Bartile Toskin bowsout at 64

In native Sebei, an adage goes that the size of a tree is best measured when it falls.
It is then that the thud, the effect on those beneath, and its length is fully appreciated. And such is the case for the late, Kongasis County MP, Johnson Bartile Toskin.
When Bartile and family left Malaba where he had stopped over to meet relatives as he travelled from Kitale, Kenya, enroute to Kampala on Sunday, all wished him a safe journey.
Nothing, a relative who was with them in Malaba says, would suggest that the maroon Suzuki Escudo he was travelling in was destined for ill fate. Unfortunately, that was the last they would see of the teacher cum politician, God-loving and patient man alive.
Background
Born and raised in Amanang, Bukwo District on April 15, 1951, Bartile’s crash in Iganga District on Sunday evening is one that has sent a chilling silence laced with pain across Sebei. From the emotive responses on social media and social gatherings, the death is akin to the ire that one gets when hit below the belt.
“His death is one that has hit us really hard. Everyone in Sebei is tongue-tied. It is extremely hard to find someone so understanding, warm-hearted and loving like him,” says Christopher Lakwey, a relative.
He adds: “He would be called to Bukwo in case of a problem and he drives from Kampala immediately. Even after returning to Kampala and there was an emergency in Bukwo the next day, he would arrange and return to his district the next day.”

A symbol of unity
A husband, a father, a businessman, he is widely known in Sebei sub-region as a “man of peace” for his peace and reconciliation efforts.
Nelson Sabila, the man who defeated Bartile in the 2011 polls, is full of praise for the fallen leader.
“He was a very honest leader. Peace loving and humble. Toskin mentored us politically and otherwise. He is responsible for the peace prevailing in Bukwo and Sebei at large. As a family and district, we dearly miss him,” he says.
As if that is not enough, Sabila says Bartile, who was his first head teacher in Amanang Secondary School in the 1980s, was a man who never kept grudges. Sabila hounded him out of Parliament, but Bartile continued guiding him in various spheres and Sabila has paid the treat in almost equal measure; he has - together with leaders from Sebei - been pivotal in the burial arrangements.
Bartile’s leadership stature did not fall out of the blue. It is one whose foundation was well-laid and structures well-knit – his deeds, after all, tell it all. Behind the humble, composed and baritone-voiced man was a history laden with service to the community.
What made him tick?
There was really nothing dramatic about him. Not much is said about his childhood.
The Old Boy of Nabumali High School between 1971-1973 and 1974-1975 had, besides the hardships in pursuit for education for then remote Sebei, carved a special place for himself in society when he excelled to join Makerere University for a Bachelor of Science course from 1976 to 1979.
Like the saying goes, environment shapes character; indeed, having finished his degree at Makerere University, Bartile’s story was never the same.
He was hired in the office of the President as the deputy director national security services in the Milton Obote II regime. His role was to create and establish a New Intelligence System (NSS) to meet and serve Uganda’s national intelligence needs both internally and externally.
When little known Uganda Patriotic Movement of Yoweri Museveni started, Bartile was its founding member in Sebei in 1980; the reason he never ditched NRM even when he left Parliament. [He recently got a medal for his part in the liberation struggle].
Goal
However, the desire to have education widespread in Bukwo, then under Kapchorwa District, gave Bartile sleepless nights.
In 1982, together with former deputy Head of Mission to Russia Sam Sakajja Barteka, he founded Amanang Secondary School where he was the first head teacher until 1985.
How much he was paid, or the motivation he got is only something God will answer – but such spoke of his resolve. That school is now a government-aided institution.
To master and muster the art of teaching, Bartile enrolled for a Master in Education (Specialising in Educational Administration and Planning) between1991 and 992; he also did a postgraduate diploma in education studies.

Enter politics
He had attained the education befitting a leader of such a region. And in 1994, Bartile prepared his wings to fly to the Constituent Assembly but lost to veterinary doctor Ndiwa Kapkwomu.
Bartile did not give up. Instead, he retreated to Pallisa District where he worked as head teacher of Bugwere High School up to 1996 when the next election came around.
This time, he floored Dr Kapkwomu. This would mark his maiden appearance in the House. But in 2001 again, Dr Kapkwomu reclaimed the seat, which he again lost to Bartile in 2006.
Sebei is rife with stories of cattle rustling up to the 1990s. For a man whose region had suffered the pangs of insecurity brewing under the heavy blanket of cattle rustling for decades, all he wished was peace.
In 1997, he helped found the Pokatusa Peace Initiative, which brought together a string of ethnic groups involved in cattle rustling. The tribes include Pokot, Karimojong, Turukana and the Sabiny.
In early 2011, Bartile found himself in a rare court battle when he led 36 MPs who had been expelled from Parliament in the fight for their emoluments.
The MPs had sued the Clerk to Parliament in the bid to stave off an order that they refund Shs60m each that they had earned for three months from December 2010 to February 2011.
In February that year, a panel of five judges of the Constitutional Court unanimously ruled that an MP who won a seat in Parliament as an independent could not continue to hold his/her seat after joining a party midway.
The judges also ruled that it was unconstitutional for an MP elected as an independent to be nominated as a flag bearer of a party while still an MP.
The verdict would see more than 70 out of 332 MPs lose their seats over switching party allegiance. Bartile was one of the victims in this case. But he fought for his rights in equal measure and instead turned the tables when they demanded that each of them is paid Shs20m in aggravated damages, saying they were inhumanly treated and suffered mental torment when padlocks were placed on their office doors.

A man of different hats
A born-again Christian, Bartile employed the carrot and the stick in equal measure.
He dangled the carrot to those that loved to serve community in faith and those who were development-oriented.
However, he did not hold the unruly ones with a long stick. He lashed them and subsequently hugged them – if that would make them better, anyway.
His daughter Rachael Chelimo describes him as a loving and patriotic man who in his free time served in church and tirelessly devoted time to family. He never missed a burial of a relative. He never missed family meetings. A rare spectacle in modern era, that is.
A story is told of how he at one time, as clan chairperson of Kapchemikwen, embraced the idea of lashing members who endeared the bitter.
He took a verbal beating for that from those opposed to him, but later he offered alternatives that would improve a livelihood. A commendable task, it must be said.

Remembrance
The mood that prevailed as members of the Sabiny Community in Kampala convened a meeting at Centenary Park on Monday spoke volumes. Chaired by Maj Leonard Chemonges, the members that included Pat Cheborion, Maj Juma Seiko, Stephen Chebrot, Nelson Sabila, Tete Chelangat, Lydia Chekwel, Peter Swilkey, Joseline Swilkey, Dr Alfred Boyo and a host of the deceased’s relatives expressed gratitude to Bartile. To them, they lost a relative, friend, mentor and great leader.
He had been with them in such meetings, he had lived with them in a ‘foreign’ land for decades and now that he had departed was a reality hard to embrace.
This is just a drop in the bucket about his life. He leaves the world a better place than he found it.
He leaves behind a wife, nine children and a number of grandchildren.
A funeral service will be held this morning at the Kireka Miracle Centre.
He will be laid to rest at his ancestral home in Amanang Sub-county, Bukwo District on Saturday.

Other tasks

1985-1988, served as the Education Officer/Assistant Secretary General for the National Commission for UNESCO-Uganda.
He was also a founder member and Chairman of Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM) Sebei (1980).
He has served as a Member of Parliament representing Kongasis County Bukwo District twice (1996-2001 and 2001-2006) respectively.
While in the Uganda Parliament, he was also nominated and elected to represent Uganda at the Pan-African Parliament sitting and based in the Republic of South Africa.
He served as Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Mayuge District (2001-2002), headmaster Bugwere High, Palisa District (1993-1996).
He also served as Regional Director AIDS Information Centre (AIC), Mbale Regional Office.
Bartile Toskin also worked as the Director Political Education and Manpower Planning and Development for the National Resistance Movement Secretariat (NRM). Here he was in charge of Coordinating, Recruitment, Mobilization and planning for training programmes for the National School of Political Education (National Leadership Institute, Kyankwazi).
While in Parliament, Toskin Bartile served on various parliamentary committees.
He was the proprietor of Border College in Bukwo District.
At the time of his death, he was the CEO of Mikwen Enterprises, a clearing and forwarding agency.

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