By Oweyegha-Afunaduula
Poet William Shakespeare said, “The world is a stage where we come, play our different roles and then leave.”
This is a tribute to Sabastian Ngobi, who has recently left the stage and played a pivotal role in my life from when we first met in 1972 until recently.
Sabasi Ngobi played very many different roles prior to his death. He was Headmaster of Ruiri High School, in Ruiri, Kenya, for many years, where he helped to employ many Ugandan and Rwandan refugees during the 1980s. At one time there were 45 Ugandan and Rwandan teachers at the school, thanks to Sabasi Ngobi. They included Dr Anthony Isabirye and Dr Herbert Lubita, both in South Africa. Many combatants of Luwero, such as Eriya Kategaya, benefited a lot from Sabasi Ngobi’s tenure at Ruiru High School.
When Sabasi Ngobi came back to Uganda in the early 1990s, he first worked in the defunct Lint Marketing Board as a Personnel Officer. He was then appointed Deputy Academic Officer of Makerere University to Dr Hyuha Mukwanason. When Dr Mukwanason left, Sabasi Ngobi was appointed the substantive Academic Registrar. When he left the Office of Academic Officer, he was appointed Human Resources Manager at Makerere University. On leaving Makerere University upon retirement, he was appointed Director of Human Resources and Technology at the Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB).
Sabasi Ngobi was a man of great insight, wisdom and, of course, experience, corruption-free and very human in everything he set his mind on. Uganda has lost a very useful citizen at a time he was still needed to put sense where there is nonsense.
My fallen old friend – Sabastian Ngobi – was my guardian in real life, especially after I retired from the academic life. He was also my father by virtue of his name, Ngobi, which my father, Charles Afunaduula Ovuma Ngobi Isabirye (1923-2007), also had. Until his death, I have addressed him as Mzee, and whenever I have had issues, he has always been quick to come in with wisdom to resolve them.
Ngobi is a name given to the children of the Princesses of the Ngobi Clan of Busoga.
Ngobi was a Catholic Christian, and I was a Protestant Christian. However, religion was never to be a barrier for us in building a long-term, worthwhile relationship. After all, my mother, Stephanie Ester Naigaga Nawamwena Kyabwe Wabiseatyo (1932-2016), was also a Catholic Christian married to a Protestant Christian. It was very easy to weave a long-term relationship with Sabasi Ngobi because religion was a non-issue to me, having been nurtured by parents of divergent religious orientations.
I first met Sabastian Ngobi in July 1972 in Jinja on an Akamba bus, which used to move between Uganda and Tanzania through Nairobi, Kenya. The bus was full of many other young men and women, all going to Dar-es-Salaam to join the University of Dar-es-Salaam for various undergraduate courses. The group included people like Muhimbura, Rwatangabo, Ms Jjuko, Ms Namakula, Ms Gutta, Kakembo, Lutalo, Ms Rusooke, Asaba, Rugumayo, Lumuli, Davies Bagambiire, Okumu Wengi, Paul Gwaira, John Balirwa, Fred Mufumba, Olwitingol, Chemisto, and Mukubwa Tumusiime. Charles Kawagga, who had been my best friend at Busoga College, Mwiri, from 1966 to 1971, was on site to bid us farewell.
Ngobi was coming from Namiryango College, a strongly Catholic college, and I was coming from Busoga College, Mwiri, a strongly Protestant college. So, we were emerging from completely different college cultures and going to a university where religion did not matter.
Interestingly, on the Akamba bus, Ngobi and I became instant friends. On the bus there were colleagues who already knew me very well because we had studied together at Mwiri Primary School and Busoga College Mwiri. These were Paul Gwaira, Chemisto, Olwitingol, Fred Mufumba and John Balirwa.
There was also Davies Bagambiire, who was joining the University of Dar-es-Salaam from Mbale High School. His father and his father, Birenzo, were great friends. I had known Davies Bagambiire in 1969 when he and his father visited my father at Nawaka when I was on holiday and was also lucky to know him that early. Apparently, Bagambiire, Ngobi and I have remained interconnected since our University of Dar-es Salaam times, until now, when Ngobi has left us.
While on the Akamba bus on our way to the University of Dar-es-Salaam, I developed nausea, felt very sick and vomited a lot. Although all the Ugandan students on the bus showed a lot of sympathy, it was Sabasi Ngobi and Davies Bagambiire who were much closer to me during the unpleasant ordeal, which continued even when we reached the University of Dar-es-Salaam. Davies Bagambiire and Sabasi Ngobi took me to the University Hospital as soon as we arrived. I spent a night at the hospital.
Ngobi and I were allocated to Hall 2, which was one of the 6 Halls of Residence of the University for students. We would sometimes sit just in front of Hall 2 to watch the university women move to and fro their Hall 3 because they had to pass via our Hall, in which I shared a double-decker bed with Okumu Wengi (later Judge Okumu). We were never able to pick future wives, however much our eyes searched. In fact, all of us (Davies Bagambiire, Sabasi Ngobi and I), unlike our elder, Henry Makmot, left the university without future wives.
Ngobi suffered with me so much because I regularly suffered from malaria. He would always take me to the university hospital, where I was sometimes hospitalised for a day or two. I don’t remember which hall Davies Bagambiire was in, but he would also regularly check on me.
What I should not forget to mention is that whenever we got holidays, Sabasi Ngobi and I would go to Mombasa and spend time with Lt Bob Kagaata Namiti (not the Kagaata Namiti who was incarcerated at Luziira by President Tibuhaburwa Museveni and did not survive prison life). While in Mombasa, we would always link up with the late Martin Musumba, my Nawaka villagemate and long-term friend, who was then the manager of Uganda TransOcean Ltd. Martin Musumba would make our stay in Mombasa lively because he had the means to do so.
Let me end this tribute by mentioning those aspects of my life in which Sabasi Ngobi was centrally involved:
1. My education life at Nairobi University (he funded the revision of my master’s thesis before I could graduate in 1986).
2. He cared for my family from 1983 to 1986 when he was the headmaster of Ruiru High School, Ruiru, Kenya. When, in 1985, I left Jinja Senior Secondary School, where I was teaching biology and geography part-time while waiting to hear from the University of Nairobi to invite me for my MSc viva, he welcomed my wife, two children and me at his residence. We felt at home. I was able to correct my thesis at his expense.
3. He was centrally involved in my being employed by the Kenya Teachers Service Commission, which posted me to Kanunga High School, Kiambu, to teach biology and geography (1986-1989).
4. He was the chief guest at my wedding at Bulawa Church of Uganda, Nawaka, in 2016. He delivered a memorable speech and, of course, supported the event financially.
5. Surgery on my eyes at Mengo Eye Clinic to remove cataracts from my eyes (February 2021). He supported financially.
6. He was centrally involved in my hospitalisation and later surgery on my prostate gland in September 2025 at Uro-Care Hospital, Nansana.
I will miss Sabasi Ngobi.
May his soul rest in peace.
Prof. Oweyegha-Afunaduula
Center for Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis
