By Andrew Irumba
Kampala: Maj. Gen.(Rtd) Waswa Kasirye Ggwanga’s candle has finally blown out on Heroes’ day (June 9 2020) at the age of 68.
Ggwanga breathed his last at Nakasero Hospital Kampala at 10:20am, after spending over two weeks hospitalized at the facility.
“Irumba, Muzei has finally gone to be with the lord, we thank the almighty God for his life,” his son Romelo Ggwanga told this reporter on phone when called to confirm the bad news.
Ggwanga was rushed to Nakasero Hospital over two weeks ago in critical condition, and was later put under Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Ggwanga’s condition, according to family sources worsened on May 25 which prompted the family members to rush him to the Hospital and later informed the army leadership to take over, since he is a retired senior army officer at the rank of Maj.Gen.
He was admitted to Nakasero Hospital on May 18 and underwent a successful operation the following day, after doctors reportedly discovered a blood clot in one of the vessels in his head.
While at the Hospital, Ggwanga was out of bounds to the public, apart from very close family members attending to him and a few high ranking officers of the armed forces.
In April Ggwanga first went to Mbuya Military Barracks after getting a headache, where he received initial treatment before being referred to Nakasero hospital.
Infact, on April 7, Brig. Richard Karemire, the spokesperson of the UPDF told the public that the maverick general was being given medical care at Mbuya Military Hospital Senior Officers’ Diagnostic Centre.
Family members say Kasirye suffered lung-related complications in 2016, and was admitted at IHK Namuwongo, though his life has been the same again.
The Controversial General:
Ggwanga is not new to controversies; the maverick General had just launched a campaign to save forests in central Uganda before falling sick. He would not allow anybody to cut trees from forests in the region. He would allegedly shoot at the tyres of the Lorries that he would find carrying logs. He had stationed himself at his ‘Camp David2 farm’, located in Nkene village, Maanyi Sub-county, Mityana District.
Last month Kasirye Ggwanga mounted controversial operations, targeting people who he said were defying the presidential guidelines on COVID-19. Many people accused him of clobbering people in Mityana during the operations, although he denied the same.
The former Mubende LCV boss at one time set a blaze to ashes a tractor of an alleged land grabber who had come stealthily to grade a piece of his wife’s land along Lweza, Entebbe road, who lives abroad. It’s said the ‘land grabber’ used the opportunity when he investigated and found out that the owner stays in US and had taken ages without returning, but didn’t know that it was Maj.Gen.Kasirye Ggwanga’s wife. Since he burnt it, they’ve never come back to claim ownership of the same land,nor did they put a claim in court for compensation.
Details about his burial arrangements to be communicated later. RIP.
