Media mourns Tiguragara

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The media fraternity in Mbarara is mourning the death of  veteran journalist Ssalongo Sulaiman Tiguragara Matojo.

We were unable to establish his age by press time. 

Mr Aaron Ainomugisha, the supervisor and chief producer of talk shows, also head of news at Crooze FM Radio Station, where Tigarugara was working, said the deceased died at Mulago hospital on Tuesday.

“He died last night at around midnight; we are still working with the family, doctors at Mulago and State House to establish the cause of his death but we are informed by the time of his admission, he had diabetes,” Mr Ainomugisha said yesterday.  

He said he last interacted with the deceased on November 22, which was also the last time he hosted his political talk show at the station.

“This weekend he did not turn up as usual because he hosts Enyangi talk show (a Runyankore-Rukiga political talk) at this station every Sunday from midday to 2pm. The other Sunday he was here we interacted for some good time expressing concern over intolerance in the ongoing elections. He loved peace and freedom of every Ugandan,” Mr Ainomugisha said.

Mr Dickson Baryahabwe, the programmes manager at Radio West, described Matojo as a father of journalism, especially in western Uganda, having mentored and nurtured many young journalists in the region.

“I joined Radio West as a junior presenter, he was then a programmes manager, he mentored me and by the time he left, I was a programmes manager and him a station manager. He was good at sourcing talent,” Mr Baryahabwe said.   

Mr Bashir Hangi, an official at Uganda Wildlife Authority, in a condolence message on Facebook wrote: “My deepest condolences to the family of Tiguragara Matojo upon his death. Fresh from the university with zero experience, he mentored me and many others at Radio West. He wanted to get the best out of us and he succeeded. ..” 

Mr Mweteise Bintabra, the secretary for publicity in Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) Ankole region, described the deceased as sociable and tolerant.  

“We started working with him as political activists when Radio West started here in Mbarara but we used to disagree most times because of different political ideologies, but never kept this at heart. He was a free man,” he said.

Matojo, who has had a span of more than 30 years in the media industry started his journey at Radio Uganda, then Radio West, from where he was appointed as the Resident District Commissioner of Lyantonde and later dropped in the 2018 reshuffle before finding back his roots again at Crooze FM in Mbarara.