By Mulengera Reporters
During the Wednesday Church Service at All Saints Cathedral in Kampala, the freshly widowed Rushenyi MP Naome Kabasharira relived many memories including those aimed at illustrating the extent to which her fallen husband Maj John Kazoora was as humorous as his parents, especially the mum.
That one time, Gen Museveni, with whom Kazoora had bitterly fallen out following 3rd term-related disagreements in 2005, sneaked into Rutooma village of Kashari County in Mbarara district and paid a private visit to his mother. Museveni was on his way from burial of some big person who had died after being flown to some of the best hospitals in the world.
He told the old woman he was here to say hi to her and ask a few questions which would help him understand and appreciate life better given that old age had enabled her see more things than him.
Naome said that Kazoora’s mum took her lunch in Museveni’s presence and immediately after demanded that he leaves to enable her take her medicine and rest strictly as her doctors had directed. This had become her routine and it’s something she had been strictly adhering to and doing for years.
Museveni humbled himself and requested to have a few more minutes to finish his questions and leave. He indeed summarized but before leaving, he signaled one of his assistants to bring a huge khaki envelope for the elderly lady who received it while beaming with blessedness and saw him off.
Days later, Kazoora learnt about it and stormed the home. According to Naome, he teased his mum about the khaki envelope by saying: “Now that you have a lot of money, which I hear Museveni gave you in a huge khaki envelope, prepare yourself and we fly you to American to get the best medication.”
The elderly lady responded to her son in a very hilarious way: “Eeh you mean to say in America people don’t die? Who tells you that going to America will prevent me from dying when my day has come? If that was the case, how come the President was coming from burying somebody who died in America if it’s indeed true that people who medicate there don’t die?”
In a bid to demonstrate that Kazoora had inherited his cheekiness and stubbornness from his parents, Naome Kabasharira recalled how Kazoora stormed his parents’ home in Rutooma and demanded that they abandon Museveni’s NRM and join Kizza Besigye’s FDC.
“They told him to his face we don’t want that Besigye confusion of yours. You the one who came here with your NRA excitement saying we abandon our UPC of Milton Obote and we reluctantly agreed to embrace your Movement and your Museveni and now you are the same person wanting us to join something else. You are all confused and the same. For us we are better off returning to our UPC because we understand it,” Naome quoted the parents as declaring to their son whose new party FDC and leader Besigye they refused to embrace and instead returned to their UPC.
Indeed, UPC was strong in Ankole and more so Bushenyi and Kashari where the late ex-Obote II Minister and area MP Prof Patrick Rubaihayo hailed from. This is something even Kashari South MP Nathan Itungo Twesigye, who competed with and defeat Kazoora in 2021, hinted upon. His dad Itungo Senior was the UPC Chairman for Kashari County and Obote, through Chris Rwakasisi, had even given him as SMG to promote security while keep Museveni’s NRA rebels at bay.
Eventually when NRA won power in 1986, it was DC Kazoora who mobilized and convinced people in the Itungo household to abandon UPC for NRM. The two old men, Kazoora Sr and Itungo Sr, has been old friends and served or fought together in the second World War under the KAF. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
