Kategaya played key role in EAC integration – Mukaruliza

THE MINISTER of East African Community Affaris, Monique Mukaruliza, yesterday, said that the region will greatly miss Uganda’s former third Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of EAC Affairs.Born in 1945 in Uganda’s western district of Ntungamo, Kategaya died on Saturday in Nairobi, where he had been hospitalised for weeks.“We have lost an asset in the community and we shall always miss his rich experience and the insights he brought to the EAC Council of Ministers,” Mukaruliza said.Until his death, Kategaya, a childhood friend to Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, held the docket of East African Community Affairs.“Our condolences go to the family, relatives, and the people and the Government of Uganda,” Mukaruliza said.Abdulrahman Kinana, the former Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly and Head of the EAC Election observer mission in the ongoing Kenyan elections, described Kategaya as a principled man who strongly stood for integration.“We have lost a patriotic East African. He was a very soft spoken man but firm on matters of principle,” Kinana said.Uganda’s Minister of Information, Mary Karooro-Okurut, said Kategaya was a historical member of the ruling National Resistance Movement, who for decades, worked selflessly for the liberation of Uganda.“His resolve and passion for accomplishing the East African [political] federation will, at this critical stage, be sorely missed,” Okurut said in a statement to the media yesterday.Straton Ndikuryayo, one of Rwanda’s representatives to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), was equally shocked by the news of Kategaya’s death.“He always advised on avoiding what may lead to the collapse of the Community like it did in 1977. He inisted on ensuring that the EAC integration process is people centred,” Ndikuryayo said. The Ugandan government yesterday announced that it will, in due course, issue a detailed programme with funeral arrangements for the late Kategaya.