Good bye Eriya Kategaya, Good bye real Movement

This is not an obituary. It is not to praise or condemn anything Kategaya may or may not have done. There are other many more knowledgeable Ugandans who will write about him. I am just mourning a very dear friend who never shunned or deserted me, come rain come sunshine.

It was with great shock that I heard on the telephone that my good friend and confidant Eriya Kategaya had passed away in a hospital in Nairobi. He was a principled man and the original NRM guru.

He opposed the removal of presidential terms which cost him dearly. He, Bidandi Ssali, Miria Matembe and Amanya Mushega, amongst others, lost favour with the top leadership of a soulless NRM that eventually came to rest in the dregs of the Uganda-styled multipartism that the same leadership proceeded to devour other political parties to the edge of extinction.

The Kategaya of the NRM was not the same Kategaya or the First Deputy Prime Minister of the NRM party of political opportunism and corruption. He chose to be a genuine refugee in the NRM party in order to survive. They may not admit it publicly, but the majority of the NRM party leaders and supporters question its viability and usefulness to the nation nowadays.

When the news of Kategaya’s removal from Cabinet some years ago because of his opposition to kisanja, a historical UPDF General, who still serves in the force, was stunned by the news and regretted deeply uttering the words “this is the end of the NRM as we knew it”. He said he had fought under its principled leadership guided by the original Ten-Point Programme and with the departure of Kategaya then, the country’s governance was likely to become more autocratic.

Many patriotic and gallant Ugandans who knew, loved and were inspired by Kategaya’s principled stand on governance are no longer here to mourn him. Samson Kisseka, Sserwanga Lwanga, Comrade Magara, Victor Bwana, Kazini, Wapakhabulo, and thousands more Ugandans will not mourn him because they are all gone. Those that live may or may not be permitted or have the means to attend the ceremony of bidding Kategaya farewell. Several are in jail for diverse offences committed under the NRM party. Others may be under detention for political reasons. Several have been sent to missions abroad. Others leading and influential politicians, UPDF officers and civil society leaders have been castigated by leaders of the NRM party as unworthy.

This is not an obituary. It is not to praise or condemn anything Kategaya may or may not have done. There are other many more knowledgeable Ugandans who will write about him. I am just mourning a very dear friend who never shunned or deserted me, come rain come sunshine.

Even in areas of governance where he and I occasionally disagreed, Kategaya never deserted our friendship or shied away from our mutual respect and the counselling of one another. The last time Kategaya and I had a serious discussion was when we both met our mutual friend, Dr Frank Mwine. As we sat in the latter’s house, Kategaya cautioned Dr Mwine that if he did not abandon his heavy social activities, he, Dr Mwine would die sooner than God intended.

How ironic that Kategaya has predeceased him. Dr Mwine is not well but recovering from an illness that has taken him all the way to the US. Sadly, he too will not be present when Ugandans bid farewell to our First Deputy Prime Minister for more than a generation. Dr Mwine and I buried the National Resistance Movement and its Ten-Point Programme when multipartism was adopted. May be, it is permissible to visit its political grave to be reminded of its finest hours and achievements, from time to time.

I know that President Museveni has lost a true friend too. My compatriots join him in mourning our departed mutual friend who shall never be seen again. So Kategaya, my good friend and confidant, goodbye. May the Almighty God, rest your soul in blissful peace and protect and comfort all the members of your family and friends who have survived you and who together with us, your friends, will miss you terribly.

Justice Kanyeihamba is a retired Supreme Court Judge.

gwkany@yahoo.com