Byaruhanga is your typical colonial-style civil servant. Only that he was not in the civil service but at Bishop Tucker Theological College, (BTTC) and then later Uganda Christian University, (UCU).

He qualifies as a civil servant because like many, they start and end their work days (rather years) under a single employer, the only changes that come their way are transfers to other departments but hardly a change in career.
Byaruhanga started his service for UCU, then BTTC in September 1970, and he served mainly in the dining section until the day of his departure on June 30, 2010, 40 years later.
This makes Byaruhanga, so far the second longest serving member of the UCU community, the longest serving member being Saulo Bulega whom Byaruhanga says he found already working here in the estates department.
A school drop-out, Byaruhanga used his only attributes — discipline, respect, the fear of God and hard work  — to rise up the ladder.
It is small wonder that four years after he had started working in the kitchen that he was appointed to the position of head cook, a position he held onto until 2004, when he became the chief waiter, the position he held upto the point of retirement.
For a man who first came to Buganda in the late 1960s, Byaruhanga’s command of the language is as impeccable as his taste in dressing and cars — always smart and clear.
He, for instance, speaks the traditional Luganda that I last heard while in secondary school. He drives vintage cars that he now collects as a hobby and at his farewell luncheon it was hard to tell if he had just come from home to attend it or he had come in from his place of work.
Clad in his signature spectacles and well pressed suit as he always did at his desk in the dinning hall, Byaruhanga took some time thinking about how fast the years have gone by, the years that have over time become his unending passion for the place he has always called home.
He lived inside the confines of UCU from the time he arrived here in 1970 and when he left it was not to a rented apartment but his home.
“I remember when I first came here in 1970 I got not only a job but also a house, I have never rented, UCU was my home and when I left, I could not bear the thought of staying far from it,” Byaruhanga said.
Orphaned to the Rwanda genocide of 1959, and second born in a family of five children, three girls and two boys, Byaruhanga dropped out of school at the age of 12 and became the bread winner.
“I went to school at Wengolo Primary School in Tooro and studied up to Primary 4 and at the age of about 12; I dropped out of school to do odd jobs so that we could afford the necessities.”
The first mode of employment that came his way was managing a nearby household as the house boy; it is from this that God gave him his real first break through.
“During my employment there, I met the Saza (county) chief of Kamwenge, Duke Kashaijja, and that is the day that lots of things begun changing for me.” 
He also adds that during the time the Saza Chief grew close to him and took him places.
“In 1969, Kashaijja and I went to Entebbe to Abasi Balinda’s home. He was a deputy minister in Obote’s government and had a poultry farm. Our intention was to learn how to rare poultry so that we could start our own farm back home in Kamwenge.”
While in Entebbe, Byaruhanga learnt of his cousin who worked at Makerere University’s University Hall, but before he could make contact with his cousin, the news about his mother’s illness got to him.
“My life in Entebbe was good and I was learning fast how to manage poultry.”
He adds that Balinda had bought a sports bicycle for him and often sent him to run errands at Lake Victoria Hotel.
“It is this good relationship with people that has brought me this far, when my mother fell sick, Balinda took me to the airport and I took my very first flight, from Entebbe to Kasese.”
He adds that while at home, he made inquiries after his cousin who was at Makerere. Up on his return to Kampala, he went straight there.
“It was during my work at University Hall that the then Principal of BTTC, the late Bishop Ruhindi saw my abilities and asked me to pay him a visit at Mukono.”
“When I came to Mukono, he offered me a job as a waiter in the dinning hall but I did a number of kitchen related jobs,” Byaruhanga said.
During the 1970s, a majority of kitchen employees in the Buganda region were from Kenya. The entire kitchen staff was made up of Kenyans such that when President Idi Amin expelled Kenyans there were a lot of opening in the dinning.
“After the expulsion of Kenyans, many people were brought in to fill the void but they could not do the job while others were thieves.”
One fateful or rather blessed evening, the then head of the Kitchen, now Bishop Nicodemus Okille, approached Byaruhanga and asked him to take over as head cook after eight people had failed to do the job.
As a young cautious man who had seen many before him leave, he refused to take up the job citing excuses. He later accepted the mantle and did not look back.
“From the day I accepted the keys in 1974, the position of head cook has had enormous challenges and a great work load, sometimes I would rise at 3am to prepare breakfast for the students because I did not want them to starve or be delayed.” Byaruhanga said.
In 2004, however, after the restructuring, Byaruhanga was relieved of his duties as head cook and appointed head waiter a position that he held until the day he retired.
Byaruhanga’s rise to the helm of UCU’s kitchen did not come without challenges, some of these were so complex that the parent in him would try to interfere with the administrator that he was. His biggest challenge was students who offered bribes to him so that they could acquire meal cards.
A temptation he says he never succumbed too, thus leaving a very high bar for his successors to uphold and maintain.
Byaruhanga’s interaction with many people in matters that concerned food has ensured that even as he goes away from UCU, he has seen very many people come and go.
“I have many friends, and have seen many more people come and go through BTTC and UCU, I saw all the Bishops in the Church of Uganda long before they were even priests, many of them still remember me to this day.” Byaruhanga said.
The issue of retirement is one that many forebode. This will not apply to Byaruhanga. He has planned well for his retirement and he is sure it will be a comfortable one.  
“I have a one hundred acre farm on Entebbe road that Ankrah gave to me. It is at Nabinonya just before the lake and that is where I rare the cattle that are providing milk, which I sell.”
He also adds that as part of his retirement plans, he started collecting vintage cars, which he intends to make something of.
“Right now I have a Morris Minor, a Nissan Violet and a Nissan Sunny among others and I am looking out for more.”
Byaruhanga is also a family man and is married to Antonia Byaruhanga, with whom they have seven children, all of whom except one have completed their entry level education. His second last daughter has a semester to go.
“I am very happy because I was able to educate my children. I am extremely happy for the education scheme that UCU has for biological children of employees, I only hope Juliet, (his daughter with a semester to go) can be given her last semester free.”
Four of his children studied at UCU and benefited from that scholarship.
The seven children for whom Byaruhanga can smile everyday are Emmanuel Nkurunziza, Peter ‘Happy’ Gasana, Peace Byukusenge, Stephen Barinda, Sarah Gasengayire, Juliet Uwizeye and Sylvia Uwera.