Busomoke’s camera stops clicking

Kampala- On Saturday morning, as city residents were coming to terms with the Friday evening traffic jam experience, sad news filtered through social media announcing the death of celebrated photojournalist, Peter Busomoke.

No doubt the late Busomoke, 67, who died at Kiruddu Hospital was a self-made photojournalist who, within the photojournalism circles, always boasted of major milestones.

Busomoke was the only local photojournalist who was accredited to cover Pope John Paul II when he visited Uganda in 1993, and he travelled with him wherever he visited. He also covered all visiting popes since 1969. In 1969, Pope Paul VI visited Uganda and it was his first ever visit to the African continent.

In 1993, Pope John Paul II visited Uganda on a trip that saw him hold mass in Gulu, Soroti, Kasese and Namugongo, among others. He also covered the reigning Pope Francis who was Uganda in 2015.

The photojournalist also reportedly survived being eaten by cannibals in the DR Congo during one of the numerous trips he made to the country during the volatile period in the 1990s.
Busomoke’s narrative was that one time when trailing rebels who were fighting to oust Mobutu Sese Seko, in one of the jungles in DR Congo, journalists escaped from a UPDF base in Gbadolite to look for news and they ended up at the territory manned by troops loyal to Jean-Pierre Bemba, a rebel military commander.

Little did they know that some short indigenous men with short spears speaking one of the DR Congo dialects he understood, were trailing to hunt them for food.

He tipped fellow journalists and they were able to escape. He said as he was about to be speared, he told the pygmies that he was a human being like them. The pygmies believed his skin complexion could act as curry powder to colour their food. Busomoke said he was the target due to his light skin because the pygmies believed his meat was tastier.

According to Mr Enock Kakande, the New Vision Deputy Photo editor, Busomoke came to Uganda when he was 19, in 1969, through a Congolese Orchestra band led by a one Munyenga who was visiting Kampala.

His colleagues returned to Congo later but he decided to stay in Uganda.
Mr Kakande says he got in touch with the late when he was working at the Daily Monitor at the height of instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Because of his knowledge of French and some Congolese languages, he saved them while in a hotel in Butembo when he heard rebels led by Mbusa Nyamwisi planning to attack the hotel they stayed in, and they escaped. That night, the hotel was attacked and all people in it killed.

Mr David Mukwaya, the senior office manager at the Monitor Publications, who worked with the late at the Monitor Publications since its inception in 1992, remembers that when all journalists feared to go into the jungles of DR Congo, Busomoke relied on his rosary which he always wore around his neck, and would go anywhere because he believed his God would protect him against any adversity.

“He was the only person who could cover anything. He was ready all the time, and he was a people person. He was loved for his kindness and hard work. He always trusted his rosary, he would never go to the canteen before submitting his photographs,” Mr Mukwaya said in an interview.

Mr David Ouma Balikoowa, who was editor at the time Busomoke worked at Daily Monitor, describes the late as a self-made photojournalist who worked hard to build a career.

Mr Hassan Badru Zziwa, one of the directors at the Observer, who met the late Busomoke in the 1970s and later worked with the photojournalist, said he first met the deceased when he was an ordinary photographer for KCC Football Club fans who referred to him as Mzungu because of his light skin.

He recalls that wherever KCC Football Club went, he followed them to take photographs until Weekly Topic, a local newspaper then, identified him to start doing their photography.
“He was cool and very difficult to annoy. He showed people how to take good pictures,” Mr Zziwa said.

In 1992, when The Monitor started, he was taken on as a freelance journalist and he is reputed for having taken dramatic photographs.
Mr Robert Mukasa who worked with him at the Daily Monitor when he had just completed undergraduate studies, remembers that he was much older than all of them in the newsroom but he was free with everyone.

Mr Mukasa, the editor of the Observer now, said the late blended and fitted in well with whichever age and he instilled a culture of mature discussion in the newsroom.

Whenever he went on an assignment with a reporter, he ensured that the reporter was well catered for which earned him the nickname—Jean Pierre.

“If you were sent on an assignment with the late, you would have to make sure as a reporter you brief the editor very fast because Peter had an eye for tiny little details that editors always looked out for,” Mr Mukasa said.

Mr Patrick Matsiko, who also worked with the late at Monitor Publications remembers him during the junk helicopter probe led by Julia Ssebutinde which inquired into the purchase of junk helicopters when he was also working for AFP as an international photographer.

Mr Matsiko says during this time, Busomoke frequented DR Congo with the late Kevin Aliro and he would cover only the President’s functions.

“He was a good photographer, he was skilled, he knew French and some languages from eastern Congo and I believe this is why he became a Ugandan citizen,” he recalls.

Mr Stephen Wandera Ouma, a longtime photographer at the MPL, describes him as an aggressive man . “During the Kibwetere massacre, he was the first person to reach the site with his Subaru. Then he was working for both AFP and Monitor Publications. Police arrived at the scene when he was leaving having taken his photos,” Mr Wandera recalls.

According to Mr Wandera this was around the same time he went to Congo with little money on him and rebels arrested him and he disappeared without trace. After two months, he resurfaced a very proud man.

“He would always challenge us that he is an old man but still working. He loved his glass and when he was served alcohol in a small glass, he would complain, preferring a big glass so that he can tell how many beers he has taken.

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