Presidential Advisor Nagenda to be buried tomorrow in Buloba

Senior Presidential Advisor on Media and Public Relations, John Nagenda will be buried tomorrow in Buloba, along Mityana Road, according to the Secretary in the Office of the President, Hajji Yunus Kakande.

“There will be a vigil today in Buloba and a funeral service tomorrow starting at 10am,” Hajji Kakande confirmed.

Mr. Nagenda,84, a veteran journalist died on Saturday afternoon at Medipal International Hospital in Kampala where he had been admitted for weeks.

In an eulogy, the Minister in Charge of the Presidency, Hon. Babirye Milly Babalanda described  Mr. Nagenda as a unique, principled and knowledgeable person whose services will be dearly missed by the nation.

“I regret to announce the passing on of Senior Presidential Advisor on Media Matters, Mzee John Nagenda, who has passed on at Medipal in Kampala. He was unique, principled and knowledgeable. His services will be dearly missed,” the Minister tweeted on Saturday.

Born John Mwesigwa Robin Nagenda on April 25, 1938 in Rwanda, the former cricketer played a One Day International (ODI) in the 1975 World Cup for East Africa. He appeared in one first-class cricket match in England in 1975, and played cricket for Uganda.

Mr. Nagenda who lived in England for over 10 years before returning to Uganda has been a writer and newspaper columnist since the 1960s.

He attended Namutamba Primary School, King’s College Budo and Kigezi High School before joining Makerere University for an honours degree in English.

Mr. Nagenda once worked in Nairobi at the Oxford University Press before travelling to the United States of America where he lived and spent years criticizing Ugandan governments of the time.

“I’m lucky to have lived outside Uganda. If I had stayed here (Uganda), I would have been killed, I’m sure. I would never have shut up because I can’t,” he once said.

Nagenda returned to Uganda after Yoweri Museveni captured power through a guerrilla warfare in 1986.