{UAH} ITS SAID, THE "LEGEND", DIED A LONELY MAN

Ssebaana died a lonely man

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RIP. Former Kampala mayor John Ssebaana Kizito. FILE PHOTO 

In Summary

• Family away. By the time John Ssebaana Kizito died, his wife, Ms Christine Namiiro Kizito, had not returned neither had his children who live in London with their mother.

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By SIRAJE LUBWAMA

Kampala. John Ssebaana Kizito, 83, former Democratic Party president, Kampala mayor, prominent businessman and property owner, died a lonely man.

Ssebaana was admitted at Nakasero Hospital in Kampala on June 19, 2017 having suffered a heavy stroke on that morning. He never left hospital until his death yesterday morning.

By the time he died, his wife, Ms Christine Namiiro Kizito, a former nursery school teacher he married in 1965, had not made the journey from London to nurse him.

Only two of his known surviving five children: Joseph Kizito – his only surviving son who works at the World Bank in New York, and Ms Ruth Kizito, were by his bedside when he breathed his last. Ssebaana had been in coma for several weeks.

The other children: Ms Joyce Kizito Kajoba; Ms Jennifer Kizito, an engineer; and Ms Christine Kizito, a chemist who is the last born, had not yet arrived in the country. Ssebaana's wife Namiiro, who left him in 2007 to live with his daughter in London, had too not arrived.

Ssebaana's two other sons Edward Kitaka Kizito and Job Kizito died in 2005 and 2008, respectively.

As Ssebaana's health deteriorated and his life seemed destined to end soon, he wanted to tell his story and thus sought out this reporter who would later have several meetings with him.
The last of a series of meetings between this reporter and Ssebaana happened on May 5, 2017, when his health deteriorated and it was agreed that he would first seek medical attention before the meetings would resume.

Ssebaana, who during the meetings was often in the company of his longtime political aide James Lukwago, had an urgent need to write his biography, which he asked this reporter to help with. He envisaged a 12-chapter write up.

"I pray and wish God could allow you to help me complete my biography before the end of this year because I need to share my personal life experience with other people before I die," Ssebaana said. "I had asked [someone – name withheld] to write my biography but for unknown reasons he did not."

Cognizant of his deteriorating health, Ssebaana offered to begin by "briefly hinting on everything just in case we don't complete this project."

As this reporter was leaving his house in Kansanga a Kampala suburb for the last time on June 5, Ssebaana called him back, saying he seemed to have forgotten something important.

He said: "I ask you to convey my wish to have a DP politician like Sarah Kanyike Ssebaggala (deputy Lord Mayor), who is my daughter, because we both belong to Mamba clan (lung fish) to lead my burial arrangement committee.

 In the event that she is not there at the time of my death, my second option would be Medard Lubega Sseggona or anybody chosen by DP leadership," he said.

Mr Sseggona who is the current Busiro South MP has reportedly been named by the family to lead preparations for the funeral, perhaps as willed by Ssebaana.

For the first chapter of the book that Ssebaana did not live to complete, he hinted on various aspects of his life – Ssebaana the child; the spoonfed; the parent who invested much in educating his children in UK; the insurer; the politician; the Mengo establishment official; and Ssebaana who has been living largely alone with only a maid and grandson.

Ssebaana would dictate two more chapters to this reporter, often on Sundays, at his Kansanga residence, before his health worsened as he approached the fourth chapter.

The Democratic Party (DP) has released a burial Programme for the fallen former Kampala mayor John Ssebaana Kizito, indicating that he will be buried on Saturday at 2pm. MP Sseggona, said the body would be picked from the funeral home to the KCCA Council Chambers on Thursday between 8am and 10am there after proceed to Parliament where he shall lay in state.

The Burial programme

Thursday.

Body leaves funeral home .

8am -10am: KCCA Council Chambers

2pm Lay in State at Parliament of Uganda
Friday

8am: Requiem Mass led by Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga at Statewide Insurance (SWICO) at Sure House on Bombo Road
12pm: Body taken to Bulange, Mengo
2pm: Funeral Service at Namirembe Cathedral Saturday

2pm Burial at Kalule parish, Nyimbwa Sub-county, Luweero District

His book

For the first chapter of the book that Ssebaana did not live to complete, he hinted on various aspects of his life – Ssebaana the child, the spoonfed, the parent who invested much in educating his children in UK; the insurer, the politician; the Mengo establishment official, and Ssebaana who has been living largely alone with only a maid and grandson. Ssebaana would dictate two more chapters to this reporter, often on Sundays, at his Kansanga residence, before his health worsened as he approached the fourth chapter.

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Gwokto La'Kitgum

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"Even a small dog can piss on a tall building" Jim Hightower

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