Former Uganda President Binaisa Passes Away

At the ripe age of 90 did former Ugandan president Godfrey Binaisa pass away yesterday, 05th of August 2010.

At the ripe age of 90 did former Ugandan president Godfrey Binaisa pass away yesterday, 05th of August 2010. Godfrey Binaisa was notably the only surviving past head of state in Uganda and had lived for the past few years in Kampala, where he enjoyed the privileges of a former president as provided for by law.

He served the country for 11 months after the overthrow of notorious dictator Idi Amin between June 1979 and May 1980 before being removed from office when he tried to send a powerful top army officer abroad as ambassador.

He was then succeeded by a โ€˜presidential commissionโ€™ which remained in office until the rigged elections in 1981 returned the other notorious Ugandan dictator Milton Obote to power, leading to the liberation war which ended with Yoweri Kaguta Museveni taking office after defeating the enemies of a free Uganda.

The late Binaisa will be accorded a full state funeral according to state house sources and President Museveni is leading the nation in mourning. Sincere condolences to the family of the late Binaisa and may he now rest in eternal peace.

We are gutted and really depressed,โ€ said Ms Nakalema Binaisa, a daughter to the former President. Visibly distraught by the death, Ms Nakalema struggled to hold back tears in an interview with this newspaper.

โ€œWe went to the hospital on Monday but we were told that his blood sugar levels had stabilised,โ€ she said. โ€œWe went back home and he seemed alright. His nurse went to check on him before he went to sleep and he was smiling last night [Wednesday].

This morning [yesterday] at 6am she went to wake him for his bath but he did not wake up.โ€ His body was taken to the Mulago Hospital yesterday morning for a post-mortem examination. Ms Nakalema said her fatherโ€™s physicians suspect the former leader could have died due to a cardiac arrest.

โ€œHis heart just stopped beating,โ€ she said. โ€œHe was always with us, happy and we had so many plans. He was a fabulous human being; we are so gutted.โ€
Arrangements are under way for a state funeral for the former leader. Officials at the Office of the President and the Prime Ministerโ€™s Office are coordinating burial arrangements, the government said.

Mr Binaisa is said to have been battling diabetes before his death. The former leader was in poor health after he suffered a stroke in 2008 which kept him bedridden in a Nairobi hospital for more than a month. His subsequent appearances in public became limited.

A nephew to the former leader, Mr Martin Lwanga, told reporters at the Media Centre that Mr Binaisa had not been in good health for the past year.
โ€œ… and given his age, you can understand the circumstances,โ€ he said.

Last wish
It also emerged that the former president had left a wish list detailing where he would like to be buried, a request that Mr Lwanga said had been handed to the government.

Daily Monitor understands that Mr Binaisaโ€™s last wish was a desire to be buried at the Kololo ceremonial grounds, next to the resting place of Ignatius Kangave Musaazi, founder of Ugandaโ€™s first political party, the Uganda National Congress.
โ€œ

Musaazi was his mentor and it is he who brought daddy into politics,โ€ said Ms Nakalema.

As news of his death spread, condolence messages began trickling in. The government hastily arranged a press briefing at the Media Centre in Kampala where journalists were told that President Museveni had been informed about Binaisaโ€™s death and expressed sadness.

โ€œPresident Museveni on behalf of the government of Uganda conveys condolences to the family, relatives and friends,โ€ said Media Centre director Fred Opolot.

In Parliament, Deputy Speaker Rebecca Kadaga broke news of his death and led the House to observe a minute of silence in honour of the former president. She said details relating to his burial and official mourning ceremony would be โ€œcommunicated by government following consultations with relatives.โ€

Mr Binaisa is survived by seven children; three boys and four girls, plus four grand children and a great grand child.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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