By Esther Byoona

When he was retiring from university service last year, former Uganda Christian University (UCU) Vice Chancellor Dr. John Musisi Senyonyi said he would carry two main passions into retirement. The passions for the 65-year-old revered preacher, mathematician, evangelist, husband, father and  grandfather are theology and writing. 

In the midst of a packed schedule as Vice Chancellor, Senyonyi often afforded time to write messages to preach to students during the bi-weekly community worship sessions in the main campus’ Nykoyoyo Hall. He also contributed regular articles for not only the university’s The Standard community newspaper, where he had a column, but also national publications like New Vision and Daily Monitor.

Senyonyi retired from the Vice Chancellor position in August 2020 after serving UCU for 19 years. He joined the institution in 2001 as university chaplain. Two-and-a-half years later, Senyonyi was the deputy vice-chancellor in charge of finance and administration. In 2010, he replaced the university’s founding Vice Chancellor, Prof. Stephen Noll.

So, six months into retirement and now moved off the Mukono campus to his home on Mukono Hill, how far is Senyonyi with the activities that he said would keep him company during retirement?

“There’s a manuscript I did while in the theology school that was recommended for publication, but it was not done,” he said. “When I retired, I decided to work on it, to see if it is still relevant. Now, I am done working on it.”

Dr. Senyonyi’s manuscript focused on the preaching of Bishop Festo Kivengere. He said the title could change, but when he was writing the thesis, he called it “philosophy of evangelization.” He related it to his context in the East African Revival. Kivengere is a former Anglican leader in Uganda.

Dr. Senyonyi explained that in the days after the martyrdom of Archbishop Janani Luwum, the theme that became prominent in Bishop Festo’s preaching was love. He talked about the love of God, as well as the love for our enemies. In 1977, Festo co-authored a book titled I love Idi Amin: The Story of Triumph under Fire in the Midst of Suffering and Persecution in Uganda. The title and content, Dr. Senyonyi explained, were unthinkable at the time.

Senyonyi said he has completed working on the manuscript. “There were many mistakes, but I’m thankful someone could type it in because the original manuscript was on a (now outdated technological) floppy disk, which I lost, but I still had a hard copy.”

Senyonyi also had edited a book for his long-time friend, Mark Blair, a former lecturer at the Bishop Tucker Theological College and now a pastor in Beijing. He edited a small part of what Blair was writing. He further explained that Blair wanted some assurance regarding his work, especially if the facts were accurate.   

The other book Senyonyi edited was on his father-in-law, the late Bishop Misare Kauma, who wrote about suffering, which Senyonyi said was a reflection of his ministry as a pastor to people who were in anguish, especially from HIV/AIDS.

Senyonyi said Kauma was a very compassionate man and that he was instrumental in closing the gap between the church and those who were in need and the vulnerable. Kauma was one time the chairperson of the Uganda AIDS Commission.

Senyonyi also has a chapter in the book the Third Education Revolution that focuses on the education and the church. His chapter talks about his experience in the university and how the church and the university can work together to form a new cohort of graduates whose understanding of education is formed by the Christian worldview.

Before his retirement, Senyonyi narrated, there was an article he was given to write, regarding Christian education in Uganda. He says he has embarked on that, too. 

Senyonyi noted that he is willing to write the history of UCU in a bid to preserve it. He has fears that a lot of the university’s history will be lost if it is not documented. Senyonyi particularly cites the death of former university librarian Frederick Mukungu, who, he believed, had a lot of knowledge about the university, but it was not documented. Mukungu, who worked at UCU for over 20 years, passed away on January 1, 2021. He had since retired from UCU and was the librarian at Muni University at the time of his death.

Two fairly recent documents, a 20th anniversary magazine in 2017 and a university prospectus in 2020, capture some of this history but not in depth. 

Last but not least is a memoir. Senyonyi started his autobiography before retirement. He said he has been approached by many people who offered to write his life story. But Senyonyi believes that many biography writers do not do justice to biographies of the people they are writing about. That is why he is only confident in himself executing the task. He says the first chapter is a work in progress. 

Clearly, Senyonyi’s plate looks full, but to him, there is still space for evangelization. As recently as January 31, he preached at the Nkoyoyo Hall, during the Sunday services. He said preaching is something he loves to do and he says he will comfortably do it along with writing.

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