By An Executive Editor

At Makerere University’s 72nd Graduation, 31-year old Olivia Nabawanda was awarded PhD in Mathematics. At 31, she is the youngest person to have achieved the feat at Makerere University.

Daughter of David Kateregga (RIP) of Kanjuki village in Kayunga district. Kateregga was a businessman and farmer.

In an earlier interview with the New Vision, Nabawanda said her father was a friend to everyone.

All people liked him because he never missed engaging himself in community projects.

“He had a heart of a parent to every child. He was a dad to everyone.” Nabawanda further said her father was affectionate to his family members.

He loved his wife, Janepher Kateregga Kanjuki, unconditionally and all his children.

To show his love, he called them by nicknames that showed his deep love for them.

“He nicknamed one of her brothers Mwogeza Dembe and me as Malyopooko. It was fun when each child was called by their nickname,” she said.

Nabawanda further said their father was a hard worker, a thing which they have learnt from him.

Since Kateregga engaged in different activities at the same time such as farming and business, it taught his children to do the same.

Nabawanda says working with her father taught her a sense of responsibility.

“I got to learn that in life, nothing ever comes on a silver plate,” Nabawanda said.

“You have to work hard for everything you need in life.”

Due to that mindset, Nabawanda said it has saved her sisters and herself from many temptations of accepting small gifts from unworthy men, because they knew they could get everything by working hard.

Since he was a hard worker, Nabawanda said their father strongly detested laziness and roaming around the village without a reason. 

To keep his children safe, he also hated bad friends and if he saw anything like that, he would advise them to leave their company.

Dr. Nabawanda has siblings Norah, Viola, Esther, Sylvia, Emmanuel, Jackson and Ivan, and is currently attached to the Department of Mathematics at Makerere University. She is also said to be a Lecturer in the Faculty of Science, Uganda Martyrs University (UMU).

Her thesis: Flattened Partitions: Pattern Avoidance and Behavior of Permutation Statistics earned a PhD.