Ntungamo OWC officer laid to rest

Several UPDF officers have described the late Maj Emmanuel Muhwezi as “a dedicated and exceptional service man who never gave excuses to avoid deployment and worked all his life to fulfill the mandate of the institution he served.”

At the time of his death, Maj Muhwezi, a decorated soldier who served on several foreign missions including in Sudan, Liberia, Central Africa Republic, Somalia and DR Congo before retiring in 2018, was serving as the Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) coordinator for Ntungamo Municipality.

The national OWC coordinator Gen Caleb Akandwanaho alias Salim Saleh eulogized the deceased as a diligent army man. 

“He joined the forces as a young man to secure this country and at the time of his demise, President Museveni had assigned him to help Ugandans out of poverty. OWC has lost him at the time when we needed him most,” Gen Saleh said in a message read for him by Gen John Mateeka.

On his part, Gen Mateeka said he had lost a friend who he spent 4 years with in Luzira Prison after they were arrested following the fall of the Idi Amin government in 1979. 

“I joined the army in 1966 and retired with him in 2018. I had him in Uganda Army and we served together at Mbarara barracks and we became close people. If there was any behaved person, Emmanuel was among them,” Maj Gen Mateeka, the operations director at OWC said. 

Col Joram Bashaija, the OWC South Western region coordinator described the late Maj Muhwezi observed that “Maj Muhwezi will be dearly missed.”

The South Ankole Diocese Bishop Rt Rev Nathan Ahimbisibwe who delivered his message virtually hailed Maj Muhwezi for enabling community development. 

“He was the person behind the over 500 hectares of coffee planted at the diocese currently,” the cleric remarked. 

Maj Muhwezi abandoned his job as a cameraman to join the army in 1974. In an earlier interview with this publication, he indicated that he left the camera in the studio and has never gone picked it. 

The ex-serviceman died on Friday evening at Itojo Hospital where he was on medication in his five-year battle with prostate cancer, a disease that led to spinal challenges. At the time of his death, Maj Muhwezi was confined in a wheel chair as spinal complications failed connection between the lower and upper parts of the body. 

“He was a family man who despite dedicating much of his life in serving the country took time to work for and develop his family,” his family said.

Survived by a wife and six children, the 68-year-old Maj Nuhwezi was buried at his home in Nyamitooma, Rwashamaire Town Council in Ntungamo on January 17.