Former Monitor Journalist Risdel Kasasira laid to rest in Mbarara
Members of the media fraternity prepare to lay wreath on the casket containing remains of former Monitor journalist Risdel Kasasira ahead of burial in Mbarara District on January 5, 2024. PHOTO/RAJAB MUKOMBOZI
What you need to know:
- The deceased was mostly hailed as a professional journalist.
Former Daily Monitor journalist Risdel Kasasira was on Sunday laid to rest at his ancestral Itara Village in Rubaya-Kashari in Mbarara District.
Several mourners described Kasasira, who died aged 45 in a January 03 road crash along the Lyantonde-Masaka Road as a humble and professional journalist.
“Being well connected in government, especially the military but choosing the Daily Monitor as a place to do your business was a very difficult job for Kasasira and it was only him that could manage the job. Relatives to Kasasira and most of you questioned why he chose to work for Monitor -which is always described by President Museveni as an enemy paper. It was like betrayal to work for Monitor,” journalist Charles Mwanguhya said in a speech on behalf of the media fraternity.
“And at Daily Monitor, many colleagues were also suspicious whether Kasasira was a serious journalist or a government spy? But he professionally served at the Monitor from 2007-2021,” he told hundreds of mourners on Sunday.
Col Chris Magezi, the Military Assistant to Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, said the deceased was also patriotic.
“We know many journalists who have made a career out of sensational reporting, sometimes out of excitement…some from exaggerated issues to capture headlines but Kasasira was never one of them,” he remarked.
The serviceman said the deceased constantly defended the publication amid a frosty relationship with the State.
Mbarara District chairperson Didas Tabaro said: “He was my friend and at one time I asked him why he cannot work for government media houses and he told me he was about doing his work professionally.”
Widow Shallot Kasasira, who was travelling with Kasasira and their two children at the time of the crash, noted that she would “miss my loving husband who always brought joy to the family.”
“We have been six years into a happy marriage. He loved me and his children so much. He was quick to say sorry and would forgive quickly on top of being honest,” she emphasized.
