Another cancer death in the family; fare thee well dear Diwadi

The trend things are taking, we may just have to accept that Cancer is the new AIDS. It is now a fact that most families in Uganda have members who are infected, affected and defected.

If it were up to me, I would cause the government to respond to the cancer menace in the same way they did to the AIDS surge of the early 1990s. Since there is a lot of ‘presidentialism’ in this country, I suggest the creation of Presidential Commission on Cancer.

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Mr Edward Masereka Bayiringa had been fighting against colon cancer for a long time. It was a very long fight that took him to hospitals in India. He lost the war on Monday April 25, 2022 at a battlefront in Mulago Hospital. He was buried in Kagando Ward of Kisinga Town Council on Thursday April 28, 2022.

Mr Bayiringa was my first cousin. My father followed his mother Maliyamu Muhindo Sibayirwandeke. But Bayiringa was more than just a cousin because he grew up in our family. My father used to call him his first born; basically, even my father’s biological first born found Edward in the family. We called him Diwadi.

The name Diwadi was ‘donated’ to him by my father. My father had served under Captain Chuckman of the Kings African Riffles. And in typical jeuri ya Wangereza (arrogance of the English), Captain Chuckman nicknamed my father Edward. When Masereka came to live at our home (most likely unbaptised), my father ‘donated or transferred’ his nickname to his nephew.

But the story of Diwadi and his Uncle Asuman goes farther than that. After doing his PLE (done in P6 those days), Diawadi was supposed to get married. He was grown and educated enough to get married. My father, a recent returnee from the Buganda Kingdom protested the decision. He wanted the boy to go for farther studies.

He picked his nephew from his mountain home and enrolled him for Junior Secondary education at Bwera (present day Kitalikibi Primary School). That was the beginning of Edward Masereka Bayiringa’s education journey that later took him through St. Augustine’s Teacher College, Butiti and ended with the successful pursue of an MA at Makerere University.

After finishing his studies at St. Augustine’s Teachers’ College, he served in many schools; first as a teacher and later as headmaster in a career that ended with his retirement as District Inspector of Schools (Kasese). After his retirement, Mr Bayiringa founded Dr. Keith Wadell Educational Centre (named after his old British friend who had earlier served as Medical Superintendent of Kagando Hospital).

Getting Diwadi from his family in the mountains was no easy task. His father had after all identified a woman for marriage. My father’s pleas to let the boy go for farther education fell on the deaf ears of both his parents. Uncle Asuman decided to take matters into his own hands: he grabbed the boy and left (without the permission and blessing of his parents).

For Kampalans, you may have interfaced with some of my cousin Edward Bayiringa’s children. Here are some: Mr Edwin Kugonza (eldest son), former marketing manager for New Vision PPCL, Total (U) Ltd and now the CEO Real Marketing (U) Ltd; Ms Eng. Essesa Masika, Maj. David Bwambale Bayiringa of the UPDF and Enos Baluku (Ministry of Works).

Diwadi was born in 1944 the third born to Mr. Bayiringa and my aunt Maliyamu Muhindo Sibayirwadenke. He died Monday April 25, 2022. He was buried in Dr. Keith Wadell Education Centre; thereby immortalising him as part of the school’s heritage in the same way Nyakasura School’s did its founder. Fare thee well brother Diwadi.

Mr Bisiika is the executive editor of the East African Flagpost. [email protected]