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A Nation in Mourning: Body of Rhoda Kalema Returns Home to Final Honours
Uganda woke to a heavy cloud of sorrow this morning as the body of Lay Canon Rhoda Nakibuuka Nsibirwa Kalema, a towering figure in Uganda’s political and civic life, arrived at Entebbe International Airport from Nairobi. The former Minister for Public Service and iconic elder stateswoman passed away over the weekend after a period of illness, marking the end of a remarkable chapter in the country’s journey toward justice, equity, and women’s emancipation.
Her return was marked with solemnity and deep emotion. Representatives from A-Plus Funeral Services, officers of the Uganda Police Force, and members of the Kalema family received her casket, which was draped in the national colours—an honour reserved for those whose contributions to Uganda’s development are immeasurable.
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, recognising her decades of unwavering service, directed that she be accorded an Official Burial. In response, the government formed a National Organising Committee chaired by Minister for the Presidency, Milly Babirye Babalanda, working closely with the family to ensure the farewell reflects Kalema’s legacy of humility, resilience, and leadership.
The grief has transcended the Kalema family, touching every Ugandan who was inspired by her gentle but unshakable pursuit of justice and national service. A church service in her honour will be held at Namirembe Cathedral on Thursday—where faith and state will converge in mourning—and she will be laid to rest on Saturday in her ancestral home in Kiboga District.
The Uganda Police Force will lead all ceremonial proceedings, including a full gun salute to honour a woman whose life echoed the values of patriotism and grace under pressure.
As the nation prepares to bid farewell, many are left reflecting not just on her life of purpose, but on the void her passing has created. Rhoda Kalema was more than a politician—she was the moral compass of her time, a mentor to generations, and a quiet revolutionary in Uganda’s political and spiritual fabric.
She returns home not just as a fallen heroine, but as a mother of the nation whose footsteps are etched into the soil of Uganda’s democratic history.
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