Adrian Sibo: The man who stood the test of time

Personal reflections on Adrian Sibo and other Bafumbira contemporaries

By R. A. A.M. Mbonye Byombi

Today (September 26, 2016) is exactly one month since Sir Adrian Sibo passed on on August 26, 2016. I pay tribute to him and a couple of others of our contemporaries and close friends from Bufumbira, Kisoro district, two of whom passed on this year and two in the early 60's.

I did not know Sibo until I was in my early 20's, when I was at East Africa's Engineering School Nakawa in 1952, at 22years of age. While I was doing an internship on a road construction site on Lake Albert, I met Sibo's elder brother called Clement Ngoga, a policeman, who asked me if I had met Sibo. I replied that I did not know him. When I went back to Kampala, I got in touch with John Kalekezi, who located him and introduced us to each other.

I met Adrian again in 1959 when I was going to marry my wife Ancilla. Anne Sibo was the matron-of- honour and both she and Ancilla had qualified as teachers at Stella Maris College Nkokonjeru, in Mukono.

Sibo and I shared a number of contemporaries and friends, including John Kalekezi, Dennis Munderi, Barnabas Halem'Imana and Stephen Munyantwali. Unfortunately, all those mentioned above are no longer with us, but each of them left a mark on Uganda's history.

Kalekezi, who died tragically in an aircraft crash in 1960, attended Mutolere Primary School with me for three years before proceeding to Kitabi Minor Seminary, St. Marys College Kisubi and later Makerere University College. He was both a nationalist and a pan-Africanist and is perhaps one of the best-known campaigners for Uganda's independence.

I first met Munderi in 1948 at St Leo's College, where we were in the same class for four years. He went on to Makerere College and I to Engineering School Nakawa, where each of us completed studies five years later, in 1957. Munderi was posted to Mbarara as a graduate teacher of mathematics at Ntare School, and I as a water engineer in Ankole district. When he married my cousin sister in Mbarara, I was his bestman. And in 1961, when Munderi tragically passed away during the political campaigns, I was asked to replace him as the Democratic Party (DP) candidate, thus becoming the first Member of Parliament for Bufumbira County. 
 
Bishop Barnabas Halem'Imana was one year ahead of me in school and because my elder brother Joseph Ndungutse married Bishop's cousin sister Malita, we interacted as both friends and in-laws. 
As a young priest, who had been ordained only the previous year, Father Barnabas Halem'Imana presided over my marriage at Mutolere Parish church in 1959.  

Stephen Munyantwali and I attended Mutolere Primary School and thereafter St Leo's College up to Senior Three, before proceeding to Engineering School Nakawa for five years, during which we stayed in the same room. His mother was my cousin sister.

In 1967, while I was in Montreal as an intern as part of my studies in Business Administration at Waterloo Lutheran University in Ontario, Canada, I met and interacted with Sibo at the Great Montreal Expo, at which he headed the Ugandan delegation.

In 1973, Sibo and I crossed paths again at East African Airways Corporation, where he was a member of the Board of Directors and I was the property development and contracts manager. He was then the Permanent Secretary for East African Community Affairs.

Sibo was a member of that generation for whom the primary purpose of education was service to fellow human beings. Our country's motto "For God and My Country" must have had particular resonance with him. 

Sibo's legacy lies in his dedication to public and social service, his service to his country and the Church, his commitment to family and friends and his steadfast defense of high ethical standards in public service. 

The full form of Sibo's name is "Siboyintore". "Isibo" is a symbolic protective ornament worn by young eligible warriors or performers, while "intore" are suitable warriors or performers in their prime, who are selected through a rigorous process. Sibo also had another name: Mudacyahwa - one who cannot be reproached. His sense of duty as well as his integrity was indeed unimpeachable. 

Sibo and I were born three years apart in Nyakabande, in Bufumbira County of Kisoro district - he in 1927 at Shozi and I in 1930 at Kigezi. 

Some two months before he died, Sibo paid me a visit at my home in Ntinda, in the company of his wife Anne. That would be the last time I saw him alive or spoke with him. 

May the Almighty God grant his soul eternal peace! 

The writer was the official head of the Democratic Party delegation to the Uganda Constitutional Conference at Lancaster House in 1961 and the first Member of Parliament for Bufumbira County