My Obadiah was a charmer, women liked him- widow

Hundreds of people across the country last Saturday woke up to the shocking news about the passing of a prominent businessman, Obadiah Ntebekeine Rushambuza.
Ntebekeine who was husband to Sheema North MP, Ms Naume Kibaju, was last seen at a recent function in Sheema with his wife before his passing.

The 75-year-old businessman and resident of Nyakabirizi Division, Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipality, Bushenyi District, was a celebrated wealthy man with a high-level business acumen and described by close friends as a churchman, parent and friend to many with his footprint in Kampala and other parts of Uganda before he suffered a stroke that saw him admitted at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital and transferred to Agakhan Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, where he breathed his last.
He is remembered as an articulate speaker, with a humorous and entertaining demeanour. 

While he loved chatting up women as testified by his wife, he was also a family man. His passing however shocked many. 
“Obadiah was a good man, husband and a good father. He died in my hands because I was with him that day. We were together in Bushenyi attending a number of functions. He bid farewell to people and none of us knew he was going to die,” Ms Kibaju said.
“We were at the very last function in the constituency (Sheema).While at the function, I felt someone touching my shoulder. Obadiah had collapsed. People tried to give him first aid and we even moved him into a faster vehicle rushing to Mbarara, where doctors tried their best. At that time, we were all desperate and hopeless with nothing much to do. He got a short illness and died suddenly. Yes, we have a lot of pain, but we believe that’s what God planned for him,” Ms Kibaju reminisced during the funeral service at All Saints Church, Nakasero on Wednesday.

Ms Kibaju described her late husband as a man who was loved by many, including women who got pulled to him because of his charm.
“Even women liked him and he loved them too. He charmed them! Obadiah was a charmer! I will not fear to say so. To be his wife was a job for me because we would be going somewhere and I see a woman giving him a peck and he would respond. We went to Australia on the beach and white women had taken him away. He was sweet and sour….” She eulogized her husband.

On Wednesday, friends, relatives, clergy consisting of Bishops, Members of Parliament and Ministers led by the deputy speaker of Parliament, Mr Thomas Tayebwa attended his funeral service held at the newly opened All Saints Cathedral Nakasero to celebrate Ntebekaine’s well-lived life.
Back home in Bushenyi district, where burial arrangements were being made, the community was still struggling to come to terms with a dark cloud that had covered their area for close to a week.

The All Saints Provost, Rev. Can Dr. Rebecca Nyegenye while opening the funeral service said this was a chance for the congregation to reflect on how to cultivate their way to heaven.
She asked God to interweave the congregation with the grace not to grieve helplessly, but to put their hopes in God, who cares for them, adding that this was a challenge to prepare their ways to eternity.
Bishop Hannington Mutebi while addressing the gathering, testified how the late Ntebekaine was an enterprising Christian, who got values from his father, the late Lay Canon Zabron Rushambuza.

“I happened to be chaplain of two Archbishops and as we traversed through Western Uganda, every time we travelled to Bushenyi, there was a family house that we used to come to with a trademark ‘Ai Mukama Yesu’ and when we interacted with the family, I came to know Obadiah very much and I think he is the one who had a forex bureau where I used to go to whenever the Archbishop sent me,” he said.

He added “Obadiah served God’s purpose as a family person, for his workplace, for his own country and also served God’s purpose for his God, who created him. And I think our brother did all that because he was very key in supporting all church projects and I believe all of us can testify to that,”
The Preacher of the day, Bishop Yona Katoneene, the retired Bishop of West Ankole Diocese described Ntebekaine as a hero, a man of great wisdom full of love and humility, a prominent businessman and entrepreneur.

“As a church, we are mourning a strong pillar and a great man who has left a legacy and this legacy will live on for years to come. Even as we celebrate his life and work, and unique contribution, we have to give thanks and glory to God for his contribution to church and nation building. When we see the family and children, we believe that Obadiah is going to live on,” he eulogized Ntebekaine.
The passing on of Ntebekeine remains a mystery to the people that he was with the previous weekend in Bushenyi, where he was in a jovial mood. One photographer, Kabirisi Mugyenyi recalled how he had at a function asked the late to smile widely as usual.

Man of humor
While talking about his father’s passing in October 2020, the late Ntebekaine described his father, Lay Canon Zabron Rushambuza as a man full of humor. This makes it easy to predict that sense of humor,which was transmitted to the son.
Saying that the passing of Ntebekaine was a huge loss, Bishop Katoneene said he ‘had an infectious smile.’
As he represented Ntebeikaine’s 14 grandchildren, Antony Agaba, the eldest grandchild, didn't forget their grandfather’s witty character.

“He brought so much laughter, adventure and love to all of us. We shall never forget the memories that he shared. He took us to the greatest places, where we would go greeting pedestrians on the way. We were the luckiest kids. He used to brag how he was better than us in football and he bought a ball to prove it,” he said
According to Ms Annet Kemaari, Ntebekaine’s daughter in-law, they were always hugged and felt safe in his presence.
“When we joined the Rushambuza family, we were not treated as wives, but daughters. I can testify that he invited us out for lunch dates. Who does that as a father in-law? During Easter, we had lunch with him. Mzee made us believe we could do anything,” she told mourners.

The late was a vessel of gold, who supported church projects and politicians as confirmed by Bishop Nathan Ahimbisibwe of South Ankole diocese, who said Ntebekaine was someone that society used for noblest purposes especially by supporting Church work.
The Bishop eulogized the deceased as someone who knew the mission, the reason for that mission, and also used the season properly.

Describing the late as a true Countryman, Mr. Thomas Tayebwa, the deputy Speaker of Parliament says the late signified a true testament to the life that the deceased lived.
“Obadiah has been a very great contributor to politicians. They are the ones who give us the resources to help us do what we are doing. These are the people who transfer the titles, for example from honorable to right honorable. We shall also remember him as someone who became very rich, but remained humble. Obadiah has done a lot for this Country, our community,” he said.
To friends, Ntebekaine was good at keeping friendships.
According to Mr Fennie Mwesigwa, a friend who remembers the late as a clean man.

To the Bagoma clan, which the late led as a head after taking over from his father in 2020, Ntebekaine had great plans. Marvin Baryaruha, a representative of the Bagoma clan, says the departed leader had ‘extremely wonderful plans for our clan. He was intending to start a Sacco and a health scheme for the Bagoma,’
Ntebekaine’s family will forever remember their father as a time-keeping and hardworking man of his word with unique communication skills, one of the children, Mr Dennis Ntebekaine recalls.

“No words can capture the full essence of who my father was to us and to the family, all of you. He was a man of great faith, wisdom and integrity. He was hard working from a tender age and he really excelled at it. He always told us Rome was not built in one day and he knew how to progress. He was a man of his word. In a world where people like to talk, my dad had a very unique way of making you feel heard,” he says.

“He made strangers feel more important. He was a man who paid attention to detail. He groomed us to be presentable at all times, encouraging us to work hard at all times, he told us that failure is never an option and if he gave you an assignment, he would keep calling you to know how far you have gone,” he adds
Ntebekaine is survived by a widow, ten children and fourteen grandchildren, who all have an uphill task of holding on to the essence of what he taught them, which entails the importance of hard work, kindness, integrity, and living a life that reflects his values.