Rev Can George Nkoba left  legacy of distinction

What you need to know:

  • He was ordained in 1989 and served the Anglican Church for close to 20 years eventually retiring to his home in Ibanda. But even in retirement he continued to serve at St Paul’s Church Ibanda until his battle to prostate cancer made it impossible.

Canon George Nkoba was like the dawn, he did not need any theatrics or force but just like day break he was consistent and his impact was undeniable.  He lived his life humbly,  gently and served diligently.

When he talked, people listened because his words were few and apart which made them  valuable. Canon Nkoba’s life can be neatly put in three phases; he started out as an educationist, dabbled with politics and ended up back to his roots as a servant of the Lord. 

He mastered the art of compartmentalising so much that people would be hard pressed to picture him as anything other than the person he was supposed to be in that moment. For instance, many people who knew him as a reverend find it hard to relate him to a politician. 

Mostly because he was the antonym of what politicians embody; honest, humane and selfless but also because he seemed to have been born to serve the church. But a politician he was. With the rise of NUP the word ‘struggle’ is much bundled around to the extent that even having a bad hair day is deemed as being in the struggle.

While many of our so called agents of change think the struggle is sending off irate tweets or vulgar and sometimes incoherent Facebook  posts in the comfort of their air-conditioned offices, there were people whose involvement in the struggle was real. Some of them lost their lives, others disappeared the lucky ones were the likes of the Rev Canon Nkoba whose connection to the struggle changed their lives forever.

All they lost was their property and reputation; these as Canon Nkoba’s life demonstrated, with time can be replaced unlike one’s life.  His part in the struggle is closely linked with a few comrades such as Yuda Katundu and Eliphaz Laaki  whose story makes harrowing reading in the book The Teeth May Smile but the Heart Can Never Forget, edited by Andrew Rice.

It is no secret that Milton Obote found rapport with Ankole’s underclass (the Bairu) with his policy of eradicating ignorance, poverty and disease, which problems were the bane of this class and definitely found his common man’s charter relatable. So, when he was toppled by Idi Amin in 1971 many were ready to make whatever sacrifice to bring him back to power.

Nkoba, who was a well-known supporter of the Obote government, was arrested and detained for months at least thrice, each time surviving death by a whisker. With the return of Obote, his support was rewarded with a political position becoming the administrative secretary for Ankole (Kihimba) a much prestigious office at the time. 

These glory days were however short-lived and it was back to prison because as the most senior official in the district, the new government felt that he was responsible for some of the disappearances of Mbarara’s prominent supporters of the bush war, but he was soon absolved , his integrity standing surety for him.

Career
Nkoba had a long and illustrious teaching career starting as class teacher then head teacher and later inspector of schools. He taught and headed many schools in Ankole including Rubare , Rutooma, Mbarara Junior, Ibanda Boys and later Ibanda Kibubura Integrated Primary School, Nyakatura Memorial Secondary School. 

Because of his wealth of experience Nkoba was a sought after board member and was on boards of various schools and institutions. He is mostly remembered for his diligent campaigning for the establishment of North West Ankole Diocese which he served.  Jane Tumusimirwa, the former headmistress of Kibubura Girl’s Secondary School, with whom he worked, described him as a man who was pure in heart.

Joining the church
By 1986, Nkoba had seen it all and done it all and after his last stint in prison for his political leanings, he decided to join priesthood. At that time he was in his 50s and if he had any doubts about starting a new career at that age, the recommendation and encouragement he got from the late Bishop Amos Betungura dispelled it. 

He returned to Bishop Tucker College Mukono to study for priesthood. At the college he met and became close to a number of trainees some who have since risen to the highest offices in church of Uganda including Bishop Sheldon Mwesigwa of Ankole Diocese and Bishop Hannington Mutebi. 

He was ordained in 1989 and served the Anglican Church for close to 20 years eventually retiring to his home in Ibanda. But even in retirement he continued to serve at St Paul’s Church Ibanda until his battle to prostate cancer made it impossible.

It is not possible to do justice to the list of contributions and achievements of this very polite gentleman in one article. Suffice to say he was the eternal researcher and learner who was always found with pen and paper scribbling something. He was hardworking and left a sizeable estate even though he never had an opportunity to earn a big salary. He bought his first car in the 1960s.

Loyal
You cannot talk about Can Nkoba without mentioning his integrity at both a personal and public level. He always treated public funds as sacred and always accounted for every penny. He was among the few who could return the balance on his per diem to the amusement of the accounting officers. On his burial, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Ephraim Kamuntu recounted a story of when Nkoba was given facilitation for a workshop.

As was his nature, Nkoba diligently kept the receipts for every expenditure and returned the bulk of it back to the accounting office. When the officer informed him that the money had all been allocated to him, he still refused to take it stating that he had used what he was supposed to and the rest belonged to the office. Kamuntu said he was in awe of Nkoba’s level of integrity and transparency and mourned the passing of such a great human being.

His love for his wife was legendary; the couple was inseparable. Where the canon went, the wife went too. Theirs was a beautiful and inspirational relationship to observe. This love extended not just to his children and grandchildren that he dotted upon but to everyone who was lucky enough to come into contact with this wonderful soul.

His generosity cannot go unmentioned. His home was a haven for the helpless and needy; many people were eager to testify how his help saved them from lives of destitution. Even though he never earned the big salaries,  Nkoba used what he had frugally to pay school fees for many. 
 Although it is true that the bad that men do lives long after them while the good is interred with their bodies as Shakespeare observes,  Canon Nkoba did many good things and left a legacy of distinction that was also interred with his bones.

Quick bio
Rest in peace kind gentleman.
1931-2019
Who was the Rev Can Nkoba? 
This quiet unassuming, even retiring man was born to Dorothy Matama and Festo Ruhara, a catechist in 1931. As a catechist’s son Nkoba grew up steeped in the values of the Anglican Church but close family say his reticent nature seems to have been shaped by his father’s authoritarian and brush nature which demanded absolute obedience.

He attended Ibanda Boys School, a journey that was all 9  kilometres to and from every day. He was lucky to gain entry into Mbarara High School which was the equivalent of Eaton in Ankole in the 1940s. And for a child of peasants mingling with Ankole’s royalty was not a mean feat. After junior secondary school, he was offered an internship at Posts and Telecommunications in Kenya. But his father would not hear of it, claiming he was going to ‘kurara’ in a foreign land. 

Among the Banyankole okurara is where you wander from home to never return or visit intermittently which was considered a serious flaw in one’s character. He was forced to take his second choice, teacher training at Bishop Tuckers College in Mukono. He completed the course in 1952. Soon after, his father vetoed that he must marry as soon as possible. He married Efrance Joy Nyakoroba and the couple was blessed with six children of whom three survive.