Hon. Fredrick Mbagadhi. Nkayi, the former Kagoma County Member of Parliament has mourned Dr. Frank Nabwiso, a prominent scholar and politician who died on Saturday 14th December, 2024.
Dr. Nabwiso breathed his last from Mukono Church of Uganda Hospital where he had been hospitalized after a short illness.
Dr. Nabwiso served as the Member of Parliament for Kagoma County in Jinja District from 2001 to 2006. In 2006, he was defeated by Hon. Nkayi in a highly contested race.
Hon. Nkayi who served as the area legislator for two terms, is currently the Commissioner at the RDC Secretariat In charge of Kampala Metropolitan Area.
Speaking to this website today, Hon. Nkayi described the late Nabwiso as a transparent, humble and down to earth person.
“As a matter of principle, Dr. Nabwiso was a person who stood firmly for what he believed in. Even when and where perceived wrong in action by others, no amount of intimidation could suppress him,” he said.
“Despite having different political ideologies, Dr. Nabwiso was my good and close friend. I remember after winning him in the 2006 elections,he ran to court but still the law ruled in my favor. It was a stiff court battle and he was ordered to pay me costs amounting to Shs257 million,” he reminisced.
Hon Nkayi further revealed that after the court battle , he was struck by Dr. Nabwiso’ s level of humbleness, when he contacted him and requested a meeting at his parliamentary office.
“When we met, he requested me to forgive him, saying that he was not in the position to raise that amount of money. He told me that he was a corrupt-free man who never immensed any ill-gotten wealth out of politics. He also confessed to me that subjecting him to prison for failure to pay such hefty sums would be condemning him to death. That level of humbleness and humility struck me and I let go. It was that incident that sparked off in me, a new era of perception about him,”Hon. Nkayi disclosed.
“Despite forgiving him, we had a challenge of settling the legal team’s costs. This was however concluded by God’s grace who enabled me to mobilise our friends to fundraise for part of those costs, which money I together with Dr. Nabwiso delivered to the lawyers,” he added.
Hon. Nkayi added that the incident kicked off their friendship since then.
“That incident brought us together to the extent that we became family friends and shared a lot together as colleagues. He could even invite me to his home for social functions as well as other engagements where he was invited as the former MP. We could go and present together,” he said.
Hon. Nkayi further revealed that while in parliament, when he was appointed as the Vice Chairperson for the Parliamentary Committee on National Economy, Dr. Nabwiso was among the first people to congratulate him.
“Even when I successfully spearheaded and moved a motion on the floor of Parliament in lieu of securing government funding for the Neonatal women’s hospital complex at Mulago, he dearly congratulated me.Clearly this was an indication that he never developed or harboured any grudge against me after the lost battle for the constituency,” Hon. Nkayi noted.
“The calibre of such a person is the man we are going to miss. May His Soul Rest In Eternal Peace,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, in 2021, Dr. Nabwiso contested on the flag of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) for the Jinja City mayoral seat. Unfortunately, he lost to National Unity Platform (NUP)’s candidate Peter Kasolo.
He has been very instrumental in resolving internal party disputes, most notably chairing the committee that investigated allegations by Dr. Kizza Besigye regarding FDC leadership’s receipt of government campaign funds for the 2021 general elections.
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