading, when not busy with academic or religious work.
This story was produced by The New Vision in partnership with Uganda Partners.