North Kigezi Diocese will celebrate the long public service of Canon Dr Johnson Omuhunde Rwashote Byabashaija while raising funds towards the completion of Emmanuel Cathedral Kinyasano during a special thanksgiving and fundraising service in Kampala.
The service, organised by the North Kigezi Diocese Kampala Fellowship, will be held on Sunday at Kololo Independence Grounds, with President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni expected to attend as the guest of honour.
The occasion will bring together Christians from North Kigezi Diocese living in Kampala and other parts of the country to give thanks for Byabashaija’s years of service to the country, his contribution to the church and his leadership among the laity of North Kigezi Diocese.
Byabashaija, who currently serves as Commissioner General of the Uganda Prisons Service, has spent more than four decades in the prison service, having joined the institution in 1982.
He rose through the ranks from a cadet officer to become one of the longest-serving heads of Uganda’s prison service, taking over as Commissioner General in 2005 after the retirement of Joseph A.A. Etima.
His career has seen him serve in several capacities within the Uganda Prisons Service, including at Kigo Prison and at Prisons Headquarters, where he worked in areas linked to prison farms and administration before rising to senior leadership positions.
Byabashaija’s long tenure at the top of the institution has made him a prominent figure in Uganda’s correctional services. He has also overseen a period when the service expanded its infrastructure and strengthened its focus on rehabilitation, skills development, agriculture, and the welfare of prisoners and prison staff.
His relationship with the prison service dates back to his early professional years. After completing his veterinary medicine studies at Makerere University, he joined the Uganda Prisons Service and trained as a Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Prisons. He was initially posted to Kigo Prison, where he was involved in managing the prison hatchery and later became officer in charge of the facility.
He subsequently rose to Assistant Commissioner, Senior Assistant Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner General before assuming the office of Commissioner General in 2005. President Museveni has since renewed his appointment on several occasions, including in 2024.
Beyond his public service career, Byabashaija has maintained a strong connection with the Church of Uganda and his home diocese.
In March 2026, he was elected Head of Laity of North Kigezi Diocese, taking over the leadership of the diocesan laity.
His election placed him at the centre of the diocese’s lay leadership at a time when North Kigezi is seeking to strengthen its ministry, development programmes and mobilisation of Christians around major projects, including the completion of Emmanuel Cathedral Kinyasano.
Byabashaija is also a Lay Canon within North Kigezi Diocese and heads Christians from the diocese who are based in Kampala, giving him a direct role in coordinating the growing community of North Kigezi Christians living in the capital.
The Kampala Fellowship has therefore positioned the thanksgiving service not only as a celebration of Byabashaija’s personal journey but also as an opportunity for Christians in Kampala to reconnect with the development priorities of their home diocese.
At the centre of the fundraising will be Emmanuel Cathedral Kinyasano, a major construction project that has been associated with the late Bishop Benon Magezi, who launched the project in 2019 as part of efforts to expand the cathedral and the wider ministry of North Kigezi Diocese.
The diocese said that after Magezi’s death in June 2021, the construction of the new Emmanuel Cathedral was among the major projects he had initiated before his death.
The project has since continued under the leadership of the current Bishop of North Kigezi Diocese, Rt. Rev. Onesimus Asiimwe, who was elected by the Church of Uganda House of Bishops in January 2023 and consecrated at Emmanuel Cathedral Kinyasano in March 2023.
The cathedral has consequently remained one of the major development priorities of the diocese, with Christians and well wishers repeatedly mobilising financial and material support towards its completion.
In March 2026, more than Shs200 million was reportedly raised towards the ongoing construction of Emmanuel Cathedral Kinyasano during celebrations marking Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba’s pastoral visit to North Kigezi Diocese. The fundraising also included donations of hundreds of bags of cement to support the construction work.
The latest fundraising service in Kampala is expected to build on those efforts by mobilising Christians living in the capital and other supporters to contribute towards completing the cathedral.
For North Kigezi Diocese, the project represents more than the construction of another church building. Emmanuel Cathedral Kinyasano is the diocesan cathedral and an important centre for worship, major church celebrations, ordinations, confirmations and other activities that bring together Christians from across the diocese.
The cathedral has also hosted major Church of Uganda functions, including the consecration and enthronement of bishops. Bishop Benon Magezi was consecrated and enthroned there in January 2017, while Bishop Onesimus Asiimwe was later consecrated at the same cathedral in March 2023.
The fundraising, therefore, comes at a time when the diocese is seeking to sustain the momentum behind a project that began under Magezi and has continued under Asiimwe.
For Byabashaija, the occasion offers a rare intersection between his two major areas of service: a lengthy career in public service through Uganda Prisons Service and his growing responsibilities within the Church of Uganda.
His election as Head of Laity has placed him in a position to mobilise Christians and strengthen the participation of lay people in the work of the diocese, while his leadership of the North Kigezi community in Kampala gives him a direct connection to the fellowship organising the event.
The service will be presided over by Bishop Asiimwe, who will serve as the main celebrant.
The organisers have invited Christians, friends of North Kigezi Diocese and other well wishers to attend the service and participate in the fundraising campaign for Emmanuel Cathedral Kinyasano.
President Museveni’s expected attendance is also likely to draw attention to Byabashaija’s long public service career, given that the President has repeatedly renewed his appointment as Commissioner General of Prisons.
Byabashaija’s career has stretched from the early 1980s to the present, making his service to the Uganda Prisons Service one of the longest senior public-service careers in the institution. His appointment as Commissioner General in 2005 came after years of progression through different ranks and responsibilities within the prison service.
The Thanksgiving service will therefore offer North Kigezi Christians an opportunity to honour a senior public servant from their community while simultaneously rallying support for one of the diocese’s most ambitious development projects.
The service is scheduled to begin at 9:00 am at Kololo Independence Grounds, with Christians unable to attend physically expected to follow the proceedings through the North Kigezi Diocese live broadcast.
