Death of Headmaster, School Director raises threat of NCDs

The late Godfrey Nuwagaba former Treasurer of (UAF)

Residents of Kazo Central zone last Monday woke up to shocking news of the death of a fellow resident, a one Moses Baluku, 33, the Headmaster of Fountain Grammar School in Kawempe Division.

And Baluku’s death did not become apparent until after three days after he had ‘disappeared’ from the public’s view.

According to Detective Corporal Wilberforce Ogwang, the in-charge of homicide cases at Kawempe Division Police station, the deceased first attended a party that was organized at his school on the evening of Friday Oct. 28.

On arrival to his home, an apartment at Kasolo Kamponye village located about three hundred meters from his school, he had the courtesy of exchanging greetings with his Land Lord, identified as Julius Ssekabanja in whom he had  confided that he was undergoing mild abdominal pain.

“That was the last time I saw him.” Ssekabanja recalled. His death remained unknown for that long because his wife had traveled to the village along with their only daughter days earlier. Only a swarm of flies coming out of the house alerted the neighbours of his mysterious death!

Ssekabanja told The Sunrise that he was forced to call the Director of the Fountain Grammar school Eric Kimbowa to ask him of the whereabouts of his head teacher only to be told that they (his whereabouts) were still unknown.

By the time this journalist arrived at Kawempe Police Station, the postmortem report was yet to be released from the KCCA mortuary where Baluku’s swollen body had been taken for examination.

The police was investigating several leads to his death including poisoning, heart failure among many others. But one police officer on Police’s investigating team anonymously reasoned that poisoning was a distant possibility arguing that his experience of poisoning cases shows that the stomach swells much more than the rest of the body, which was now not the case. He didn’t rule it out though.

One of his juniors preferring anonymity added that the late had also reported the case of stress arising from his family back home in Kasese.

“He had even informed the Director about it expressing the urgent need to go home anytime he could. In fact when he (Baluku) went missing for those three days, the school’s director was right to think that he had  gone home as he had earlier intimated,” the source said adding that even his wife Susan Tusiime had been taken back home sick explaining the reason why Baluku lived in utter solitude by the time of  his death!

Coincidentally, Baluku’s death came as a shocking reminder of a similar death in a nearby school known as Ridgeway primary school. Another teacher died in his room without a clear cause in less than a year’s time!

But Baluku’s sudden death is not unique these days as reports increasingly reveal that Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) which include High Blood Pressure, Diabetes and Cancers are claiming even more lives in Uganda than ever.

Mid last month for example, the sports fraternity in Uganda was hit by the news of the sudden death of one of its own Godfrey Nuwagaba, who by the time of his death, was the Treasurer of the Uganda Athletics Federation (UAF).

Nuwagaba, who was also the founder and director of Standard High School in Zana died on an Emirates Airlines flight enroute to Dubai. Heart failure was suspected to have been the cause. Close relatives say Nuwagaba was traveling with his wife and the family was slated to celebrate the completion of their posh home.

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