The Kirumira we remember

FATHERLY. ASP Muhammed Kirumira flanked by his wife and colleagues as he looks at his baby. Photo MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI

What you need to know:

  • IN MEMORIAM. Energetic, outspoken and jolly, describe ASP Muhammad Kirumira, alias, Mwoyo gwa Ggwanga. At 34, he was shot dead last weekend near his home in Bulenga.
  • CHRISTINE KATENDE finds out what different people remember about the fallen policeman.

I reach Mpambire, Ngoma stage at 12.50pm. This is ASP Muhammad Kirumira’s ancestral home. It is quiet save for the noise from vehicles plying the Masaka-Mbarara highway.
I meet three women at the home. They are Kirumira’s relatives. This trip seeks to find out who Kirumira was, away from the straightforward and vocal police officer we saw on TV. One of them offers to contact someone who could help me in this regard.

Childhood
I meet Daniel Kawooya Tabula, Kirumira’s cousin and childhood friend near the trading centre. I learn that the two attended the same school and were classmates in Primary One and Two at Lwanga Primary School in Mpigi. Kirumira later joined Mpambire UMEA Primary School Mpigi.
“Kirumira was a good, humble and hardworking child,” Tabula describes his friend.
“We grew up playing and fetching water together,” Tabula recalls. They loved playing football and riding bicycles around the homestead.
In class, Tabula remembers Kirumira as one of the most intelligent pupils who used to push teachers to give more explanations in class. This earned him special affection from the teachers.
“Kirumira was an intellectual who challenged many. He always come top in his class despite missing classes on different occasions, such as when his father delayed to clear his school fees balance,” says Fahad Mubiru, another childhood and close friend with whom they shared a room.
Juma Ssemujju, an elder who makes drums in the area, also remembers Kirumira as a hardworking, obedient, social and intelligent young boy.
He says , “Kirumira would interpret English news articles to Luganda at a fast speed for us. I cannot forget him grazing and milking his father’s cows,” adds Mubiru.”

His personality
Tabula remembers Kirumira as a short tempered boy who easily got into fights with anyone who annoyed him.
Isma Mugwanya, his other good friend, remembers Kirumira as reserved though he would get physical if provoked. At times, he walked away when irked.
At a tender age, Tabula says, Kirumira was vocal. When he was about nine years old, he mobilised villagers for community service.
“Kirumira would gather us alongside old people and tell us to go and clean the well. I remember him walking from home to home calling people. Most people heeded and acted accordingly,” recalls Tabula.
His neighbours at Gogonya Zone in Bulenga, where Kirumira lived at the time of his demise, remember Kirumira for the same.
“Afande was so tidy, he never wanted to live in a dirty environment and it is because of his continuous mobilisation that this place (neighbourhood) was always clean. He has been calling out people from their houses to clean their surroundings and the trenches,” says a woman who only identified herself as Maama Ssanyu.
Mubiru reminisces that, “since childhood, Kirumira hated people with long fingers (thieves). He always cautioned us never to seek help from him if any of us were involved in theft cases.”
“He was also a very committed Muslim who never missed observing the mandatory five daily prayers and attended Muslim functions,” Mugwanya recalls.
The noble Afande always preached unity among his siblings and family members.
Baker Kuteesa his younger brother, remembers him for his big heart and love for reading the Koran and Bible. He usually quoted from both books with ease.
“Kirumira never held grudges. He hated corruption and it is no wonder he is likely to have died for telling the truth,” he says.

The hard worker
During his Senior Three holidays and Senior Four vacation, he worked to make ends meet.
“We shared a lot as close friends. We burnt charcoal when he was in secondary school. He was trustworthy; many people trusted him to keep their money,”recalls Mubiru.
Kirumira was not only known to his mates but even the old.Specioza Nantaba, who I find at one of the restaurants in Mpambire Town, remembers him for being a humble young man who respected everyone regardless of their age, status or religion.
“He once came to my shop and asked for help when his father could not provide, I gave him sugar and a loaf of bread. And he has always remembered me for this Samaritan act which I did because of his good character that wasn’t so common among youths,” says Nantaba.
She remembers all the times Kirumira passed by her shop to say hello whenever he went to Mpambire to visit his relatives and friends.

As a boda boda rider
He was stationed at Mwana Waani stage in Mpambire. Mugwanya, the chairman of the boda boda stage says he got to know Kirumira in 1998. Kirumira approached Mugwanya, requesting to be a member of the stage. He paid the membership fee of Shs100,000 and operated from the stage until 2002.
Kirumira was a smart rider who would not let fellow riders park at the stage if they were dirty. Because of that, he was elected ‘health prefect’ for the stage. As an exemplary leader, Mugwanya says, Kirumira washed his motorcycle at least four times a week.
Whereas many graduates are sceptical of revealing their education journey to outsiders, Joseph Nsubuga, a teacher at Mpambire UMEA, remembers Kirumira picking the microphone during his graduation party and telling guests that to survive in school, he got pocket money from riding a boda boda.
After his studies, Kirumira embarked on job hunting. But when he failed to get one he went back to riding a boda boda using his father’s motorcycle.
“At that time, we had never seen a graduate doing boda boda business. You know, we used to think graduates were of a very high class. So, his humility surprised most of us. He also worked at his father’s drum workshop before he eventually joined the police force,” adds Tabula.
At the time of his death, Kirumira was a committee advisor at his former boda boda stage and had promised to donate two boda bodas to the stage, which he had to deliver a week before his murder.

When he joined the force
Kirumira was a jack of all trades. He possessed other skills such as welding and drum-making. Apart from the boda boda business, he taught at Mpigi Central Primary school after graduating with a Diploma in Education from Nkozi National Teachers’ College. However, he did not teach for long.
“He had graduated as a secondary school teacher, so he would not match with the primary level and this bored him. I think that is when he decided to join the police force,” reveals Nsubuga.
It was not a surprise to Mubiru that Kirumira became a police officer for he was passionate about working in police.
“Kirumira kept telling me about his love for police and sometimes he imitated the sound of police cars while running around the house. I would just laugh at him. He also loved making guns from yam stalks,” Mubiru reminisces.

Sociable
Farouq Ssekitoleko remembers Kirumira as a good customer who always visited his shop to do mobile money transactions.
“That man was social. He would leave his car home and walk but he would never bypass anyone without greeting them. Our village might never have anyone like him,” Ssekitoleko remarks.
Isma Ssendiisa, who owns a butchery where Kirumira often bought meat for his family, recalls;
“Afande used to call me ‘Butcherman’ whenever he came to buy meat. He was one of my regular clients. Most of all, he was always cracking jokes, I miss him.”
Despite attaining a “good” rank in the police force, Kirumira, according to his neighbours, remained “one of us”.
Also, from childhood Kirumira was influential in his family matters.

Grief turned hostile
Meanwhile, the mood is still sombre in his home area , Bulenga and around the trading centre where he used to hang out. This might explain the harsh reaction from the boda boda riders at Musoke Stage where Kirumira used to hire most of the riders.
“Madam, we do not want visitors here,” one of them angrily says to me during this visit.
I insist, move closer and take a seat inside the papyrus structure, I greet them again with a smile.
“We are still angry about our friend’s mysterious death, what else do you want to know? Do you want us to throw you out? Leave this place right away! Don’t even waste your time, go to his home if you want any information about him. Leave now…!” they instruct me.
Kirumira will forever be remembered not only by his family but those he interacted with.