Ekalungar is not out but retires hurt

Professionalism is one thing and then pushing the envelope is another.
In all aspects of his life, Francis Ekalungar was a professional who tried to get the job done without assuming too much power.
But most of the time, the tale of the tape dictates that one must push the envelope irrespective of their persona.
Having been born with ingrained skills of authority, Ekalungar has lived a life of a bold decision maker for the last 21 years as an accountant at Case Clinic from its early days, to its current status as Case Hospital.
Even when he hang up his playing boots in the late 90s as an off-spinner at the oldest club in Uganda – Africa Cricket Club (ACC) - Ekalungar took on the feared job of umpiring.

Voluntary efforts
Umpiring, like refereeing across other sporting disciplines, is not only a thankless job because of the negative criticism that comes with it but it is also a voluntary effort that guarantees mere peanuts.
But for the last two decades, Ekalungar has stood in the middle not just to end the innings of a player or team in a particular match, but also as an enforcer of the gentleman’s game rules, adviser to captains, cautioner of players and a first-hand witness to the many careers that have blossomed on the local scene and gone on to represent our beautiful nation at the international scene.
His most recent international assignment was when he officiated at the ICC Africa Women’s World T20 Qualifiers in Namibia - September 2017. And as our own Lady Cricket Cranes basked in glory after snatching the continent’s lone ticket to the Global World Cup Qualifying event in Netherlands this June, Ekalungar took no credit as a man in the middle.
But team manager Lydia Bakumpe confessed that there were many a time in Windhoek when Ekalungar, would locate where the manager was seated at the oval boundary and stealthily walk towards and pass her while muttering a ‘priceless’ piece of advice to the team’s benefit. Such a beautiful human!
Every death hurts, but this one will hurt a tad too much because almost every cricketer of this and the past generation has attained a reprieve or two from Ekalungar during their innings.
But for the irate goons that battered the chairman of the Uganda Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association, at the time of his last breath on Tuesday evening (January 2), they didn’t give Ekalungar an exoneration at the first time of asking and possibly the only time he was going to ever need it.
Line of duty
With the festivities of the New Year done and dusted, it was business as usual for the umpire with his normal routine that required him to make a trip to the bank for a quick deposit before heading off to Lugogo for his evening run and catch-up time with colleagues since he had spent most of the festive season with the family.
Unfortunately, mischievous people were trailing him and successfully managed to divert his original route to their own where they managed to relieve him of the hospital’s earnings and thereafter dump him far off in Kajjansi after burning him beyond recognition – a cowardly act.
And after the family confirmed that the body Kampala Metropolitan Police and Flying Squad had discovered in Kajjansi and taken to the mortuary in Mulago Hospital was one of their own, the police thought it wise to await the DNA test before allowing vigil and burial preparations to proceed. The DNA results were not yet out by press time.
A visit to his residence in Kiwa Zone, Nabweru where he has been staying with his wife and four children (three boys and one girl) redefines distress, the fellow local umpires are still speechless whereas one glance at Dr Kato Sebbaale – the proprietor of Case Medical Centre (CMC) – at the golf club yesterday left me in agony.
A role model to many, Sebbaale cut a posture of a man lost at sea; with unusually heavy red eyes, unkempt hair and an untucked shirt as he received and made endless calls. To Sebbaale, no consolation will be enough.
Ekalungar was the heartbeat of the day-to-day runnings of Case Hospital.
Without him, CMC will survive but business will not be as usual.

Heart-warming condolences
The condolence messages have not stopped pouring in from International Cricket Council (ICC), Africa Cricket Association (ACA), ICC Umpires Panel, Kenya Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association and National Council of Sports (NCS) amongst others for the fallen man who served diligently in several capacities.
The cricket family will definitely give ‘Omuntu Omukulu’ (loosely translated as Old Man) – like Ekalungar always said in his uniquely deep voice (local dialect) when addressing comrades both on and off the oval - a fitting send-off with a guard of honour in Mawero Parish, Buteba Sub-country, Busia District over the weekend.
And as we pray to the Almighty Lord to judge him with mercy, we seek divine intervention that the culprits are caught and brought to book for having illegally raised their ‘dreaded fingers’ on the innocent soul of Ekalungar.
We know you were ‘Not Out’ but forced to ‘Retire Hurt’ one run short of the coveted half century (50 years).
Sleep well, Francis!