Prof Patrick Rubaihayo, the former State Minister of Agriculture under President Milton Obote II government has died. He was aged 82.
Rubaihayo according to reports passed on at his up-country home in Rubare, Kashari County in Mbarara District.
Family sources say the deceased had been battling diabetes and high blood pressure and felt unwell after dinner on Tuesday evening prompting a rush to the hospital where he was, unfortunately, pronounced dead.
“It is true the Congressman has passed on, he was well the whole day and we have been taken unaware but his death” a family member who preferred anonymity intimated to this website.
Biotechnologist, Rubaihayo returned to Makerere University after the collapse of their government and has been teaching and conducting research majorly on food production at the University College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.
Politically, Rubaihayo represented Mbarara North in Parliament between 1981 and 1985.
He was also a chairman board of trustees at the Milton Obote Foundation and a lifetime congressman (Uganda People’s Congress).
Mr Peter Walubiri, a seasoned lawyer and a leader of one of the party factions of the Uganda Peoples’ Congress (UPC) under which the later Rubaihayo subscribed described him as a forthright nationalist who served his country with dedication.
“He was a forthright nationalist who served as Minister, Member of Parliament and various capacities in the party. He leaves a happy legacy, he was never a pretender, he was an academic, he served Makerere and other organisations Diligently” Mr Walubiri said.
Hebert Byoreko, a cousin to the late said a vigil at his home on Thursday, May 16, 2024, and a funeral service at the Makerere University Chapel on Friday, May 17, 2024.
