Etiang was a man of no mean achievements

It is hard to believe Paul Etiang, the former Deputy Prime Minister died. From a humble beginning, he braved all the odds from Tororo through Ngora High School and Mwiri College Busoga to Makerere University. 

A man of no mean achievements, Etiang was a high commissioner of Uganda in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) before proceeding to the USA and UK.

Whenever we met at his Muyenga home, a cup of piping hot coffee was served before wine tumblers crowned the evening in the lush compound. With four albums we would leaf through his life as a district administrator, high commissioner, minister and Secretary-General of Organisation of African Union in 1975 when Uganda hosted it.

Beaming with smiles of satisfaction he told me how he met his wife Zahra with whom they got four children born in London, New York, Kampala and Addis Ababa. 

Zahra was born in a Moslem family and Etiang from an ardent Christian family, neither party forced the other to convert. 

He had such a sense of humour like most Rotarians do and would not hesitate to see the funny side of anything.

"After my A level my dream was to do medicine at Makerere University," Etiang once confided. "But when we were being initiated and taken to a room with corpses - I changed my mind. That is how I ended up studying an Arts degree in Political Science. Upon graduation, I worked in Gulu and Jinja before joining the foreign service and was posted to Moscow."

Etiang had a sleek Mercedes Benz that he only drove on Sundays while going to Church. The engine was in tip-top shape and it was shining enough to win the annual Vintage contest held at Sheraton Hotel. Being quite a cunning man, he declined to divulge the reason for being attached to that car.

And when the children grew up and left home, Etiang had a dog he endeared. After his computer lessons, he often walked it up and down the Muyenga Road. A glance at the family album is a revelation of the variety of nobility, royalty and politicians he rubbed shoulders as he trotted the globe.

Born in Tororo District in 1938, he passed on December 31, 2020, and was buried January 07. May his soul rest in peace.