Sekandi a witness in life, death
LIFE is journey that we never know when and how it will end. Last month the ugly arm of death snatched yet another great son of the soil.
By Arthur Baguma
LIFE is journey that we never know when and how it will end. Last month the ugly arm of death snatched yet another great son of the soil.
Sam Sekandi, a reknown mathematician once christened Muyindi during his early days in school because of his rare aptitude in mathematics, silently passed away at the age of 59.
He was laid to rest at his ancestral home in Nakasozi Budo Wakiso district.
Sekandi’s life long journey is a fairy tale, a journey which involved making friends from all walks of life, reaching out to help the needy at no cost and yet never tiring to serve God with amazing resolve.
He was a ray of hope and a reference point to many who had a chance to know and associate with him.
For the hundreds of people who bid him farewell, on that fateful day, the country lost a great parent, academician, engineer and a loyal person who tirelessly promoted African values and culture.
“He respected and promoted African traditional culture and openly showed his dislike for the western culture which attempts to erode the treasured traditional African values.
He was a cool-headed man, patient, friendly and was gifted with intellectual wisdom,†said engineer Patrick Batumbya.
He lived a truthful, dedicated and faithful life, which enabled him to serve in the engineering profession for over 25 years. He depicted utmost efficiency and diligence in executing his duties.
As a professional engineer, Sekandi did not confine himself to the demands that come with his profession; he was quite often seen in public, yet he never harboured any political ambitions. (His friend say he was active in in student politics at the then Makerere University College.)
He progressed fast in his career, made friends spanning across all religions, tribes and social boundaries.
Those who worked with him describe him as a man who was foresighted, calm, developmental, willing to listen and learn.
“I met Sam in 1981 while working at the Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation where he worked as a chief traffic controller telecommunications. I was based in the Finance Department. It was a great experience working with him.
He was very supportive. We shared a lot during his stay,†Zac Kataryeba a long time colleague now working with Uganda Telecom said.
Sekandi was a God fearing man who instilled discipline and religious values in his family and those who under him.
“The Bible was always near him and he regularly read it during his free time.
He was a true Christian in words and action. The Bible was his guiding principle in life and the foundation of his family,†added Kataryeba.
“He was a family man dedicated and loving father to his family.
Many of us looked up to him as an exemplary parent,†Vincent Kabuye Act. Secretary of Posta Uganda and a long time family friend said.
To his former schoolmates, he was a brilliant and focused student.
Engineer Patrick Batumbya, a relative and long time friend described the late Sekandi as a role model in society.
“I met Sam in 1955 at Kidera primary school, he was three years ahead of me. He was a famous boy in school then.
Together with three of his friends David Babalanda now in the Administrator General’s Office and Sajjabi, they were the only students who used to get 100% in Arithmetic. In fact he inspired me into doing sciences at secondary school and later a course in Engineering at University,â€
Speaking on behalf of friends and former workmates of Sekandi, Vincent Kabuye said that the death of Sekandi was shocking.
He died as he concluded a speech to a congregation at Budo on the Sunday of March 14, 2004.
“For over 15 years, I knew him. He had never been hospitalised for even a week. He worked normally and was healthy. He was a jolly man always cracking jokes, whenever you met him on the street or in office.
As a worker he was dedicated, hard working, straightforward, resourceful and indeed he left a clean work record,†says Kabuye
He attended Kidera Primary School in Kamuli Budiope county, before enrolling at Makerere College for secondary education.
In 1967, he enrolled at Makerere University for a B.Arts Science Degree with physics, Maths and Electronics. He married in 1972. He is survived by a widow, three biological children and many fostered ones.
ENDS
By Ann Lydia Ssekandi
The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. is quoted as once saying, “If a man be called to sweep the streets he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted Art or as Beethoven composed Music, so that all the angels of heaven would look down (upon his death) and declare that ‘here lies a man who swept streets to the best of their ability, so that the Lord God in Heaven would be glorified.“
Dr. King may have said those words decades ago, but they immediately sprung to mind on Monday March 15, 2004 when hundreds of people converged on the usually quiet village of Nakasozi-Budo to pay final tribute to a man who had diligently served God and country, until he breathed his last. It is not often that men get to be witnesses of greatness in life and death.
But such were the events of that send-off that most, if not all those present, acknowledged that a life worth living had just ended its earthly journey.
This tribute is as emotional as it is subjective, for the man I write about is Samuel Enoch Bwanswa-Sekandi, a man I am proud to have called father.
He was not ‘father’ to his biological children alone, but to hosts of others who went through his hands or crossed his path along life’s turbulent journey.
Being his daughter notwithstanding, I can safely say that many of those who spoke about him were glad that the tribute they paid to this gifted, yet unusually humble man was genuine, rather than falsehoods fabricated to ‘make the dead look holy’. What is so special, one may ask.
Why not special, another may reply. For, how many people have passed on as they preached before a church congregation?
How many, as they actually concluded their remarks and prepared to sit down?
The challenge in Mr. Sekandi’s death lies in the manner of his passing: a man who completed his journey almost to a virtual full-stop.
What did he possibly leave unsaid before that congregation in the little village church in Budo that Sunday? One could argue that he had said it all. Although he was barely 60, his birthday just six months away, it is difficult to say his passing was ‘untimely’.
He lived what he preached: love your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength; and serve your country diligently, and never, ever, betray your Motherland, whatever the circumstances.
Some of those with whom he worked in the (defunct) Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation for over three decades say although he worked in the potentially lucrative international tele-traffic section, he chose the honest way.
With it a modest life, shunning crooked avenues that would have earned him untold wealth that only a technocrat of equally vast and sophisticated training would have been able to detect.
If he had a flaw, it was that unshakeable, almost irritating kindness, which often saw him sacrifice so much for those who seemed undeserving, even at the expense of immediate family.
If he gave up on someone that person was almost ‘unrescuable’ because he was always the last to give up on someone.
As children, we always complained and asked why he ‘favoured’ other people over his ‘immediate’ family.
His reply was always consistent: it is important to witness to others, or else how did we expect them to come to know God?
Who, then, would blame another for recalling those poetic, prophetic words of Dr. King, words that sought to exalt men who excelled, especially in humility?
One would be forgiven for attributing them to Sekandi, whose last words included a message of such compassion to the believers he addressed even as he unknowingly passed on to the other side: ‘Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you that are in Christ’ (1 Peter 5:14).
LIFE is journey that we never know when and how it will end. Last month the ugly arm of death snatched yet another great son of the soil.
Sam Sekandi, a reknown mathematician once christened Muyindi during his early days in school because of his rare aptitude in mathematics, silently passed away at the age of 59.
He was laid to rest at his ancestral home in Nakasozi Budo Wakiso district.
Sekandi’s life long journey is a fairy tale, a journey which involved making friends from all walks of life, reaching out to help the needy at no cost and yet never tiring to serve God with amazing resolve.
He was a ray of hope and a reference point to many who had a chance to know and associate with him.
For the hundreds of people who bid him farewell, on that fateful day, the country lost a great parent, academician, engineer and a loyal person who tirelessly promoted African values and culture.
“He respected and promoted African traditional culture and openly showed his dislike for the western culture which attempts to erode the treasured traditional African values.
He was a cool-headed man, patient, friendly and was gifted with intellectual wisdom,†said engineer Patrick Batumbya.
He lived a truthful, dedicated and faithful life, which enabled him to serve in the engineering profession for over 25 years. He depicted utmost efficiency and diligence in executing his duties.
As a professional engineer, Sekandi did not confine himself to the demands that come with his profession; he was quite often seen in public, yet he never harboured any political ambitions. (His friend say he was active in in student politics at the then Makerere University College.)
He progressed fast in his career, made friends spanning across all religions, tribes and social boundaries.
Those who worked with him describe him as a man who was foresighted, calm, developmental, willing to listen and learn.
“I met Sam in 1981 while working at the Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation where he worked as a chief traffic controller telecommunications. I was based in the Finance Department. It was a great experience working with him.
He was very supportive. We shared a lot during his stay,†Zac Kataryeba a long time colleague now working with Uganda Telecom said.
Sekandi was a God fearing man who instilled discipline and religious values in his family and those who under him.
“The Bible was always near him and he regularly read it during his free time.
He was a true Christian in words and action. The Bible was his guiding principle in life and the foundation of his family,†added Kataryeba.
“He was a family man dedicated and loving father to his family.
Many of us looked up to him as an exemplary parent,†Vincent Kabuye Act. Secretary of Posta Uganda and a long time family friend said.
To his former schoolmates, he was a brilliant and focused student.
Engineer Patrick Batumbya, a relative and long time friend described the late Sekandi as a role model in society.
“I met Sam in 1955 at Kidera primary school, he was three years ahead of me. He was a famous boy in school then.
Together with three of his friends David Babalanda now in the Administrator General’s Office and Sajjabi, they were the only students who used to get 100% in Arithmetic. In fact he inspired me into doing sciences at secondary school and later a course in Engineering at University,â€
Speaking on behalf of friends and former workmates of Sekandi, Vincent Kabuye said that the death of Sekandi was shocking.
He died as he concluded a speech to a congregation at Budo on the Sunday of March 14, 2004.
“For over 15 years, I knew him. He had never been hospitalised for even a week. He worked normally and was healthy. He was a jolly man always cracking jokes, whenever you met him on the street or in office.
As a worker he was dedicated, hard working, straightforward, resourceful and indeed he left a clean work record,†says Kabuye
He attended Kidera Primary School in Kamuli Budiope county, before enrolling at Makerere College for secondary education.
In 1967, he enrolled at Makerere University for a B.Arts Science Degree with physics, Maths and Electronics. He married in 1972. He is survived by a widow, three biological children and many fostered ones.
ENDS
By Ann Lydia Ssekandi
The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. is quoted as once saying, “If a man be called to sweep the streets he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted Art or as Beethoven composed Music, so that all the angels of heaven would look down (upon his death) and declare that ‘here lies a man who swept streets to the best of their ability, so that the Lord God in Heaven would be glorified.“
Dr. King may have said those words decades ago, but they immediately sprung to mind on Monday March 15, 2004 when hundreds of people converged on the usually quiet village of Nakasozi-Budo to pay final tribute to a man who had diligently served God and country, until he breathed his last. It is not often that men get to be witnesses of greatness in life and death.
But such were the events of that send-off that most, if not all those present, acknowledged that a life worth living had just ended its earthly journey.
This tribute is as emotional as it is subjective, for the man I write about is Samuel Enoch Bwanswa-Sekandi, a man I am proud to have called father.
He was not ‘father’ to his biological children alone, but to hosts of others who went through his hands or crossed his path along life’s turbulent journey.
Being his daughter notwithstanding, I can safely say that many of those who spoke about him were glad that the tribute they paid to this gifted, yet unusually humble man was genuine, rather than falsehoods fabricated to ‘make the dead look holy’. What is so special, one may ask.
Why not special, another may reply. For, how many people have passed on as they preached before a church congregation?
How many, as they actually concluded their remarks and prepared to sit down?
The challenge in Mr. Sekandi’s death lies in the manner of his passing: a man who completed his journey almost to a virtual full-stop.
What did he possibly leave unsaid before that congregation in the little village church in Budo that Sunday? One could argue that he had said it all. Although he was barely 60, his birthday just six months away, it is difficult to say his passing was ‘untimely’.
He lived what he preached: love your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength; and serve your country diligently, and never, ever, betray your Motherland, whatever the circumstances.
Some of those with whom he worked in the (defunct) Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation for over three decades say although he worked in the potentially lucrative international tele-traffic section, he chose the honest way.
With it a modest life, shunning crooked avenues that would have earned him untold wealth that only a technocrat of equally vast and sophisticated training would have been able to detect.
If he had a flaw, it was that unshakeable, almost irritating kindness, which often saw him sacrifice so much for those who seemed undeserving, even at the expense of immediate family.
If he gave up on someone that person was almost ‘unrescuable’ because he was always the last to give up on someone.
As children, we always complained and asked why he ‘favoured’ other people over his ‘immediate’ family.
His reply was always consistent: it is important to witness to others, or else how did we expect them to come to know God?
Who, then, would blame another for recalling those poetic, prophetic words of Dr. King, words that sought to exalt men who excelled, especially in humility?
One would be forgiven for attributing them to Sekandi, whose last words included a message of such compassion to the believers he addressed even as he unknowingly passed on to the other side: ‘Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you that are in Christ’ (1 Peter 5:14).