By Susan Namata
Former Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Physical Planning Director George Agaba yesterday died in a car accident which occurred along Mbarara – Isingiro Road. Rwizi police spokesman Ibin Ssenkumbi said the accident happened at around 11:30am and Agaba died shortly on arrival at Mbarara hospital. Goerge Agaba Ninsima was a resident of Sembabule district. He is survived by two kids and a wife.
In the car registration number UG 0672B that overturned as the driver tried to avoid knocking a pedal cyclist was Dr. Violet Kajubiri , a sister to the president and works with the Electoral Commission. She broke her hip bone.
The driver ,Joseph Kyaligonza was unconscious while the bodyguard Corporal Francis Atwine sustained minor injuries. Ssenkumbi said the injured trio was airlifted to Kampala for treatment.
Private business
Agaba wedded last year and his wife had just given birth a few months back. Having failed to retain his job as KCCA director of physical planning despite orders from President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, Agaba decided to venture into private business in Mbarara and Isingiro. Agaba lost his job in 2012 after he was jailed in Luzira prison on murder charges.
While overseeing an eviction operation in Luzira Portbell, Agaba’s bodyguard Komakech shot and killed a civilian as residents protested the demolition exercise. However, court released him on bail but efforts to retain his job were futile. Early this year, the president ordered the the Kampala Capital City Authority Executive Director Jenifer Muisisi to reinstate interdicted Agaba with immediate effect. The letter dated 2nd March 2016 titled: “Lifting of interdiction”, Mr Museveni ordered that after advice from the Public Service Commission, he had decided to cancel the interdiction of Mr Agaba as KCCA’s Director for Physical Planning and ordered for his immediate reinstatement.
“I approve that his interdiction be retrospectively lifted and be paid full salary arrears and gratuity , with effect from 5/November/2013 to 18th/September 2014 when his contract expired,” Museveni directed.
Failed reinstatement
In April Catherine Bitarakwate Musingwire, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service wrote to the KCCA Executive Director, the Auditor General and the Secretary of the Public Service Commission directing that Mr Agaba be reinstated, in line with the President’s directive.
“I am pleased to inform you that the President has, in exercise of the powers vested in him under Article 172(1) (a), and on advice of the Public Service Commission, directed that your interdiction be retrospectively lifted and be paid full salary arrears and gratuity. The ED KCCA is advised to implement this decision accordingly,”Ms Bitarakwate ordered Musisi. However, all the directives fell on Musisi’s deaf ear. Agaba was a Makerere University trained urban planner.
A family relative tells TrumpetNews that on realising that his dream of working again at KCCA had become a nightmare, he decided to venture into private business in Western Uganda. “Being a physical planner he opened construction firm in Mbarara town and was majorly making pavers and his business had attracted huge clientele,” a relative said. He was also into farming in Isingiro where he had cattle and farms. It is believed that at a time of the accident he was from Isingiro to check on his cattle. “He had acquired big land in Isingiro and he was planning to shift from Sembabule to Isingiro,” a relative added.
Agaba’s body remains at Mbarara hospital as the family is making burial arrangements