The life of brother Mugarura

KYOTERA- “He was a true servant of God and even on the fateful day, death found him in the line of duty,” Brother Charles Dominic Kagoye, the spokesperson of Brothers of St Charles Lwanga, said as he eulogised their leader Norbert Emmanuel Mugarura yesterday.
Brother Mugarura, was the superior general of the Brothers of St Charles Lwanga, locally known as Bannakarooli Brothers of Kiteredde, Kyotera District, a Catholic institution started in 1927.

He had served in the position for barely 158 days having been elected on January 27.
Brother Mugarura headed all Bannakarooli Brothers globally including those in Kenya, Tanzania and the Jesuit community in Loyola University, Chicago, America.

He was murdered last Wednesday inside a room rented by Robert Asiimwe, a student. Asiimwe was arrested after the driver of a vehicle he had hired to reportedly collect garbage from his home at Kyambogo, became suspicious of the package that he was directed to take to a dumping site.

The driver tipped police, which established that the alleged garbage was a corpse, wrapped in tarpaulin.
The fallen priest is a former teacher of the prime suspect and he was the one paying his tuition at university.

Background
Brother Mugarura was born on December 28, 1972, to Mr Essey Bakaishisha and Ms Generoza Katerere in Buyanja Village, Nyakibaare Parish in Kabale Diocese.
He started his education at Katojo Primary School (1981 to 1987) before joining St Gerald SS in 1988 to 1990. He later sat for his Uganda Certificate of Education exams in 1991 at Sacred Heart Kiteredde in Kyotera District.

Brother Mugarura joined the Bannakarooli Brothers in 1992 and became a postulant, who took his vows on January, 6 1995.
In 1995, he was posted to Bukalaji Primary School in Gomba District as a teacher.

He further joined Masaka Academy in 1997-1998 for his Advanced Level before enrolling at National Teachers College, Nkozi for Grade IV teaching certificate in 1999-2000.

He was then appointed head teacher of St Charles Lwanga SS, Mukumu in Kenya from 2001-2004.
He later returned to Uganda and pursued a Bachelor’s of Education in Science majoring in Mathematics and Economics at Uganda Martyrs University, Nkozi in 2005-2008.

In 2009, he joined his former school, Sacred Heart Kiteredde in Kyotera District as a teacher of Mathematics and Economics where his colleagues say he made a big difference in the students’ academic performance.

In 2013, Brother Mugarura was appointed head teacher of St Charles Lwanga Seminary, Kitabi in Bushenyi District. On January 27, he was elected superior general of the Bannakarooli Brothers. He becomes the first superior general to die while still serving. His body was last evening set to be laid to rest at Kiteredde in Kyotera District.

How we knew Mugarura was missing
According to Brother Kagoye, the deceased left Kiteredde in Kyotera District, for Kampala last Tuesday with Brother John Baali, for a special duty.

Among the places he was supposed to go to was Nsambya and Namugongo Brothers Community. The duo had a stopover at Uganda Catholic Social Training Centre, Rubaga, where the deceased was scheduled to meet Brother Simon Peter Nalintya over some programme, which he did. He also parked his car at the centre and left.

The superior general told them that he was going to Christ the King Church in Kampala and was to return to Rubaga later,” he narrates. Brother Nalintya, meanwhile, left for other engagements hoping to meet again that evening.

Brother Nalintya tried to call him [brother Mugarura] that evening between 9pm and 10pm but the superior general’s phone was not available. However, incidentally, the following day [last Wednesday] Brother Nalintya again tried to call him but no one answered the calls.

However, later on, a message followed, informing Brother Nalintya that he was busy and asked him [brother Nalintya] whether he could access a person at Rubaga Social Training Centre by the names of Maria.
By virtual of being superior general, Brother Kagoye says Brother Nalintya thought his boss was in a meeting and that is why he chose to communicate using text messages. Something was unusual because the messages were numerous.
Shortly after that, the phone went off.

So after, Brother Nalintya tried to connect with some of the brothers at Kiteredde, namely Brother Isidore Luyinda, the vicar, Brother Sales Ibanda, the bursar general, and the community members about the issue.
It is at this point that they got to know that Brother Mugarura was missing.

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