Museveni eulogises Col Mucunguzi as national hero

President Museveni has eulogised the late Col Jack Mucunguzi as a national hero who helped in the social economic transformation of the country. 

Col Mucunguzi, was one of the 27 fighters that helped Mr Museveni attack Kabamba in 1981 before taking over power in 1986. He was laid to rest on June 21 at his ancestral home in Mbarara City after he succumbed to cancer of the liver at Nakasero hospital on June 18.

In his message read by the minister for Works and Transport, Gen Katumba Wamala at the funeral in Rwandama village, Rwenjeru Ward in Mbarara City, Mr Museveni said the late Mucunguzi was a freedom fighter who dedicated his life to save the country from tyranny.

“On behalf of the government, on behalf of the UPDF, on behalf of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, and on my own behalf. I wish to convey condolences to the family of the late Jack Mucunguzi and all Ugandans upon the loss of a freedom fighter. And the national hero,” he said.
 
Mr Museveni said the late Mucunguzi, “was also the commander of section four of the nucleus of NRM. He will be remembered for his contribution to Uganda’s liberation from tyranny and social backwardness,”
 
He said since the 1960s when they formed a student movement that later turned into fighting revolutionary groups, their aim was to liberating Africa from colonialism. 
 
“Our mission was captured in four cardinal principles. They are patriotism, pan Africanism, socio economic transformation and democracy. It is on an account of these principles that we have been able to achieve the unity, stability and development of Uganda,” he said.
 
He added that the late Musinguzi lived a life of service to his country, and Africa and those who knew him should be proud of his legacy, to emulate his good deeds for a better Uganda.
 
The National coordinator for Operation Wealth Creation Gen Caleb Akandwanaho aka Salim Saleh, in his message read by Gen Otema Awany, described the late Mucunguzi as an uncelebrated hero who sacrificed a lot for the Liberation of the Country.
 
“I am deeply touched by losing a long time brother who sacrificed a lot in the liberation struggle of this country. We shall miss him as a country and above all the unsung hero of his country when we needed him most,” he said.
 
On his own part Gen Katumba Wamala, said the late Mucunguzi was among the few people of 300 young people who enrolled for Cadet training in Manduli in Tanzania that were still surviving.
 
“We were 300 but we can’t now even reach 10. So, we are three now, you can imagine each is representing 100,”he said.
 
The late Mucunguzi is survived by four children and a widow, Harriet Mucunguzi.