Saturday, November 12, 2005,
shall go down as one of the most tragic days
for The Weekly Observer.
The day saw the demise of The Weekly Observer
Managing Editor/MD John Kevin Ogen Aliro.
When we were told about the death of Aliro,
for a moment the newsroom died with him…paralysed
by his death.
It reminded me of August 28, 2001, when
four Monitor and New Vision sports journalists
perished in a motor accident and the June
8, 1998 tragedy, when two senior Monitor
editors — Richard Tebere and Rashid
Mudin — died in a similar manner.
“If I survive this, it will be a
miracle” said Kevin while looking
at a water drip at International Hospital
Kampala. “You will survive and I’m
sure tomorrow I am taking you back home,”
I promised.
But Kevin guessed it right.
Kevin was my buddy and mentor. Throughout
the 15 years of our personal-cum-professional
relationship from the days of The Weekly
Topic, The Monitor and finally The Weekly
Observer, he used to introduce me as his
brother.
It’s through Aliro that I started
covering wars in northern and western Uganda
and, later, Rwanda and DR Congo as his photographer.
Together with Kevin, we survived death
narrowly in 1994 when we bumped into remnants
of the fleeing Rwanda army, as the genocide
came to an end. The RPF dramatically rescued
us.
The same kind of tragedy almost happened
in Kisangani in 1998 during the skirmishes
between UPDF and RPF. Before that, in 1991,
on our way to Arua, the then NRA opened
fire at Karuma where we had stopped waiting
for a convoy. We were left scampering in
the near bushes, but what he hadn’t
forgotten to move with was his rosary, which
he used to carry in dangerous areas.
Kevin’s writing talent and skills
were top-drawer. He was not fearful. Critical
as he was, Kevin was objective and unselfish.
He was so very friendly and sociable; everyone
loved to tease him around the office, never
mind that he was their boss. And, all he
did was laugh at the jokes or hit back with
another rib-cracking joke.
We shall forever miss Kevin’s Baba
Pajero, political and social analysis.
All were such a great read; individual
works with a rare touch of class and authority.
The sports fraternity shall also miss him
– Kevin was an astute sports manager
who did whatever he could to see professionalism
in the game.
He had no room for sloppy journalists.
That’s one area, which many of his
critics failed to understand. He also trained
many scribes.
I could go on and on, but there is really
no befitting tribute that can capture what
we have lost in Kevin.
bzziwa@ugandaobserver.com |
