Tribute to my mentor, boss and friend Gen. Aronda Nyakairima

By Eliab Naturinda

In his usual words, Gen. Aronda would always tell me that Uganda was bigger than him. indeed he lived to fulfill this mission and I was not surprised to be informed that he died while on duty. Probably, this presents a rare case for some of us who had the golden opportunity to work with a man who lived his word though with too much discipline and always sober.

Whereas it true that my mentor, boss and friend has left the struggle at a time when the country needed him most, he has left a legacy of mentorship and love for young people. Gen. Aronda believed in mentorship so much to extent that he would meet at least, one youth leader per day. Even in meetings with youth leaders, he would emphasize, mentorship. But as we know that young people are always ambitious and very fast with decision making, which I actually subscribe to, Aronda would disagree with such thinking because of the fact that, mistakes would be committed. But even upon such constructive disagreements, he continued to constantly interact with the young people.

At a time of his death, he was a Patron of Foundation for Youth Mentorship. Top on agenda for the organization being the Annual Gen. Museveni Public Lecture. Gen. Aronda and the organization members shared a view that the youth take great pride in Gen. Museveni’s journey right from the days of his youth activism, and recognized the immense contribution his approach to leadership has made towards the socio-political and economic transformation in Uganda, including leveling the ground for young people to participate in the democratization processes. Also, the desire to learn from Gen. Museveni’s revolutionary knowledge/experience guided on the mission and duty of the youth to sustain such a transformative revolution into the future formed a basis that, as a country we had an obligation to honour Gen. Museveni. This explains why the Gen Aronda was in love with mentorship. 

Gen Aronda was also a man who loved education though he had hatred for luxurious life. I remember, during my university days, I took the then Uganda Christian University Law Society President, Ms. Sarah Rubombora to him to discuss the usual UCU law school dinner (2012) that would be held at Serena Hotel. The moment we told him that our dinner was to be held at Serena, he said, Eliab, I have spent about five years without going to Serena and you want to have a party in Serena. But that did not stop him from giving us support and he further said, but if these young people are interested in Serena, then you will be supported and he indeed supported us but maintained his position. He eventually delegated Colonel Felix Kulaigye because of his belief that we ought to have held the dinner in UCU compound. That was Aronda.  

Lastly, Gen. Aronda was a man who would openly expose someone’s weakness. I remember a case where one officer found him in his office and tried to blackmail his colleague. He immediately said that this was a cheap talk and accused the complainant of being a weak leader who had failed to resolve issues before she could come to him. He then immediately called the one that was being blackmailed and said, you, this one is saying this and this. Is it true?. Of course you can confirm that issues were resolved. This shows how honestly the man was.

Be that as it may, Gen. Aronda would always quote the Algerian Historian, Franz Fanon who once said, every generation must set a mission, and it can either fulfill it or betray it. I am sure, his mission of knowing that Uganda was bigger than him was accomplished and I will always celebrate that.

May his soul rest in eternal peace.

The writer works with the National NGO Board and worked as Gen. Aronda’s legal assistant.