[The Late] Dr. David Kantaale Kazungu,
I refuse to mourn you Dr. David Kantale Kazungu. I vehemently refuse to do so.
For me and many others that chose to know you. Us who chose to learn from you. We, who had the knack to work with you, have a lot of YOU in us. In our outlook of all things contemporary, political, social, economic and cultural, we have bits and pieces of you all over us. YOU, Dr. David Kantale Kazungu and your huge FOOTPRINT, continue to walk and talk to us.
I know you as the loud and proud Mwise Tooli, who has made all your family and Clan members so proud of you. You bragged about your cultural lineage; a matter of great value to us all. You made our cultural Roots and Identity a central matter in Busoga. Thank you.
You made no apologies for achieving high academic and intellectual excellence. Just like Bishop Cyprian Kikunyi Bamwoze, those that could not match your intellectual competence and capability were so badly offended. However, many who appreciated your unwavering crusade against self-inflicted ‘ignorance’, are proud parents with academic Certificates, Diplomas and Degrees at family level. I have attended numerous Graduation Parties where parents give testimony on how Dr. Kazungu had ‘enraged’ them so much and compelled them to educate their children. It has been a thankless effort for which, only the Almighty God will reward you. Thank you so very much Baaba.
Every family in Busoga, especially in Bugabula, has something to say about you. You knew generations of who our parents and grandparents were. No distance was too far for you to travel to make a physical presence in people’s lives. Weddings. Graduations. Sickness. Burials. Consultations. You were the social glue and encyclopaedia of our society. You cared and CARED. Thank you.
Your home was a Public Library and Museum. You and Maama, Margaret Kazungu, welcomed many of us to your home in Busota, Kamuli District. We talked. We ate. We laughed and then moved on with the rest of our businesses. You gave true and honest counsel to those of us who had the thick skin to handle the brutal honesty with which you dispensed your ‘Advice’. You are only one of a kind. Thank you.
“Managing Change” through the ‘wars’, the years and generations of life has been a daunting issue in our region – Busoga. Many excellent, promising and emerging professionals, families and individuals have fallen through the complex web of social, economic, political, intellectual and technological changes. Many are yet to work out what “hit” them or how they “missed the turn”. Some changes have been so fast, so crude, so brutal, so painful and so disempowering for the people of Busoga.
You, Dr. Kazungu was one of the very few Elders who traversed the region to your cohort to make sense of what was going on. The ‘Collective Therapy” you offered to society should not go un-noticed. Thank you.
You will not be physically present when the Kyabazinga of Busoga, HRH. William Nadiope walks the Inhebantu Maama wa Busoga down the aisle in Bugembe Cathedral on Saturday the 18TH of November, 2023. How so very sad. Yet, your rye, warm smile will be seen and will be felt on the Royal Wedding.
You, Dr. Kazungu willed and worked tirelessly to ensure that the “Royal House of Gabula” never dies. Thank you.
Politics. …..!!!!! Politics was your greatest PASSION.
You lived, breathed and saw politics from all its facets.
You fully understood the centrality of “GOOD LEADERSHIP” in transforming society. You sourced and supported ‘potential’ good leaders.
You were such a “Nocturnal” political animal only equal to Haj. Ali Muwabe Kirunda Kivejinja and Mr. Kafuko. Your army of political foot soldiers were among the most dedicated, most effective and I dare to say, most efficient Political Operatives in the region. Among these I fondly remember Mr. Wakalumba, Mberenge, Ndimukulaga and Byaino. Thank you.
“My daughter, you need to know that every government in Uganda has its ‘owners’”. This was Dr. David Kantale Kazungu’s counsel to me. I was, then, joining Parliament as a Member representing Bugabula County, South in Kamuli District. I was his proud and loud representative in the first Parliament to implement the 1995 Constitution; the Sixth Parliament. My Political Lenses are shaped and guided and informed and…… by this one sentence from you Dr. David Kantale Kazungu. Thank you.
My tour of duty as Chairman of Kamuli District Local Government brought me back home and I experienced, first hand, what Local Government is. As the first woman (female) Chairman. As the first non-NRM (National Resistance Movement) District Chairman. As the first FDC (Forum for Democratic Change) Kamuli District Local Government Chairman. As a ‘political minority’ Chairman of the Kamuli District Council. As me. Your glaring gaze at everything that got done, un-done and re-done was an everyday reality. Thank you.
Who does this for that long with the passion you did?
What more can we ask of you?
You gave us your all for so long.
Thank you.
Fare thee well Baaba. Thank you.
Your Girl,
Night Proscovia Salaamu Musumba.
