Bishop Bbalagadde Ssekadde and wife Allen Ssekadde during his pastoral hey days
Uganda Today Edition: Fare-thee-well Bishop Emeritus Samuel Balagadde Ssekadde (1944-2024)
By Revd. Enock Kiyaga Mayanja
As a child who grew up in the vicarage (several of them in different parishes where my father served), our home used to be frequented by many different clergymen. One of them was Revd. Samuel Balagadde Ssekadde who not only attended high school with my father at Ndejje, thus referring to each other as “OB”, but also baptised and was a godparent to my younger sisters. We followed him as he followed us as he rose through the ranks of his ministry to become principal of Namugongo Martyrs Seminary, Namirembe Diocesan Secretary and later the fourth Bishop of Namirembe diocese. Bishop Ssekadde was the first person I knew closely who was elevated from a senior priest donning black clerical wear to bishop I am donning purple more in the oldest and most influential diocese of Namirembe from 1994-2009. This was unveiled before my own eyes as a young boy in high school. Before then, Bishop Dunstan Nsubuga and Bishop Miseari Kawuma were already bishops long before I gained a conscience.
Bishop Ssekadde took the role of a Godparent so seriously that he followed almost every step of the milestone of my sisters, whom he baptised and celebrated along all milestones in their lives. He was also very generous, and I remember when I was still a student at Mengo Senior School, he was serving at the Namirembe Diocesan offices, and he used to ride a motorbike. Whenever he found me walking on my way home, he would stop with this beaming face to greet me and, after pleasantries, pull any cash in his pockets and give me to take to my sisters, whom he used to call his daughters.
He also carried on his father’s tradition of celebrating every 27th day of December as a family and reunion day at his ancestral place in Kitekkanya Semuto, where we were regular attendants. This was one of our highlights of the year, as we used to eat a lot of food, sing, and pray.
With that bond and closeness, I followed through the electoral process through which he became the bishop of Namirembe. We were also fully involved in the celebrations and many thanksgiving services that followed, including one that took place at his local birthplace church in Semuto, Luweero diocese.
Bishop Ssekadde has never ceased to be a factor in our lives, both in times of joy and sorrow. He led my elder sister Nalwoga’s funeral in 2000 and recently led and preached at my mother’s funeral in April 2022. His sermons came to us from the heart because he was both our parent and priest, later a bishop to us. He was our in-house bishop. After my mother’s funeral, I went to visit him at his home in Bugonga Entebbe, and we had a great time with my sister Babirye. We learnt a lot from him in that short moment. He was most pleased to learn that I had eventually answered God’s call to ordained ministry after a lot of hesitation. He gave me a lot of insight into the priestly ministry to which he was still very active beyond his retirement to the point of his death. He was high-tech and we kept in touch via WhatsApp, and when I was priested last Summer, he sent me a congratulatory message and asked me to make it a point to take the Thanksgiving celebrations to Kampala. He said he couldn’t wait to see me robing in priestly vestments, but God has had other plans. My condolences to Maama Allen Ssekadde, my brothers and sisters Nabbosa, Kyobe, Gloria, Luther, Witness, Tolofayina and the entire Church of God.
In Bishop Samuel Balagadde Ssekadde, I have lost a perfect parent and mentor, but I know without doubt that He has fought an ideal fight and finished his race and kept the faith, now there in store his crown of righteousness, which the Lord will award to him on that day. May his soul find eternal peace. Amen