[1] Ssemujju was born in Bijaaba Village, Kyazanga Municipality, Lwengo District, on 23 September 1973.

He is the son of Hajji Ali Nganda Nkwanga and Hajati Sophia Nalwooga, one of his forty-eight children and one of her sixteen offspring.

[2] He attended the Bijaaba Islamic Institute, "a few meters from his birthplace", obtaining the Primary Leaving Certificate while there.

However, by Senior 2, most of his female classmates had found husbands and dropped out, while his male cohorts left for odd jobs in nearby Masaka Town.

He raised whatever little capital he could and convinced his father to enroll him in Masaka Secondary School for his Senior 3 studies.

He was admitted to Makerere University, on a full Ugandan government scholarship to study mass communication.