The East African Diaspora Media Watch (EADM)

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By Samuel Muwanguzi

In Summary:  Tragedy strikes at the Ugandan community in the USA. The visiting Mzeei Tom Tomusange, one of the 18-man Fathers’ Union delegation from Namirembe Diocese visiting St. Peter’s Anglican Church of Uganda in Belmont, Massachusetts, was found dead at his granddaughter’s home in Lynn, Massachusetts on Wednesday. He was part of the contingent accompanying the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda His Grace Stanley Ntagali to participate in celebrations marking the 10th anniversary of the founding of St. Peter’s Anglican Church of Uganda in Belmont, Massachusetts.

Lynn, Massachusetts—Tragedy has struck at the Ugandan community in the USA. The visiting Mzeei Tom Tomusange, one of the 18-man Fathers’ Union delegation from Namirembe Diocese visiting St. Peter’s Anglican Church of Uganda in Belmont, Massachusetts, was found dead at his granddaughter’s home in Lynn, Massachusetts on Wednesday. The tragic death occurred suddenly and unattended. The late Mzeei Tom Tomusange, a resident of Kasubi, Kampala, Uganda was pronounced dead by emergency crews yesterday Wednesday who rushed to the home of his granddaughter Ms. Deborah Nasejje.

The late Mzeei Tomusange with 17 others had accompanied the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda His Grace Stanley Ntagali to participate in celebrations marking the 10th anniversary of the founding of St. Peter’s Anglican Church of Uganda in Belmont, Massachusetts. The service to mark the anniversary is scheduled to take place this Sunday morning June 18 at 129 Lexington, Belmont before a reception and dinner at the American Legion in Newton in the evening. The Church, a parish under the Anglican Diocese of New England, is headed by Venerable Dr. Alex Kasirye Musoke.

Mr. Peter Bulega, a grandson of the late Tomusange, who also lives in Lynn, Massachusetts told the EADM in a phone interview that his late grandfather was in good health and had spent a couple of days at his sisters’ home before the fateful Wednesday morning. “When my sister Deborah Nasejje was leaving for work on Wednesday morning, she left our late grandfather at the dining table taking breakfast ahead of a planned tour of the City with some of our friends,” the bereaved grandson recounted. Mr. Bulega said that at around 9:00 AM on Wednesday, he called his late grandfather but he never answered the phone. “When I called him again at 10:00 AM and he still did not answer, I thought he had left for the tour as earlier arranged,” Bulega said holding back tears.

He recalled that when he returned home at about 3:00 PM, his wailing sister, Deborah Nasejje, called him at around 3:30 PM to break the tragic news that she had found the grandfather seated still where she had left him; dead. “When 911 and Ambulances were called in, they pronounced him dead and thought that perhaps something in his body organs had gone terribly wrong and triggered the sudden death,” he recounted. According to Peter Bulega, because the death was unattended, the body of his grandfather was taken to the medical examiner’s office yesterday for a post-mortem examination. “We are now waiting for a postmortem report and a tentative death certificate to ascertain the cause of his sudden death,” Mr. Bulega told the EADM.

Meanwhile, as the relatives in Massachusetts await for the arrival of the deceased’s son, Robert Tomusange who works with the African Development Bank (ADB) in Cairo, Egypt, a fundraising drive is underway to repatriate the body to Uganda. Relatives and friends are also keeping vigil at the deceased’s grandson’s home, Peter Bulega at 96 Bay View Avenue, Lynn, Massachusetts. “We hope the body will be released tomorrow so we can start making concrete arrangements to take the remains back home for burial,” Bulega told the EADM.

The late Mzeei Tom Tomusange, who was nearly 80 years old, was born in 1938 and was a well-travelled individual whose cause of death at the moment is hard to pin down, Bulega said. “This untimely death has left all of us, relatives and friends both shocked and dumbfounded,” Peter Bulega said chokingly.  Relatives of the deceased in Massachusetts are requesting all well-wishers to send contributions towards the repatriation of the remains of the late Mzee Tom Tomusange to the grandson Peter Bulega via his Cash App on phone at: 6177719033 

Meanwhile, the Venerable Dr. Alex Kasirye Musoke, Archdeacon of St. Peter’s Anglican Church of Uganda in Belmont has sent a message of condolence to all relatives and friends of the deceased both in Massachusetts and in Uganda. As hosts of the Archbishop and the Members of the Fathers Union from namirembe Diocese who accompanied him to participate in our celebrations, we extend our deepest condolences to our congregation, relatives, guests, and all Ugandans upon the tragic death of one of our guests; Mzeei Tom Tomusange,” he said. Archdeacon Dr. Alex Kasirye said that since most of the guests are planning to leave for Uganda on Wednesday next week, the church leadership is consulting with the relatives of the deceased to hold a Memorial Service for the departed Christian soldier before the visitors return home. RIP, Mzeei Tom Tomusange.

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