Uganda Today: Busoga’s Centenarian Defies Time — Mzee Kyeyamwa, 105, Says He Will Outlive Museveni’s Life Presidency
By Uganda Today Correspondent | www.ugandatoday.co.ug
In the quiet township of Bugembe near Jinja, a living chronicle of Uganda’s history still walks, listens to his radio, and occasionally bursts into laughter. His name is Mzee William Kyeyamwa, and at 105 years old, he is not only the oldest known life member of the Busoga College Mwiri Old Boys Association (MOBA), but also a towering symbol of resilience, memory, and historical defiance.
Born on December 26, 1920, Mzee Kyeyamwa has lived through Uganda’s colonial administration, the rise and fall of several post-independence regimes, and the nearly four-decade rule of President Yoweri Museveni. Now, in the sunset of his life, he quietly nurtures an ambition many of his generation have not lived to express — to outlive Museveni’s much-criticised, clandestinely orchestrated life presidency.
“May the old man — the Luukan — live to reach 120!” wrote Prof. Oweyegha-Afunaduula in a moving Facebook tribute. The professor, a prominent academic and environmentalist, first met Mzee Kyeyamwa in 1964 at Mwiri Primary School when he was in Junior One, and again in 2016 at a tea joint in Bugembe. “I was surprised he was still growing strong,” Afunaduula noted.
Mzee Kyeyamwa’s journey began in Kiyunga Primary School (1928–1934), before he joined the elite Busoga College Mwiri under a Kingdom bursary in 1935 — one of only two Luuka County pupils to do so that year. A gifted football striker and Wako House resident, he was part of an early Mwiri cohort who physically helped construct parts of the school infrastructure. One of his wildest memories? The day a giant python was caught and roasted by students under the daring supervision of Rev. F.G. Coates.
“Rev. Coates munched the first bite and convinced the rest of us that protein should never be wasted,” Mzee Kyeyamwa once recalled, his humour still intact despite recent lapses in memory.
After working as a nursing aide for two years, he enrolled at Mulago Medical School in 1945, graduating as a Medical Assistant in 1949. His postings crisscrossed Uganda — from Mulago to Soroti, Kaberamaido, Namasagali, and eventually to Jinja Hospital in 1956, where he rose to become a Senior Medical Assistant. In 1969, he joined Jinja Municipal Council to oversee health services at Walukuba Health Centre, until his retirement from civil service in 1984.
Outside medicine, he wore many other hats. As a certified football referee (1951–1972), he officiated regional matches long before Uganda’s football landscape gained global recognition. In his retirement, he ran a Total petrol station in Jinja, maintained a dairy farm in Musita (Iganga), and dabbled in real estate ventures.
Now partially deaf and sometimes forgetful, Mzee Kyeyamwa spends most of his days resting or tuning in to radio broadcasts. Despite his age, he has remarkably evaded the clutches of hypertension, diabetes, or prostate disease — common afflictions of the elderly.
A Silent Statement on Power and Longevity
In a country where political longevity has increasingly become the subject of public concern, Mzee Kyeyamwa’s quiet defiance is both symbolic and poetic. While President Museveni, now in his early 80s, clings to power through constitutional amendments and calculated political manoeuvres, Uganda’s oldest MOBA life member simply continues to live — humbly, privately, yet pointedly.
Though never directly involved in politics, Mzee Kyeyamwa’s long life is itself a gentle rebuke to the notion of lifetime rule. His presence in Bugembe reminds younger generations that dignity in old age comes not from the corridors of power, but from service, memory, and community.
In a country thirsting for generational transition, his legacy may one day sound louder than those who governed by decree.
Editor’s Note:
If Mzee William Kyeyamwa — without any known mental imbalance — can live purposefully at 105 and aspire to reach 120, then it is not age but intent and integrity that determine one’s place in public life. Uganda must distinguish between genuine longevity and opportunistic hold onto power.
For more inspirational profiles and political insights, visit www.ugandatoday.co.ug.
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