Deputy Premier Eriya Kategaya Passes On
RIP Kategaya
Uganda’s First Deputy Prime Minister Hon Eriya kategaya is dead. He passed away today at Nairobi hospital where he was admitted last month with deep venous thrombosis (DVT), a reliable source in Nairobi told Red Pepper that he passed away Saturday evening at 7 pm.
Thrombosis is a condition in which blood flow is blocked due to a clot.
At the time of his death, he was serving as Uganda’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs.
Kategaya was born on 4 July 1945 in Kyamate, Ntungamo District district, in western Uganda. Eriya Kategaya is a longtime associate of President Yoweri Museveni, starting from their school days at Ntare School in the early 1960s.
Kategaya holds a Bachelor of Law (LLB), degree from the University of Dar-es-Salaam. At the time of his graduation the university was part of the University of East Africa. His friend, Yoweri Museveni, attended Dar-es-Salaam University at the same time.
Kategaya was part of Museveni’s Front for National Salvation (FRONASA), a group of Ugandan exiles in Tanzania who eventually helped topple Idi Amin in 1979 with the help of the Tanzania People’s Defence Force. In 1980, he was a founder of the Uganda Patriotic Movement, headed by Museveni to contest in the elections.
When Museveni launched the guerrilla struggle against the Milton Obote II administration (1981 – 1985), Kategaya served in the ‘External Wing’ of the rebel National Resistance Movement (NRM) and National Resistance Army (NRA). The NRM transformed into the National Resistance Movement political party, while the NRA became the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF).
When the NRM and NRA eventually took power in January 1986, Kategaya was one of the groups’ top leaders and was considered by most as the Number Two after Museveni. Between 1986 and 2001, Kategaya served in various capacities that included National Political Commissar for the NRM and Minister in Museveni’s governments.
During Museveni’s second term as elected President (2001 – 2006), Kategaya, then serving as Internal Affairs Minister, famously fell out with the President when he opposed moves to have the Constitution amended to remove presidential term limits. In May 2003, he was dropped from his ministerial position during a Cabinet reshuffle, along with other ministers who opposed the removal of term limits. Kategaya continued to speak out against amending the term limits provision until eventually the heavily pro-Museveni Parliament pushed the amendment through.
From the time he was dropped from the Cabinet, Kategaya returned to practice as a private lawyer with J.B.Byamugisha Advocates, a law firm based in Kampala.
In December 2004, he participated in the formation of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), an anti-Museveni coalition which went on to become the main opposition group in Uganda after the 2006 general elections. Kategaya, however, maintained a low profile and rarely engaged in FDC affairs.
Following Museveni and NRM’s win in the 2006 general elections, rumours began spreading that Kategaya was in reconciliation talks with Museveni. The rumours proved well-founded when Museveni nominated his old ally for approval by the Parliament as a Cabinet Minister. Subsequently, he was appointed to the posts of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs. Kategaya has been instrumental in the continued growth of the East African Community.
In the cabinet reshuffle of 27 May 2011, Eriya Kategaya maintained all his cabinet posts.
Ugandans and members of the world community have taken to social media platforms Twitter and Facebook to express their heartfelt condolences following Kategaya’s death. Below is what some of them had to write;
Annette Keezankorwizi, a duaghter to the fallen Deputy Prime Minister wrote on her Facebook wall
“My dear Friends my Dad has gone to rest…”
Awel Uwihanganye @awel001
“His and many others passing is a challenge 4 GoU to invest in healthcare that can allow citizens to die in dignity at home
Umeme’s Communications Manager Charlotte Kemigyisha through her twitter @Charlie_Kemi also expressed her sympathies saying
“You lived your life to the full to the joy of those around you. May the legacy that you leave behind be mirrored in our lives”
About Post Author
RIP
Uganda as a country has lost a great man. I first knew Mr. Kategaya when we were in Zambia and he was a good man especially to all those who were new he assisted them together with his wife introduced them around to fellow Ugandans like the Rugumayos, the Karugires and other prominent Ugandans who were in Zambia at the time irrespective of our political differences at the time…May his soul rest in peace and. my sincere condolences to the .family and all those who knew him.
You lived a life many should emulate; of country first and self later, sacrificed your joy and freedom and comfort for the liberation of our country. We will miss you as a statesman, elder, patriot, freedom fighter, leader, parent and above all as a disciplined and mature politician of the recent times. when there was a vacuum in our country’s affairs, you and a few others like President Museveni, stood up to be counted, we can never forget that the peace and transformation in Uganda today are a brainchild of you guys embraced by many other country men and women of this great country. Yours has been a life well and meaningfully lived. Rest In Peace.
RIP, let every one know that there`s no bodyguard who is stronger than death so our leaders do the right things, i don`t say that he was a bad person but to those who think they are supper power!!
May his soul rest in eternal peace
I missed him a lot he was not corrupt like Amama Mbabazi