Kampala, Uganda | URN | All Saints’ Cathedral Nakasero has been elevated to a deanery, with Rebecca Margaret Nyegenye, its provost since 2019, installed as its first dean.
The Archbishop of the Church of Uganda and Bishop of the Diocese of Kampala, Stephen Samuel Kaziimba Mugalu, presided over the historic service, where he inaugurated the deanery and formally installed the Very Rev. Canon Dr Nyegenye.
The Diocesan Secretary, Rev Henry Majwala, said the decision to elevate the cathedral was taken by the diocesan senior management at a sitting on September 3, 2026. He added that management had also settled on Nyegenye, then the cathedral provost, as dean because of the qualities she had shown as a minister and an administrator.
Rev Majwala said the elevation formalises a restructuring of the Diocese of Kampala aimed at strengthening urban ministry as the city grows.
In Church of Uganda, Cathedrals are usually Archdeaconry centres with parishes under them. All Saints’ Cathedral was previously the Central Archdeaconry, with several parishes, but it is now a single church under the stewardship of the Dean. Available information shows that all its parishes have been distributed to other archdeaconries.
Nyegenye, the new dean, is widely regarded as one of the leading female clergy in the Church of Uganda and its highest-ranking woman.
In July 2019, then Archbishop Stanley Ntagali installed her as the first female Provost in the history of the Church of Uganda at All Saints’ Cathedral, the seat of the Archbishop and Bishop of Kampala.
She has since overseen significant aspects of the cathedral’s multi-million-dollar expansion, a modern facility with capacity for about 5,000 worshippers that was dedicated in 2024. The role has required her to balance pastoral leadership with administrative duties.
Born in Busia District, Nyegenye, a daughter of a clergyman, was the first female student enrolled at Bishop Usher Wilson Theological College in Buwalasi. She was ordained a deacon in 1997 and a priest in 2000 in Bukedi Diocese. Her early ministry included service as assistant and acting vicar at St John’s Church of Uganda in Busia.
She later joined Uganda Christian University (UCU) in Mukono, rising from chaplain’s assistant in 2002 to assistant chaplain and then full university chaplain from 2012 to 2019. She also lectured and served as a female warden.
Nyegenye holds both theological and academic qualifications, including a PhD from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, and remains active in discipleship, pastoral care, counselling, evangelism, preaching and mentoring.
The service also included the ordination of six deacons and one deacon as a priest. The archbishop was assisted by the Assistant Bishop of Kampala, Bishop Jackson Baalwa.
Rev Deacon Sadrack Amai was elevated to the order of priesthood, while those made deacons were Samuel Kisakye, Rebecca Amalate, Charity Kobusingye, Annet Kobusingye, Witness Aineomugisha and Penninah Nayebare.
The archbishop gave them instruments of office, including the Bible, their licences, letters of orders, the canons of the church and the constitution of Kampala Diocese. They are now awaiting deployment although most are already attached to parishes where they have been undergoing pastoral training.
Commenting on the ordinations, Baalwa said he was happy that most of those ordained were women, which increases the number of ordained female clergy in the church.
Preaching at the service, Baalwa urged the new Dean, the ordained ministers and the congregation to be witnesses of Christ. He challenged them to look beyond serving themselves and to serve others.
Baalwa said the church and the world were facing a leadership deficiency, which challenges all those in positions of responsibility, in church, politics and communities, to stay anchored in Christ so that they can be his witnesses.
During the service, the retired seventh Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, the Rt Rev Luke Orombi, also prayed for children, especially those due to sit their Primary Leaving Examinations on Tuesday, asking God’s blessing upon them.
