Members of Parliament have paid tribute to the fallen former Busoga kingdom Prime Minister William Wilberforce Kiwagama.
The deceased also served as MP Bunya West County in Mayuge district.
The late Kiwagama, who served from Constituent Assembly to seventh Parliament, succumbed to cancer this past Friday at Mulago National Referral Hospital.
The motion to pay tribute before Parliament was Tuesday tabled by Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda and seconded by his third deputy Al Hajji Kirunda Kivejinja and Chief Opposition whip Cecilia Ogwal during a special sitting presided over by the Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah.
Dr. Rugunda in his motion said the country is going to miss a great personality who participated in many important events in the country including the enacting of the 1995 Constitution that is effectively directing the governance to date.
“Mr. Speaker and the honourable colleagues, the late Kiwagama before us now played major roles in this country. He was actively involved in the passing of 1995 Constitution which is in place up to tomorrow,” he said.
Meanwhile Ogwal used to opportunity to urge government to do more in developing and equipping the Cancer Institute at the National Referral Hospital Mulago to save lives.
According to the Dokolo Woman MP, the only people who survive complicated diseases are those who travel abroad for specialised treatment.
“It is very… very sad we have lost a citizen, a person I gladly worked with for years. The government should take it from this tragedy to do more in Mulago,” charged Ogwal.
“Cancer and heart problems should not be killing people. The only ones who are escaping death from serious illnesses are the ones who fly abroad.”
Great man
Various legislators from the ruling party and opposition also eulogized the late for his great contribution to Busoga sub region and the entire country.
According those who knew him well, Kiwagama was a great engineer who contributed to the architectural planning of many prominent buildings in the capital city Kampala.
The late Kiwagama was MP for Bunya from 1989-1995, CA delegate 1995-1996 and MP from 1996-2001.
He was replaced by Alfred Bagire from 2001-2006. Alfred Bagire was in 2011 defeated by his younger brother – the current MP Vincent Bagire in 2011.
Interestingly Alfred Bagire has also made a comeback to Parliament after defeating his younger brother Vincent Bagire in the just concluded elections.