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Ntungamo mourns NGO guru Dorah Rutagonya
The photo of deceased Ntungamo District politician and teacher Dorah Buzaare Rutagonya is seen in front of the casket, ahead of her funeral on February 13, 2024. PHOTO/PEREZ RUMANZI
What you need to know:
- At the time of her death, Rutagonya was the deputy speaker Kayonza Sub County, where she represented old people in the area council.
Hundreds of mourners Tuesday thronged Rushoka Village in Rwentobo-Rwahi Town Council, Ntungamo District- to pay their last respects to the fallen former Ntungamo NGO/CBO forum chairperson Dorah Buzaare Rutagonya who died Saturday morning.
Rutagonya succumbed to cervical cancer at Mulago Hospital.
Mourners praised the deceased for her efforts to unite people through several non-government organizations she founded together with her husband Vincent Rutagonya.
“In Dorah we miss creativity, hard work and courage which she has lived with for generations. She was a teacher through her life, a mentor and an activist for development and peace. Her effort to build a society that does not look to government for support but self-sustaining and innovative through the NGO world is insurmountable,” Ntungamo lawmaker Bata Kamateneti said.
Prof Magume Rwabukwire, a friend to the family noted that Rutagonya mentored many as a teacher, politician and activist.
“Her serious engagements in the district council meetings where her husband was the district speaker did not smack of any conspiracy hatched on the same bed,” he added.
District chairperson Samuel Mucunguzi told mourners that her heroics became the foundation of peacefulness in the volatile Ntungamo politics.
“When we had bad politics, she chose peace and became a pacemaker, probably because of her character as a teacher. When politics failed, she went to civil society and made peace from there as Dorah, a teacher to my mother and many,” he eulogized.
Rutagonya, together with her husband, founded Rushoka Central Primary School, St Paul’s Secondary School Rushoka, Rushoka Catholic Parish, Rushoka cooperative, Rushoka orphans education centre and Rushoka Technical Institute, among other organizations.
She became a district female councilor representing Kayonza Sub County while her husband was the male councilor for the same and the district speaker for Ntungamo Sub County in 1996.
At the time of her death, Rutagonya was the deputy speaker Kayonza Sub County, where she represented old people in the area council.
She was chairperson Ntungamo NGO/CBO forum for 10 years from 2006, leading the forum to achieve several projects implemented in all the Ntungamo District sub counties.
His husband and children commended her for the love of her family and the village she was born, raised and married from. Several mourners asked for emulation of her character.
Born 1943, Dorah died at 80 years and was laid to rest at her home near Rushoka Orphans education centre in Rushoka Village, Rushoka Ward, Rwentobo- Rwahi Town Council on Tuesday.
She is survived by her widower and three children.
