By Gladys Kalibbala

THE former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Paul Bachengana, is dead.

The 60-year-old veteran civil servant collapsed dead at Dubai Airport last week on his way back home from London.

Speaking from the family home in Bugonga, Entebbe, the widow, Cissy, said her husband died shortly after checking in at the airport for the flight to Entebbe.

The flight crew realised that one of the passengers was not in his seat, prompting a search.

“By the time they got him where he had collapsed, it was too late,” she said.

The widow said she had travelled to Dubai on a business trip with her husband but she returned earlier due to the Idd Adhuha holidays.

“The Dubai shopping malls had closed for Idd celebrations, so I opted to return home while he decided to visit his sister in London,” she said.

Bachengana had earlier communicated to his wife that he would return on Wednesday. Unaware of the tragedy, Cissy proceeded to Entebbe airport with her daughter to pick him up.

“We were in time for the afternoon Emirates flight, only to find that he was not on the plane,” she said.

The body will be flown back home on Wednesday. A requiem mass will be held at Bugonga Catholic Church on Thursday and the burial will follow at Kashenyi in Bushenyi district.

Bachengana worked as undersecretary in the public service ministry in 1992 and as Entebbe deputy mayor in 2003. He started his civil service work in Moroto, Karamoja region in the early 1970s.