Okoku Obomba, a 64-year-old lecturer at Uganda Christian University(UCU), died on Saturday 25th September 2021 at Mengo Hospital.
Obomba was a lecturer at the Faculty of Journalism, Media and Communication and a veteran journalist having worked with a number of media houses in the country.
According to the deceased’s family, he had complained of the after effects from a Covid-19 vaccination and had sought treatment at Zia Angelina Health Center in Namugongo where he then resided. Mrs
Joanitta Ngabiroch Obomba, the deceased’s wife, said “a series of tests were performed at Zia Angelina Health Center including a Renal Function Test(RFT) to assess the functions of the kidney, liver function tests [to help diagnose and monitor liver disease or damage] and blood sugar tests [to measure the amount of sugar in the blood].”
She added “But the facility referred him to do an echocardiogram, a test that uses ultrasound to show how heart muscles and valves are working, at Mengo hospital where he was eventually taken.”
According to Mrs Obomba, the deceased had been complaining of headaches for a while even after his first jab, which Panadol often remedied. However, his condition worsened after his second jab in addition to high blood pressure, diabetes and a dislocated disc, all of which made him even more vulnerable. During the memorial at UCU on Sunday, Obomba’s youngest daughter Ms Lorah Cenge affirmed her father’s state deteriorating after the second vaccination saying, “My dad’s death caught us by surprise. The cause is what everyone is asking. He complained of severe back pain and struggled to walk within the study area at home.”
The alumnus and the Faculty of Journalism, Media and Communication at UCU said they would miss “OO”, as they called him, and always remember him for his values and mode of teaching. The Dean, Ms Monica Chibita recalled the late as one of the pioneer staff of the Mass Communication Department.
He was also part of the team that wrote the first curriculum on which the Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication was founded, reports Daily Monitor. Ms Joan Akello, an alumnus and journalist at Uganda Radio Network said “He was always time conscious and very strict but at the same time humorous in his way.”
Obomba will be laid to rest in Nebbi district on Thursday, according to the family.