NGO world mourn Nyamugasira

The late John Warren Nyamugasira succumbed to diabetes on Monday. Courtesy Photo

Kampala. The NGO community in Uganda is mourning the passing on of one of its key pillars, a renowned economist and civil society activist John Warren Nyamugasira.


At a requiem service at All Saints’ Cathedral, Kampala yesterday, even the most calm members of civil society organisations were overcome by emotion and broke down when given opportunity to eulogise Nyamugasira. “We shall remember his passion for justice, his inspirational thoughts and great sense of humour,” Mr Arthur Larok, the country director of ActionAid Uganda, said.


“Warren, 61, [Nyamugasira] leaves a young family and so much unfinished business on earth. It is our duty to carry them on,” Mr Larok said.


Nyamugasira’s son Isaac Atuhairomugisha described him as “intelligent and loving dad any child would wish to have”.
The deceased succumbed to diabetes on Monday – a condition he has battled for a long time, according to Melisa Nyakwera Tashobya, the eldest child. Nyamugasira is survived by a wife and three children.


And, as is the norm for Christians who believe not only in the immortality of the soul, but also in the resurrection of the body, the clergy professed hope in the face of death. “We prepared him for death. We prayed for him,” retired assistant Bishop of Kampala Zac Niringiye said: adding, however, that we can never get used to death.