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MTK’s Kitaka awarded in death
Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga with Frederick Kitaka Jr, a son of the deceased. The Archbishop presided over the function at which FX Kitaka was honoured at Pope Paul Memorial Hotel in Lubaga, Kampala.
Francis Xavier Kitaka, the founder of the human and animal pharmaceutical company MTK Uganda Ltd who died last year, has been honoured posthumously by the Rotary Club of Mengo in Kampala.
According to the documents that accompanied the award which was handed to Kitaka’s family on January 25, Kitaka was honoured for the “tremendous contributions he made as a biochemist, MTK company founder, accomplished mentor and businessman, family man and a very charitable Christian whose legacy has been exemplary and is worth emulating.”
The function at which he was honoured was presided over by the Archbishop of Kampala, Dr Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, at Pope Paul Memorial Hotel in Lubaga, Kampala. The archbishop hailed the deceased as a devout Catholic who had genuine love for humanity and worked hard to leave the world better than he found it.
The honour
Eddie Mutebi, the secretary of the Rotary Club of Mengo, said Kitaka was the first person to be honoured by the Rotary Club after his death, but that the decision to honour him had been made earlier last year before he passed away.
However, the restrictions that were necessitated by the outbreak of Covid-19 delayed the occasion. Kitaka, 86, died of Covid-19 on September 12, 2020 and was laid to rest at a low-key function at his home in Bunamwaya in Kampala eight days later.
The Rotary Club of Mengo, one of the oldest in the country, did not have Kitaka as one of its members but, Mutebi says, their board singled out the deceased for the award because of what they noted as his outstanding contributions.
Mutebi said whereas Kitaka was a Catholic, he generously contributed to the construction of mosques in his locality of Bunamwaya, among many more charitable contributions.
The “Meritorious Vocational Award” which the Rotary Club of Mengo posthumously awarded to Kitaka is extended to “people who have served with distinction in their chosen fields”, Mutebi said.
Bishop Hannington Mutebi, who among other things served as Assistant Bishop of Kampala, is one of the notable awardees unto whom the honour was bestowed in the past.
A number of other awardees, Mutebi, says were retired civil servants who served for long with distinction.
Business buds
Bald-headed, burly, bespectacled and nearly always smiling and suited up, Kitaka radiated an aura of a satisfied man. The fruits of a long life of success were on display.
After working abroad and for the Government of Uganda for some years, Kitaka and two friends - Edward Martin and Randall Tierney - bought Wellcome East Africa Limited and renamed it Cooper Uganda Limited in 1989.
They grew the business and in 1994 moved into a building they had bought at Nasser Road in Kampala and renamed their business MTK Holdings Limited.
The new name was derived from the last names of the partners, with the ‘K’ standing for Kitaka. The ‘M’ stands for Martin while the ‘T’ is for Tierney.
MTK grew to become arguably Uganda’s most renowned company in its field, dealing in animal pharmaceuticals, and weed and pest control supplies. It also ventured into human medicine, and the three founders of MTK would later – in 1997 - combine with George Baguma, Frederick Mutebi Kitaka and Emmanuel Katongole to found Quality Chemicals Limited (QCL).
The new company’s original objective was, according to documents we have seen, to import generic drugs, both veterinary and human into the country.
They would later team up with the Indian pharmaceutical company Cipla and start importing Cipla-manufactured pharmaceuticals into Uganda, and later convinced Cipla to build a factory to manufacture anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs in Uganda. Kitaka served as chairman of the board of directors of QCIL from 2007 to November 2013.
In 2013, Cipla acquired majority shareholding in QCIL, and changed the name of the company to CIPLAQCIL. At that time the chairmanship changed to Emmanuel Katongole. Kitaka remained chairman emeritus of the business. Frederick Mutebi Kitaka, one of the directors at what is now called CiplaQCIL, is a son of the deceased.
The father
Kitaka was as God-fearing as he was worldly. Francis Kitaka Jr, while eulogising his father, talked of how his father introduced him to the good things of life, buying him the best watches, perfumes and other personal effects whenever he travelled.
One thing the son said he picked from his father and does often is to pour a little Dettol in bathwater.
“I don’t feel clean when I bathe without Dettol,” Kitaka Jr says.
Kitaka left his businesses in the hands of some of his children, with Fiona Migadde working as managing director of MTK Uganda Ltd while Kitaka Jr is the company’s chief operations officer.
The deceased’s eldest daughter – Dorothy Muwonge – is an entrepreneur running her own business, just like his other daughter Jovia Ndagire Kakooza. Victoria Nabitaka Makumbi, another of Kitaka’s daughters, is the acting assistant commissioner for customs at Uganda Revenue Authority, while Judith Musoke Kitaka works at Centenary Bank and Peter Kitaka, a software engineer, is the CEO of Tinosoft.
