Africa-Press – Uganda. If you are either a media practitioner or a business entrepreneur and you never crossed the path of Pius Kamugisha, alias Uncle Pio, then you missed countless treasured life lessons.
Such was Uncle Pio’s persona and generosity that the downtrodden and affluent tapped from his overflowing wisdom chalice.
The reserved and kindhearted father of five succumbed to accident injuries last Saturday night after the black UBK320P Benz he was cruising rammed into a Toyota Hilux driven by Lt Col Ephraim Byarugaba on the Entebbe-Kampala Expressway. Kamugisha is said to have lost control and hit the middle concrete barrier after he fatally attempted to overtake Byarugaba.
Kalungu East lawmaker Joseph Ssewungu—whilst speaking at St Jude Catholic Church in Wakiso during a requiem mass on Tuesday—watered down a police report that blamed Kamugisha for the accident. Mr Ssewungu re-echoed the dismissal—and even hinted at foul play—during the burial in Ibanda on Wednesday.
“Those at the scene said the overtaking indicator light was still operating as he was being retrieved from the wreckage,” he noted.
Mr Ssewungu, who studied with Kamugisha in primary school at Savio-Kisubi and Kabojja Primary School, labelled the poorly lit accident black spot on the expressway as a point of concern. His pleas on the same in Parliament have fallen on deaf ears.
Defined by class
Always looking dapper in fitting suits, Adidas kicks and trademark glasses, Kamugisha lived life in the fast lane. He liked his rides and changed expensive Benzs and BMW models like diapers. Despite this glitzy outward appearance, Kamugisha easily mingled with the underprivileged. Some who eulogised him attribute such mannerisms to being brought up by a well-to-do dad and a stepmother who treated him like one of her own.
After attending St Mary’s College Kisubi and Makerere University Business School (Mubs) in the early 1990s, Kamugisha took on a lucrative job as direct sales personnel at then Celtel-Uganda.
He would join the defunct Crusader Publications in 1997 as the circulations manager.
Later, he served as head of content at SMS Media before taking on the CEO role at BlueCube for eight years.
Alongside Dr Innocent Nahabwe and Robert Busingye Itwara, aka Bobby, he would go on to become a joint owner in a number of business undertakings, including Galaxy FM, 991 bar in Salaama, Kagwirawo Betting Company, BlueCube and Galaxy TV expected to soon hit the airwaves.
“He was the calmest of the three of us,” Bobby reminisced, adding that Kamugisha “usually spoke last and his submissions often availed the remedy or way forward.”
Premonition
October 21 began as a normal Saturday for Kamugisha—this time with a simple errand in the afternoon to drive his eldest daughter Mercy Kamugisha to Entebbe Airport as she jetted out to undertake a postgraduate degree in Law in the United Kingdom.
Seemingly with a hunch of what was to befall him at night, he told a friend from his Senge-Wakiso residence that he was taking Mercy to the airport but was afraid it was the last time he was going to see her.
Mercy, a bachelor’s of Law degree holder from Makerere University with a Diploma in the same from LDC, had resisted the temptation to check her WhatsApp messages while airborne. She only dared to unlock her phone while at Heathrow airport in London only to be greeted by a bombshell.
“Daddy has loved us and has done everything for us. He has left us with lots of memories,” she told mourners upon her return three days later, adding: “I’m sure all my siblings will miss his love.”
If you’re still touched by that, spare a thought for Kamugisha’s mother—Agnes Nanyanzi. Two hours earlier, she had called her son to inquire whether Mercy had jetted off. He answered in affirmative, thanked her for the prayer she had said and wished her a good night. Those last words still reverberate in her ears.
“Pius was my last burning candle. He looked after me while I was sick and I’m not sure the house he was building for me in Kayabwe (Mpigi) will ever get finished now that he is gone,” Ms Nanyanzi, who has now buried all her eight children, said.
Solomonic judgment
This reporter first met Kamugisha 10 years ago. In 2021, I locked horns with my then Galaxy FM workmate—Mosh Sendi—in the Ggaba and Kansanga lord councillorship race. To sway the voters, I wanted to get a hefty car loan on top of the millions I had spent. Like a father, Kamugisha advised me against selling off my Premio and getting more loans just to get into City Hall.
When I lost the lord councillorship race at the hands of Mr Sendi, the damage was minimal. It would have been worse had I not received Uncle Pio’s counsel. I was not the only Galaxy FM employee to profit from Kamugisha’s wisdom.
“He cared about the staff welfare, was restless during the two-year Covid-19 pandemic to see that the working spirit at the station didn’t diminish. He was excellent at editing Luganda pieces, instantly corrected presenters’ mistakes and always reminded us not to go overboard in tabloid presentations,” recalls Ashraf Habib Ajobe, the station general manager.
Ms Daphine Nakyambadde, a receptionist at the radio, fondly remembers Uncle Pio buying her “tasty pizzas if I executed … decoration gigs for his family and friends.”
A go-getter
According to Robert Ssemwogerere, the director of Fusion Auto Spa Munyonyo—where the late Kamugisha spent majority of his leisure time—he showed shades of business acumen right from the time they met as students in 1992. In the last decade, Uncle Pio had overseen the inception of 10 developmental Saccos.
“He lives behind a legacy of honesty, Ubuntu spirit and was an embodiment of Ugandanism,” Mr Ssemwogerere revealed, adding: “I told him all my secrets thinking I am going to die before him.”
Dr Nahabwe, in a crestfallen tone, revealed the adventurous trait that saw him and the deceased kick-start a string of businesses across a 17-year stretch.
“We met in 2005 at SMS Media where he resigned … In 2009, we started the defunct Amnesia club that morphed into 991 Club in 2018. We founded Kagwirawo Betting and Galaxy FM, among the many other prosperous business ventures we co-own,” Nahabwe looked back before pledging to continue supporting the bereaved family.
Bountiful hand
According to St Maria Muzeyi Catholic Church-Senge Head of Laity, Mwanje Lubowa, Kamugisha contributed generously towards the construction of the church. At St Jude Church in Wakiso, he spearheaded the ongoing renovation at the facility.
Villagers at Senge will remember a free spirited soul who loved his Heineken warm and puffed away his Rex cigarette from a distance.
His wife Esther Wamala Kamugisha, a longtime news producer at CBS FM, remembers thinking the accident news was a joke until, to her horror, it proved right once she reached Mulago hospital.
“Two years ago, we had our wedding and the theme was growing old together. Imagine the pain I have, especially having lost my brother Patrick Kakeeto on September 28 and now the love of my life,” she said of the man she had two young boys (Daniel Barigye Kamugisha and David Atwine Kamugisha) with.
Perhaps Kamugisha got a hunch of his fate for he tweeted in 2016 thus: “Life is like a wet piece of soap. Hold it too lightly and you lose it. Hold it too tightly, you still lose it.”
Kamugisha had used the Entebbe Express Bypass for its entire lifespan and advised colleagues to always avoid the ‘black spots.’ Little did he know that one would claim his life at the tender age of 48.
Kamugisha at a glance
Born: November 24, 1971
Place of birth: Ibanda
Married to: Esther Wamala
Children: Mercy Kamugisha, Daniel Kamugisha, David Kamugisha, Manuel Kamugisha and Adrian Kamugisha.
Schools: Our Lady of Africa Mbuya, St Savio Junior School, St Mary’s College Kisubi and Mubs.
Worked at: Celtel, Crusader Publications, SMS Media,BlueCube Ltd, Galaxy FM, Amnesia Club
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