Cosmas Warugaba: The real man for all seasons

Educators say he was their pride, ‘stolen’ from the enclaves of Nyamitanga school for his good English and taken to read news for the nation.

Journalism drapes him in honours—a pioneer English newscaster on the national broadcaster.

Poets say he was their own, one who shared a dais with Okot P’Bitek. The performing arts still gushes about the man who formed the first ever drama ensemble in the country and performed in Europe.

And in the midst of it all, Idi Amin could have reminded the nation that Warugaba was his man, the one he had dragged to Radio Uganda on the evening of January 25, 1971, to help clear the way for the announcement of the overthrow of Milton Obote.

In a flick, flip a page and there is Cosmas, look up a chapter and you have Warugaba. In the epilogue they called him Mzee. And in death, an icon, a legend, and more.

“Mzee Warugaba was a patriot and national treasure who served the country with dedication at every task he put his hands on,” former Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda said in his tribute shared on X.

Writing obituaries is usually a fluid art. You only have to avoid offending the dead or their relatives. But for Warugaba it is migraine just deciding what page of his illustrious career to peg.

In a tribute shared on social media, the Rev Fr John Mary Vianney Kanyesigye said his grandfather was a teacher before he was tapped for the job of English news reader at Radio Uganda.

“One beautiful day, an official from BBC approached and requested me to join Radio Uganda’s English news section,” Fr Kanyesigye shared of his grandfather’s remarkable career change from a music, dance and drama and sports teacher at Nyamitanga to a celebrated broadcaster.

On the eve of Uganda’s first independence anniversary, the national television was founded. Radio Uganda had gone on air nine years earlier and the British colonial vein still pumped the blood that ran the heart of the broadcaster.

Fr Kanyesigye recalls his grandfather recounting: “I am sure some people directed [the BBC staff] to me, because I was widely known for speaking good English.”

Julius Mucunguzi, a journalist and public affairs communicator, says those who “grew up in those years will tell you that the man was a master of the language and spoke with impeccable clarity.”

Modest achievement
Warugaba was not rich but that depends on how one defines wealth. Andrew Bits Busingye, a grandnephew, says Warugaba’s home in Buhumuriro, Kagongo is a modest one.

“He liked class, but not that opulent kind of lifestyle,” Busingye says, explaining that a picture taken during Dr Rugunda’s courtesy call in April 2021 was from his daughter Mildred’s home in Kampala.

Yet one cannot help noting that in a profession where poverty is often the medal of honour for many on this side of planet earth, Warugaba was certainly a distinguished exception.

For a man who once gave out several acres of his personal land to help in his dream of having the University of Africa founded in his hometown, he certainly had grand dreams and a big heart.

That is the wealth.

And therein, too, lies the stark contrast in Warugaba’s life to that of another celebrated newscaster, Francis Bbale, who died in 2015, leaving behind what The East African would call a “poverty that lingers on to embarrass the nation.”

For many to-date, the image of Bbale’s white head of hair, friendly smile, large kind eyes and the impeccable English “can’t just go away” – like he loved imploring viewers not to leave during a commercial break.

Bbale might as well have only shared history with Warugaba, the top medal for distinguished service that they both received from President Museveni, and unfulfilled promises.

Bbale died at 62 waiting for a house promised to him by the State, while on Wednesday, Warugaba was laid to rest at 98, along with the lingering promise of his cherished African University.

On April 1, 2021, Dr Rugunda called on the man he “enjoyed watching on TV, giving us local and international news” and declared him a hero.

The breeze in the living room could be felt in a picture. Expansive and well furnished, the ornate wooden glass frames on wall panels, oak floor finishing, ghee L-shaped couch and carpet.

Tucked in a wheelchair that Covid-ravaged evening, then 96-year-old was an awe-inspiring chassis. His wheelchair was sandwiched between upholstered Adirondack seats.

“He was already frail, but he still had his strong memory and could recall a number of milestones in our country’s journey,” Dr Rugunda recalls.

Warugaba did not retire to his final resting place with his wealth of national perspective. At the time of his death, he was hoping to launch his book, “Death Escaped. Turmoils and Upheavals in Uganda, 1959-1995”.

But was this African University a pipe dream?

“There’s actually all the paperwork,” says journalist Claude Muhigirwa. “There were extensive meetings held among elders in Ibanda, especially educationists. My dad was among them, actually. But the idea was Mzee Warugaba’s. If you get his real story, you’ll be amazed.”

Muhigirwa grew up seeing a magnanimous man he fondly remembers for lending him his daily copies of newspapers.

Warugaba’s son, Giles, was a highly accomplished musician. When arts journalists like Moses Serugo and musicians like Tshaka Mayanja speak about music, the younger Warugaba (deceased) is cited in awe.

“Giles was an accomplished drummer and during his prime, he played with the Big Five and Afrigo bands,” Busingye says.

From reading the papers and hanging out around a man whose life revolved around arts and culture, Muhigirwa’s journey to society journalism almost happened by osmosis.
 
Liturgy, arts
“When you sing, you pray twice,” wrote St Augustine.

For a teacher of music, dance and drama, Warugaba’s was a calling. The Archdiocese of Kampala still celebrates his contribution to the development of liturgical music in the country.

Alongside organist and composer Valerian Mayega, Joseph Mugoba, a Radio Uganda broadcaster, and AD Lubowa, a former minister in Muteesa II’s reign, Warugaba made it hard to imagine a Eucharistic celebration without singing.

“Such a situation would deprive the faithful of effective participation and enthusiasm during the divine celebration,” the diocese wrote on its website in 2020.

“Singing abundantly enriches the liturgy, more particularly the Holy Mass where celebration is characterised by three elements; words, actions and silence.”

From establishing the Nyamitanga Cathedral choir in 1958, Warugaba wrote more than 50 hymns, chaired the music and arts committee for the celebrations of the Catholic Centenary in 1979, and directed the choir at the inauguration of the Uganda Martyrs Church in Rome by Pope John Paul II in 1981.

His martyrs’ hymn, Abajurizi baasingura Orufu, remains a major part of the Catholic liturgy.

But Fr Kanyesigye says Warugaba’s influence went beyond liturgies. At one end, his Theatre Africana, founded in 1975, was taking the national flag to the world when they toured Europe with the play, “Omuhiigo” (The Great Hunt).

The play would make inroads into school music, dance and drama programmes.

At the other end, Warugaba was rated second to legendary poet Okot B’Bitek of the Song of Lawino fame by People newspaper among personalities who spearheaded the promotion of indigenous culture.

In 1983, Warugaba won the National Theatre’s ‘Best Drama Script Writer of Our Time’ award.

This was 10 years after he had composed a series of short operas, plays, and song books, written in vernacular languages, for sale to music teachers. This, according to Derek Peterson, a professor of history and African studies at the University of Michigan, followed President Amin’s nationalisation policy.

In 1973, Amin and Zaire’s Mobutu Sese Seko visited Arua where they rechristened Lake Albert ‘Lake Mobutu Sese Seko’ and later Lake Edward ‘Lake Idi Amin Dada’. It was the decolonisation of the minds of the people. Roads and school dormitories were renamed.

Not to be left out, the Education ministry introduced ‘African Traditional Music’ into the repertoire for school music festivals in 1973.

Warugaba just waltzed in with his compositions, his 80-page song book featuring 16 tunes.

Sub Editor: Eva Kyomugisha