The people we shall miss
What you need to know:
In memoriam. As the year ends, we have had highs and lows. Today, we commemorate members of our society we lost, writes Priscilla Maloba.
Hassan Galiwango
Hassan Galiwango was Uganda’s High Commissioner to Kenya and Seychelles and husband of Mbale City woman MP, Connie Nakayenze Galiwango.
In 2004, Galiwango contested in the by-election for the MP seat for the then Mbale Municipality but lost to Wanjusi Wasieba. The NRM diehard, after the loss, President Museveni appointed him as the director of finance and administration of the NRM party, a position he held until 2021. The 64-year-old died of heart failure on January 16 at Nairobi Hospital. He was laid to rest.
Justice Kenneth Kakuru
Justice Kenneth Kakuru shot to the limelight during the 2018 Age Limit petition hearing in Mbale City. This was after he stood out to be the lone judge out of the five-member panel to oppose the amendment of the constitution to remove the presidential age cap of 75.
Aged 65, Justice Kakuru succumbed to prostate cancer on March 7 at the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi.
He was buried at his ancestral home in Rwebishuri, Mbarara District.
Edward Muhumuza
Muhumuza, a reporter at NTV Uganda, died in a car accident while driving to Entebbe on the Entebbe Expressway on March 25. According to police, as he was about to exit the Mpala Toll Station, he suddenly lost control of his vehicle, crashed and died instantly. He was rushing to Nkumba University to hand in coursework assignment before returning to Kampala for church service. He was laid to rest at his family home at Kanyinya Village, Kibuye Sub-County in Kyegegwa District.
Josephine Esisa Madewo
Esisa was a sickle cell warrior, communication expert and strategist, fondly known as Josey. Josey debunked the mysteries surrounding sickle cell disease and was intentional about helping the affected to live their lives to full potential. For that cause, with Don Magezi she co-founded Raremark Foundation where they had conversations with those affected by sickle cell disease. She also co-founded Digimark Communications, an NGO and social entrepreneurship-focused marketing agency. Esisa lost her battle to sickle cell disease on September 2, and was buried in Busitema.
Msgr Dr Francis Ndamira
Msgr Dr Ndamira, 83, served as national director of Caritas Uganda for 29 years. He always preached the gospel of togetherness, poverty eradication and supported a number of youth in such developments. The caretaker of the Kampala Kigezi Catholic Residents’ Association (KKCRA) succumbed to advanced cancer on August 27, at St Francis Nsambya Hospital. He was laid to rest at Rushoroza Cathedral in Kabale Diocese.
Charlotte Ninsiima
Ninsiima, a communication coordinator at Every Child Ministries was less than a year in her marriage to Julius Adupu. The ever smiling young woman was, in her former colleagues’ words, ‘a challenge-seeker, warm and sociable’. She collapsed and succumbed to pregnancy-related complications on September 7. She was interred in Kitabi, Bushenyi District.
Pherrie Kim
Pherrie Erum Kimbugwe, popularly known as Pherrie Kim was for a long time a public and guest relations manager of Club Guvnor. The fashionista and publicist was first hospitalised in May 2022 and diagnosed with a brain tumour which was found to be cancerous.
Despite efforts to save her, she died on October 11 and was laid to rest at her ancestral home in Katale, Seguku on Entebbe Road.
Dr Steven Mulungi Kasule
Dr Kasule had embarked on his medical internship at Mulago National Referral Hospital. The news of his demise sent shockwaves through the academic and medical communities. The young medic was one of the pioneer graduates of Uganda Christian University School of Medicine. He succumbed to sickle cell disease on November 23 and was laid to rest in Buyala, Mpigi District.
