[2] Ssebaana was born in Mpande Village, Luweero District, in Uganda's Central Region on 12 September 1934.
He was a civil servant and politician in several of Uganda's eras of tyranny and political turmoil, including under Idi Amin, Milton Obote, and President Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Movement government.
Upon returning from the U.S. in October 1962, he became an investment executive at the Uganda Development Corporation, the holding company that managed all government-owned enterprises.
[5] In 1982, John Ssebaana Kizito, together with a business associate, Joseph William Kiwanuka, established Uganda's first private (non-government) insurance company, Statewide Insurance Company (SWICO), for which Ssebaana served as Chairman of the Board and Kiwanuka serves as the Managing Director.
[6][7] Ssebaana died on 3 July 2017 at Nakasero Hospital, in Kampala, where he was admitted two weeks prior, following a stroke.