Gen Biraaro’s death an indictment on Uganda’s health system, says Mao

Opposition Democratic Party (DP) president, Mr Norbert Mao has said the death of former presidential aspirant, Maj Gen (Rtd) Benon Biraaro is an indictment of Uganda’s healthy system.
Gen Biraaro, 61, on Wednesday succumbed to cancer of the colon at Kampala Hospital where he had been admitted on February 6, 2020.
The hospital said he had been receiving treatment care for advanced cancer of the colon.

“His death from cancer should be an indictment of the country’s national health system,” Mr Moa added in his eulogy on Wednesday.
Mr Mao further noted that Uganda has lost the “most versatile man who focused on national transformation.”
He described Gen Biraaro, a presidential aspirant in the 2016 general elections as an “officer who was understanding, respectful and a gentleman who had a great sense of humour.”

In his eulogy, the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) national coordinator, Maj Gen (Rtd) Mugisha Muntu said Gen Biraaro served his country diligently.
“Amidst all the temptations of power he has passed on by God's Grace before bowing to the sense of entitlement that many within our ranks who fought the Bush war succumbed to. He stuck to the ideals we fought for & never bowed to what has completely derailed the cause for which we made significant sacrifices. He did not succumb to greed and arrogance that have seen many loose bearing,” Gen Muntu said.
Gen Muntu further said Gen Biraaro may not have often been critical in open public fora but he boldly expressed his views to the powers that be on the most critical political and constitutional challenges of “our time even when he was still in uniform.”

"An Officer and a gentleman, par excellence, bows out. So sad; a terrible loss of a good-hearted person and a patriot. My thoughts and prayers are with the family," former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) presidential candidate Rtd Col. Dr Kizza Besigye tweeted.

READ:

“Amidst the trials and temptations of this world and the pain he experienced he has passed on in at ease with himself and his God,” Gen Muntu added.
While still in the active military, Gen Biraaro served as the commandant of the Uganda Senior Command and Staff College in Kimaka, Jinja.

He was born on March 1, 1958 in Isingiro District. He attended Makerere University, in Kampala, Uganda's oldest and largest public university, graduating in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. Later, he attended Cranfield University in the United Kingdom, graduating with a Masters in Global Strategic Studies.
During his presidential campaigns, Gen Biraaro accused Mr Museveni and his NRM party of failure to address poverty, adding that his presidency would treat it with urgency.

Responding to questions about his ability to lead the country, Gen Biraaro pointed at what he described as a clean track record that he has left in all the public offices he has held since 1986.
He had also promised to reduce on the size of Parliament, a process which he said would begin with the scrapping of army MPs saying they are supposed to be neutral.