Mwiri old boy bequeathed his 90-year-old badge to school archives

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LUUKA - According to Herbert Kyeyamwa, his father was born on December 26, 1920, and joined Busoga College Mwiri in 1935 after winning the Busoga Kingdom bursary with his friend Balodha Mufumba from Buwologoma village.

William Kyeyamwa, a 105-year-old boy of Busoga College Mwiri, succumbed to pneumonia on August 22, at Nile International Hospital in Walukuba/Masese in Jinja City.

At his father's burial, Kyeyamwa, who is also the current Chairman Board of Governors at Busoga College Mwiri, informed mourners that his late father, before his death, requested them to hand over his 90-year-old hand-made school badge back to the management of Busoga College Mwiri as school property.

'He requested that the most senior old boy, Brewer Abaliwano, hand over the badge to the head teacher Peter Sibukule at the burial ceremony—which he has done,” Kyeyamwa noted.

Peter Sibukule, the team leader of Busoga College Mwiri, promised to keep it well in the school archives.

The badge with the school motto “Ku lwa Katonda n’eggwanga lyaffe”, which Mzee Kyeyamwa wore with pride, was returned to the school in accordance with his final wish, that this symbol of his formative years should remain, in perpetuity, the property of Busoga College Mwiri.

The 4th clan head of the Abaise Nkwanga clan was buried on August 28 in Luuka district.

Hundreds of mourners, who included dignitaries like Busoga Kingdom’s premier, Dr Joseph Muvawala and Alumni of Busoga College Mwiri under their Mwiri Old Boys Association, turned up at the burial ceremony at his ancestral home in Bulalu village in Bukanga sub-county.

The service at the burial ceremony was led by the Bishop of East Busoga, Rt Rev. Paul Hannington Suubi, who was in company of the Bishop of Central Busoga diocese Rt. Rev. Patrick Wakula.

Busoga Kingdom grieves

At the burial ceremony, Muvawala, who represented Busoga Kingdom, requested mourners to sing the first stanza of the Busoga Anthem in honour of the late.

“Singing for the late Mzee Kyeyamwa, him the Busoga Anthem while laying in State was the most important thing—it talks about his business acumen, his medical acumen, the performance as a father, raising of children, setting up of villages and setting up of towns. This is all that we have to remember,” Muvawala said.

Members of the Mwiri Old Boys Association (MOBA), led by Brewer Abaliwano, sang the Mwiri song to bid farewell to their fallen Old Boy (Mzee Kyeyamwa).

“I was born in 1937 and joined Busoga College Mwiri in 1945—I missed seeing Mzee Kyeyamwa in Mwiri because I joined ten years after he had left.”   

During the church service at the burial, East Busoga diocese Bishop Rt Rev. Hannington Suubi extended his heartfelt condolences from the diocese and his family toward the family of the late Mzee Kyeyamwa.

He said that he was informed a week ago by Herbert Kyeyamwa that his father had passed away and thanked the children and doctors for treating and caring for the late during his time in hospital.

“Mzee Kyeyamwa has lived his full and quality life—he studied and thereafter served this country and Busoga with trust. He loved his children and educated them, plus inculcating discipline in them,” Bishop Suubi explained.

He asked parents at the burial ceremony to educate their children, care for them by providing basic needs and always visit them at their various schools.

“Mzee Kyeyamwa served with dedication and commitment—we thank God that in the Kyeyamwa family, there are children following in their late father’s footsteps by being trustworthy, they are men and women of integrity,” he added.

He climaxed the service with Prophet Thompson’s quote, which says, “To live in the hearts of those we leave behind is not to die”.

Obwa Tabingwa bwa Luuka chiefdom, led by their Prime Minister Lwiigo David Igulu Isabirye Ngulungu, planted 105 trees at the ancestral home of Mzee Kyeyamwa and in Bulalu village in memory of the late.

Herbert Kyeyamwa (left) and Busoga Kingdom's Prime Minister Dr Joseph Muvawala (2nd left) look on as the casket containing the body of the late Mzee William Kyeyamwa was being lowered into the grave by A-Plus funeral services at Bulalu village in Bukanga sub-county in Luuka district on August 28, 2025. Photo by Donald Kiirya. (Photo by Donald Kiirya)

Dignitaries at the burial included: the Dean of Christ’s Cathedral, Bugembe, the Very Rev. Joy Mukisa Isabirye, Vicar of Christ’s Cathedral, Bugembe, Rev. Canon. Mathias Katiko, Vicar, St Andrews Church, Rev. Canon. John Paul Tirusoniwa, Justice Egonda Ntende, former Minister Daudi Migereko, Deputy Ambassador of Uganda in Doha, Mohammed Kezala Baswari and Alfred Nabeeta, among others.