Fare Thee Well Hon. Ssegirinya Muhammad. President Kyagulanyi Eulogizes Our Fallen Comrade

Ladies and gentlemen,
Fellow mourners!

We gather today, to say farewell to a great man.

A man who rose from the poorest of backgrounds to become the talk of Kampala, the talk of Buganda, and the talk of Uganda and beyond.

A man who was small in stature but with a very big heart.

A man who did not attain so much education and yet possessed great knowledge. He was not an economist and yet he understood the economy of the boda boda rider, the mutembeyi, the woman in the market.

A man who joked a lot and yet was very serious on the causes concerning our country.

A man who came from right here in Kadugala village and yet died as a national hero.

We gather to say farewell to a self-made man. A man who rose through the ranks to become a famous Member of Parliament, and yet did not allow fame to get to his head. Even when he rose to the highest positions in society, he remained the humble Ssegirinya.

Unlike many politicians who love to be addressed with big titles, even when they’re doing nothing or working against the people, Ssegirinya never cared about titles. You would call him Ssegi and he was fine with it.

That is the man we’re sending off today.

Hon. Ssegirinya said that I should speak for five
hours at his funeral, but I am not even sure I can even take thirty minutes.

His dying wish however, meant so much to me. It meant the deep sense of trust that he had in me as his friend and leader. He trusted that I would speak the kind of words he would love to be said on his final day. It was very humbling to me that he said that even if no one else spoke, I should speak for all that time. But I know that Ssegirinya was loved by so many people, which is why I couldn’t deny them the opportunity to speak about him.

Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, today as we see Ssegirinya for the very last time, I will say everything for Ssegirinya and very little for myself.

This means that whoever has offended me as an individual and was expecting me to talk about you in any way, today you’re wrong.

Ssegirinya Mohammad ‘Eddoboozi lye Kyebando’ is a man I knew many years ago as a radio caller and later as a city councillor.

I had never met him personally until I was running for MP in Kyadondo East in 2017.

Among the many opposition politicians who fully supported me was Ssegirinya even when his party – then FDC – had a candidate.

It is then that we built a comradeship that, I hope, will last even for the next generations.

We shared so much in common with SSegirinya – born in villages before moving to the ghettos in the city. And how, like me, he did not dwell on that past but turned his life around. I believe that is why I understood him, and he understood me. Tubade twetegeela.

I would look into comrade Ssegirinya’s eyes and know that even as he joked a lot, he was deeply concerned about the common people.

I saw his dreams and how determined he was to make them become real.

I saw how much he represented everything we are as common people.

In 2020, as we prepared for the 2021 election, we, as the People Power Movement, were faced with a test. It was a very tough test. We had the party’s Organising Secretary, an incumbent MP, and other seasoned politicians interested in the Kawempe North seat. When the results from the ground survey came back, Ssegirinya scored over 80% from the responses of the people. The Organising Secretary lodged a petition, and we sent another team. The results came back the same way. We resisted all manner of attempts to overturn the results and insisted that we must follow People Power because that is our power. As I said the other day, some politicians came to me complaining. They asked how we could choose a riffraff over seasoned politicians with a lot of education. They wondered how a young party like ours would place Ssegirinya above known politicians. But I stood my ground and told them I would never overturn the voice of the people, which was very clear.

As we stand here today, I am very proud that we have been vindicated. In fact, we were vindicated in the first few months of Ssegirinya in Parliament. He immediately embarked on serving the people of Kawempe North with dedication. He invested in healthcare, in economic empowerment, in community service- responsibilities that should ordinarily fall on the shoulders of a functional government. But as we all know, we have an absent government, so leaders have to step in. He visited the sick, the poor and the hungry.

Ssegirinya was a true representation of what we stand for as People Power- being the voice for the common person. He spoke for the boda-bodas, the market people, the downtrodden. It is this attitude that earned him so many friends, and enemies alike.

Before long, the regime conspired with some politicians whom he repeatedly told us about. They arrested him, tortured him, and eventually sent him to his early grave. Like I said at our headquarters the other day, Ssegirinya did not enjoy even one day of his tenure as an MP. He has spent all his time as an MP either in prison or in hospital, until he gave up the fight.

I hope Gen. Museveni feels proud of what he did to Ssegirinya! For the two years he was in jail, we asked the regime to prosecute them. To produce any evidence that they participated in the killings in Masaka. But the regime did not produce that evidence because it was not there! As you all recall, some of the young men, who the regime paraded as witnesses against them, boldly told court that they were paraded by the regime and told to lie that it was Ssegirinya and Ssewanyana who sent them to kill people in Masaka. At a subsequent hearing, they attempted to speak but were silenced. The judge who allowed them speak the first time was transferred and another brought. They were repeatedly denied bail, even when Ssegirinya presented all evidence that his life was going away. Gen. Museveni came out on TV condemning the grant of bail, thereby intimidating the judges. But as they say, they can only walk on your back when you bend it. Even those judges who repeatedly denied them bail are as oppressive as Museveni who detained them. If you’re a judge worth your salt, Museveni would rather deny you a promotion, than you send Ssegirinya to an early grave. You would rather flee to exile like Justice Esther Kisakye, than be used as a tool of oppression. That is why we celebrate Chief Justice Ben Kiwanuka who was killed for staying true to his judicial oath. What happened to Uganda? Where are those judges who can still stand to defend the Constitution?

Therefore, Ssegirinya joins the long list of prominent and ordinary Ugandans murdered by the Museveni regime. Some are murdered openly, others secretly. Some are murdered very quickly, others face slow painful deaths. Some are murdered with bullets, others with poison.

Maama Ssegirinya joins the many parents who are grieving- their children murdered by the Museveni regime! You all saw her video leading a lone protest at Parliament, not once or twice. She came weeping, saying that her son’s life was going away. But the regime did not care!

Ssegirinya’s children join the very long list of children orphaned by Museveni’s regime of blood. The prayers these little children will make every day before they sleep, will never let him have peace. The other day, while Museveni’s son was tweeting very shameful things on Twitter, a priest called me and asked me, “With all the atrocities he has committed, why are you surprised that God has chosen to punish him that way?” He told me that the tears, pain, and prayers of the orphaned children and the widowed mothers will always haunt Museveni and his family until they repent.

Maama, you’re not alone. You join people like Mzee Nadduli, people like the father and mother of Frank Ssenteza, the mother of Yasin Kawuma, the mother of Ritah Nabukenya……the list is long.

Naggirinya, you’re not alone. You join the children of Yasin Kawuma, the children of John Ddamulira, the children of Dan Kyeyune, etc etc.

Sadly, most of these are people from Buganda, the very people who hosted Museveni and his guerrillas, hid them from the enemy, fed them, and hosted them. And yet, this is how Museveni has paid us back. How he has paid our parents back. We must say NEVER AGAIN, and we must undo the wrong which these our parents did.

When Ssegirinya eventually passed away, some within the regime pretended to be hurt. They gave glowing tributes. The very system that killed him! The best way they can show that they even care would be to turn from their evil ways and stop abducting, torturing, and killing our people.

As we speak, there are still many political prisoners in different prisons, including Dr. Kizza Besigye, our comrades Machete, Kalanzi, and others. Over 18 of our people are still missing – some abducted in 2019 and 2020.

No evil will go unpunished. We are crying today like we have done many times when our people are killed. But I believe there will be a time when Museveni and his criminal gang will pay for every crime they have committed against the people of Uganda.

The challenge our brother leaves us with is to fight on, to soldiers on – not to give up! When he became an MP, Hon. Ssegirinya could have chosen to keep quiet like some of his colleagues did. Some of his colleagues who used to shout on top of their voices, do daily social media posts for the struggle and even promise to die for the people, as soon as they got to Parliament kept quiet. You may think they never existed. And yet Ssegirinya, before he was arrested, continued speaking out. He continued associating with his people. He continued to be in touch with us – even when he got very sick.

Some of his colleagues, whether they’re for the NRM or for the opposition, as soon as they got to Parliament, saw an opportunity to make some deals, drive big cars and put on new suits. That would not be a problem, as long as you serve the people.

But you didn’t hear Ssegirinya’s name involved in any deal. He did not steal from the people but instead gave back to the people.

That is why Ssegirinya will be remembered as a giant, as a great man.

Fight hard, Mr. Update. Yes, you said that when you die, we should not tell you to rest in peace but to fight hard. Go on and fight. Mobilise those who were murdered like yourself and fight on, so that your children, the Nagirinyas can grow up in a better country.

Till we meet again, my brother.