Trailblazing Kerali breaks  hearts with sudden death

A lanky form announced his presence whenever and wherever he stepped with dignified gait.
He dressed elegantly and lived a flamboyant life.

Born Anthony Geoffrey Genmungu Kerali, the boy from Erussi in Nebbi District grew into a trailblazing engineering professional, consultant, academic and golfer.  

He lived at Plot 1, Prince Charles Drive in Kololo, Kampala’s upscale neighbourhood, where he died abruptly on February 18 of a still unknown cause.

As fate would have it, one of his last tweets was cryptic; a recollection of a question by a retired judge on why only three northerners can presently afford to live in Kololo.

Whereas we could not independently verify this claim, the line of argument rested on changed fortunes of people from northern Uganda, who in the past regimes dominated posh city suburbs where many today have returned as guards or doers of menial jobs, and rarely property owners.

Kerali, 62, died shortly after the post, although he had also tweeted about imminent publication of his book, which he said if not blocked, would be out soon.

The book project did not materialise, but he left a trail of tweets providing insightful snippets into Uganda’s delicate political and security past in a manner that raised question about Kerali’s proximity to, or presence at, the country’s influential political and security developments.

It remains a mystery in what capacity he orbited in the high circles of Uganda’s often atrocious power play and survived.
Words spoken on Monday by Prof Eriabu Lugujjo, the vice chancellor of Ndejje University, offer a tiny glimpse into Kerali’s largely close world.

Prof Lugujjo told mourners at the vigil that Kerali, while still a civil engineering student at Makerere University in 1981, one night invaded his flat in the staff quarters when out of breath, and said unknown people wanted to snuff him out. It was a group-to-group rivalry and fight, Prof Lugujjo recollected, disclosing that he hosted Kerali for some time for his safety.

Kerali was evidently infatuated with David Oyite Ojok, a warrior military commander who died in a helicopter crash in December 1983, whom he described in his view as the best man for the job.
He shared tweets about listening into or knowing about sensitive military radio communications of the past.

Kerali, a holder of doctorate in engineering from Warwick University in the United Kingdom, displayed a surprising affection for historical events that in time brought him face-to-face with former presidents Milton Obote, Idi Amin and the incumbent Yoweri Museveni, whom he said he first met in 1979.

Back at Makerere University, whose employment he joined upon graduating in 1985, Kerali is remembered for founding and heading, for a decade, the Department of Construction Economics and Management in the then Faculty of Technology, renamed the College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT).

The department has produced hundreds of quantitative surveyors, construction management professionals and land valuers and the student numbers have surged from three at its founding in 2004 to 700 today, according to Dr Nathan Kibwani, the acting head.
It employs more than 35 permanent and temporary staff.

In a way, Dr Ssebbugga Kimeze,  a close and long-time friend, was one of few individuals Kerali allowed to his inner core circle. Whereas Kerali engaged in multi-disciplinary teams on infrastructure projects (those he supervised in Uganda over the years gross $2 billion, he noted in his curriculum vitae), he was careful with choice of friends.

To some, he was a loner, a proud intellectual who orbited in high circles. But friends he made spoke of his largesse and he never spoke publicly whenever he supported a person, including funding golfers for competition trips and random individuals in need.

Kerali captained Uganda Golf Union in 2016/2017 and enjoyed teeing off at Kitante Golf Course, which he redesigned into an international golf course with a “lake” named after himself. Serena Kigo golf course was his most favourite because of the challenging golf course, where he mingled with Uganda’s wealthy, elite and most powerful.

He was passionate about education, its transformative impact on society and an individual’s upward mobility.
Kerali’s seriousness with studies and principled disposition was notable from childhood, according to Ms Claudia Ofungi, the widow of former police chief Luke Ofungi, who said they were long-time neighbours with the Keralis in Kampala.

“Tony was a principled child…and always determined. When he did his work, he didn’t want disturbance,” Ms Ofungi said by telephone last night.

Anthony Kerali, fondly called Tony, was known by sections of Makerere University staff as being overly strong-headed and often abrasive in interactions.

If he was not clashing with followers on twitter, the vocal Kerali was colliding with Makerere University managers where he often supported students’ causes and staff welfare.

Nonetheless, Makerere Vice Chancellor Prof Barnabas Nawangwe eulogised Kerali as a resourceful, dedicated and innovative academic who brought sanity at Makerere University Academic Staff Association (Muasa) despite his pro-staff strike stand while he was the chairperson of the association.

One of the beneficiaries of Kerali’s acumen is Dans Nshekanabo, who yesterday posted on his facebook page that Kerali, who had taught him as a single-student class, was an outstanding “father figure” and professional.

“Having taught me in a one-man class, he (Kerali) could not only vouch for my credentials (for graduate studies), but was also very receptive and supportive of my applications,” he noted.

Kerali’s footprint was not only indelible in academia. He helped design some of the country’s significant highways in difficult terrains, working as a consultant with Danish construction consultants’ company, COWI.

At the time of his demise, Kerali was consultant for the ongoing preparation of Uganda’s National Integrated Transport Master Plan, according to Ministry of Works Permanent Secretary Bageya Waiswa.

Dr Douglas Rasbash, a transport planner, said the master plan funded by the European Union at €6m (about Shs27b), if adopted by the government, would spur economic windfall by connecting Uganda to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, South Sudan by air, road, water and rail.

Kerali had a fun side, only if upsetting. Former Makerere University Council chairman Wana Etyam, yesterday at the requiem mass, said when the perimeter wall collapsed, Kerali asked him why the council had sanctioned the erection of a barrier around the university as if it was a prison.

What many may not know, or speak of, is that Kerali was an accomplished software developer and programmer with “expert knowledge of most computer software applications, including HDM-4”, according to his CV. 
  
Kerali was also credited for his prolific writing skills that earned the department he founded substantial resources in grants.
His sudden death, of yet an unknown cause, sent shock waves within the engineering fraternity. Kerali’s illustrious journey on earth ends today when relative and friends will lower the casket containing his remains to the world of no return.

Background
Prof Kerali was born on October 11, 1959 at Angal Hospital in Nebbi District to Claudio Mamba Kerali, who served in government as a regional forest officer, and Sylvia Zibia, one of the first girls in West Nile to receive government scholarship.

Theirs was a notable and wealth family, enabling the children to scale the heights in academia, including Prof Henry Kerali currently working as the World Bank country director in Afghanistan.

His remains a mystery

Pathologists at Mulago National Referral Hospital have reportedly failed to establish the cause of death of Makerere University professor Anthony Kerali, 62, nearly a week after he was found dead in bed at his home in Kampala’s upscale Kololo neighbourhood.

Family and university officials say the initial post-mortem done last Thursday was inconclusive, although it did not suggest unnatural causes.
As a result, additional samples were taken for toxicological analysis to establish if there could be foreign compounds in the body.

The deceased suffered mild diabetes and the family did not expect it to be life-threatening, his brother, Prof Henry Kerali, the World Bank country director in Afghanistan, said.
The result of the toxicological analysis is expected within two weeks, he added.

Mourners who assembled at Makerere University St Augustine Church yesterday eulogised Kerali as a leading construction engineering consultant, academic and golfer.
He died suddenly after going to bed last Wednesday and relatives realised that he had passed on several hours later the following day.

“Words are inadequate to express how shocked and saddened we were to learn of Prof Kerali’s abrupt death,” Prof Barnabas Nawangwe, the Makerere University vice chancellor, told mourners.

He added: “He (Kerali) will be remembered for his immense contribution to the construction industry in this country, as well as starting the Department of Construction Economics and Management (at Makerere University).”

Yesterday, Dr Nathan Kibwami, the acting head of the department that Kerali founded in 2004, proposed that the university management name either a lecture room, one of the newly-constructed university buildings or a hall of residence after the deceased to immortalise him.

Dr Kibwami noted that Kerali was gifted with prolific writing skills, including initiating the masterplan for space optimisation at the university, which enabled the department to win grants.
Kerali, who joined Makerere University as a staff in 1985, will be laid to rest today at Erussi Village, about 25 kilometres south of Nebbi Town.