Africa-Press – Uganda. On Friday afternoon, Our Lady of Africa Catholic Church in Mbuya, Kampala, was full to capacity as hundreds of mourners gathered during the requiem Mass of Brig Gen Mark Kodili, who passed away on Wednesday at Victoria University Hospital.
At the time of his death, he was the Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) coordinator of Madi region.
Minutes past 2pm, vehicles with sirens loudly made their way through the light traffic of the Mbuya suburb. Swiftly, they ascended to Our Lady of Africa Catholic Church.
It was a woeful mood as mourners silently sobbed and a teary Sarah Nangoma Kodili, wife to the late, was helped up the staircase leading to the entrance of the church.
The Mass was attended by senior officers from the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF), relatives and friends. Among them was Second Deputy Prime Minister Gen Moses Ali, who was the chief mourner, Works minister Gen Edward Katumba Wamala, former deputy Chief of Defence Forces Lt-Gen Ivan Koreta, and deputy OWC national coordinator Maj Gen Sam Kavuma, who also represented UPDF, among others.
Several speakers in the church did not go for spiritual moments but rather showed joy as they spoke about the achievements of the late army general.
Gen Ali said he knew the deceased in early 1968 when he had just joined the army.
“I think that’s why the government chose me to be the chief mourner. But I am not the chief mourner, we are all mourners, the deceased was all our friend,” he said.
He added: Brig Kodili has died but he will still be remembered for his contribution in the transformation of Uganda’s army from National Resistance Army to UPDF.
Ms Kodili described her late husband as a calm man in everything.
“I do not have a lot to say right now, neither do I have energy to talk, but I’m sad that my husband has died,” she said.
The children, led by Dr Richard Mangwi Ayiasi, described their father as a lovely man, kind and an educationist.
“We did not have enough resources but our dad managed to educate all of us in the family to degree level,” he said.
“He was a loving and caring man. He was humble and a great lover. He loved people from all walks of life. If he found a 16-year-old, he would lower himself, if he found a 90-year-old, he would match to the standard; he was a man of all seasons. He goes down with a lot of information,” Ms Benadette Chandia Kodili eulogised her father.
Born on August 8, 1948, the fallen officer served his country for 54 years.
If it were up to Chandia, her father would have died a four-star general.
“And I don’t take it back, with all due respect because that is what he deserved. But even when he knew he deserved more, he appreciated what he got, and still loved and served his country,” she told mourners.
In an earlier interview with this newspaper, fallen Maj Gen Kasirye Ggwanga intimated that he was introduced to military service by Brig Gen Kodili, with whom they later headlined as members of Uganda Freedom Movement (UFM) under the leadership Andrew Kayiira.
“He loved his family and cared for us. He always implored his children to study, telling them education would secure their future,” Ms Kodili told mourners at Mbuya.
The two met and fell in love in 1974. They got married the next year. Over the years, they raised a family of 16 children.
Charles Tabu, Daily Monitor’s Seeds of Gold magazine editor, said he will remember his father as a man who treated people equally.
“At home, everyone was treated the same, irrespective of whether you were his child or a house helper,” he said.
Ms Safinah Nabanja, a former house helper at the fallen general’s home, said: “He was a good man who was respectful. If you visited his home, you would never know that I was a house girl. On Saturdays when he took the family out to relax, I was taken along, and that is how I got to hangout in nice places such as Grand Imperial Hotel, Fairway Hotel, Fang Fang Restaurant, Sheraton Kampala Hotel. He was hard to annoy. He helped my children get jobs. All I can ask the Lord is to let the soul of ‘general’ rest in peace.”
Mr Sowedi Kijakuunsi said he met Brig Kodili through a relative. “I became his adopted son, who he trusted with the management of his agricultural endeavours in Wobulenzo, Luweero District, since 1987,” he said.
“The world has looked at him as a general in the uniform, but he has been a dad and I have told people that his other name is ‘humble’ because given a man of his stature, he would have been more pompous and arrogant. That wasn’t him. When he talked about his military career, it was an amazing journey,” Chandia further extols her fallen father.
During the funeral service that was presided over by Rev Fr Nicholas Onyait, Curate of Our Lady of Africa Catholic Church Mbuya, speakers also cherished the work done by Gen Kodili towards the social economic development of the army.
Brig Kodili left one wife 16 children and 16 grandchildren.
He will be laid to rest in Logoba Village in Moyo District near the Uganda-Sudan border tomorrow.
Military career
Brig Mark Kodili joined the forces on March 26, 1968 and rose through the ranks from platoon commander to Brigadier general.
Appointments held
1974- 1978: Administrative office, Kabamba.
1986- 1987: Director, combat logistics, Land Forces headquarters
1988- 1989: Logistics officer, Land Forces headquarters
1989- 1996: Deputy director of records, Land Forces headquarters
1996- 1998: Director of welfare, directorate of loans and welfare
1998- 2001: Chief of logistics and engineering, Chieftaincy of Logistics and Engineering
2001- 2002: Director of Chieftaincy of Personnel and Administration, UPDF headquarters.
2002- 2003: Chief Personnel and Administration, UPDF headquarters
2010: UPDF headquarters, chairman Division Court Martial
July 18 2018: Retired from active service of the army.
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