Jaffer fought for everyone

He dined with kings and queens but his heart was with the common people, Mobina S. B. Jaffer Q.C, a Senator in Canada describes her late father. Bandali Jaffer, a former Ugandan politician who helped resettle 55,000 people, including many Ismailis who were expelled by former President Idi Amin in 1972, died at age of 90 on December 27 in Canada, where the family had moved to and settled.

He succumbed to a long illness but had expressed his desire that he be buried in Uganda.
According Senator Jaffer, the late, an Ismaili belonging to the Shia branch of Islam, fled Kampala in 1972, landing in London with few assets, as other Asians expelled from Uganda were left, stateless and in refugee camps. For two years, he worked “with other politicians. He had many contacts and found resources and ways to help people settle,” her daughter, Mobina Jaffer told Daily Monitor in interview on Sunday.

According to Vancouver Times he convinced many nations, including Canada, to take thousands of refugees, Sen. Jaffer noted. Adding,” The Canadian government accommodated many of the new arrivals in hotels in Vancouver, Calgary.”

Since his passing, “we have had so many calls. One woman from Miami called to say she remembers being with other refugees in the London airport and my father gave her $200 (Shs500,000). She had nothing and it was a lot of money that gave her the courage to go on,” reads the Vancouver Times online article.
Senator Jaffer says her father could have chosen to live in many different countries, “New Zealand, Australia, many countries in Europe, but he chose Canada because he always said his dream was for his grandchildren and great-grandchildren to grow up in a country where they would not be thrown out.”

After relocating from London to Vancouver, Jaffer set up an egg farm and, over a decade, stretched his business.
After raising his family and sending his six children to university, he spent some time constructing boarding schools in cities in Gujarat, India, including ones for girls “before it was popular to do so,” said Sen. Jaffer.

About 20 years ago, when he finally returned to Uganda, he travelled to and from Vancouver on a regular basis. “He always loved it. He had this three-star small hotel (Fairway Hotel), and he was able to get it back. My brother has been operating it.”

“My Dad achieved a lot, but never had a big sense of who he was. Anybody who needed help he never said no. He always said let us see how we can get over it. No job was too small. He would still be taking 10 bags of clothing on his trips and we would tell him, ‘you have got to stop doing this,’ but we all learned from him,” Senator Jaffer further narrates.

How he will be remebered
Dr Vali Jamal, his son, and an elder, Ismaili community in Uganda said, “People have been telling us they remember our house in Kampala and the image they have is the lines and lines of people. My father helped people with everything from powdered milk to school fees. He always found a way to help. Everyone who walked in our home during lunch time ate with us. Every day was a day for people except on Sunday that dad dedicated for us. He contributed in construction of Nabisunsa Girls’ School, Kibuli SSS, Kibuli Mosque and Wandegeya Mosque, among others.

Several leaders have expressed sadness at the demise of one of the pioneer legislators in post independent Uganda. He was an MP representing the Kabaka Yekka (KY) party, which formed an alliance with Uganda Peoples Congress leading to Uganda independence in 1962.
“We are sorry about his demise, he was a good friend of the kingdom plus he did very many developments,” Buganda Kingdom spokesperson and minister of information, Denis Walusimbi Ssengendo, said.

John Ken Lukyamuzi, the Rubaga South MP, who was a friend to Jaffer described him as a sober legislator saying “We shall miss him because he was Buganda’s cause. It unfortunate that he has died before Buganda gets federal status of government.”

Parliament spokesperson, Hellen Kaweesa, said they were saddened by the death, saying they were awaiting communication from government regarding burial arrangements. “He is a distinguished citizen who contributed tremendously to the democratic rule in the country. We pass on our condolences to the family in Uganda and Canada,” she said.

Parliament is currently on recess and will pay tribute to Jaffer when it reconvenes.
The Catholics will also miss Jaffer in remembrance of the hospitality he accorded to Pope Paul V1 who visited Uganda in 1969. He renovated his personal house to become a hotel in honour of the visiting pope.

Denis Sengendo, minister of information in the Buganda Kindgom, said he remembers the late as a Kabaka Yekka legislator, who fought for the good of the kingdom. “He was a good man who wished Buganda well. Bandali had the qualities of a person that one would yarn for. Condolence to the family and the country at large for losing such a great person.”
Bandali will be buried today at Kololo Cemetary, 6/6 Archer Road, at 11am.

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