Museveni mourns Minister Sarah Mateke

“We as fighters always lose people and we move on; but we try to avoid unnecessary losses because anybody who does creates a gap on our side,” Museveni remarked.

“That is why fighters should look at their lives as not just their own… It is ours also.”

Museveni said this while paying tribute to the deceased former Minister of State for Defence and Veteran Affairs, Hon Sarah Mateke Nyirabashitsi.

Mateke passed away last Saturday, while being rushed to Mengo Hospital from her home in Nsangi.

The 50 year old succumbed to a heart related complication.

President Museveni in his brief remarks, drew comparisons between the demise of Hon Mateke and that of the late former army commander and Internal Affairs Minister Gen Aronda Nyakairima who passed away in September 2015.

Museveni noted that Nyakairima also suffered a heart complication while travelling back from South Korea, where he attended a security meeting.

Ms Mateke was supposed to fly to South Korea for the same conference, according to the president.

“When Aronda died, I didn’t know he had a problem. If I had known, I would have stopped him from travelling.”

Museveni concluded with advise for government leaders to carry out regular medical checks and to take rests from work where necessary.

“You don’t have to strain yourself,” he added.

“When you die, if is not only your family that will miss you, but we the NRM and the people that you lead. “

The president described the late Mateke as a different type of politician; one that was calm and measured unlike many others.

“She was never sensitive or aggressive or touchy.. She only said a few words. She became an example for the people who knew her in Kisoro”

Hon Mateke will be laid to rest tomorrow, Thursday at her ancestral home in Kisoro district