The Senior Presidential Advisor on Media, John Nagenda, is dead. His demise was announced Saturday by Milly Babalanda, the minister in charge of the presidency.

KAMPALA, UGANDA: The Senior Presidential Advisor on Media and Public Relations, John Mwesigwa Nagenda is dead. He was 84 years old.

The veteran journalist died on Saturday afternoon at Medipal International Hospital in Kampala where he had been admitted for weeks according to Presidency Minister Milly Babalanda who described the late as a unique, principled and knowledgeable asset Uganda has lost.

“I regret to announce the passing on of Senior Presidential Advisor on Media Matters, Mzee John Nagenda, who has passed on at Medipal in Kampala. He was unique, principled and knowledgeable. His services will be dearly missed,” she tweeted.

Profile Background

Born April 25, 1938, Nagenda was a prominent cricketer who played at the One Day International in the 1975 World Cup for East Africa. He also appeared in a first-class cricket match in England in 1975 representing Uganda in the match.

He attended Namutamba Primary School, King’s College Budo and Kigezi High School before joining Makerere University for an Honours degree in English.

Although he loved academics, he was also a good sportsman. “I played football, cricket, tennis and athletics. To this day, I have a house in Mengo where I had a tennis court,” Nagenda said in an interview with NTV-Uganda in 2020.

Having lived in England for over 10 years, Nagenda returned to Uganda in the 1960s and has been a writer and newspaper columnist since then.

He was also a writer of fiction and poetry and is regarded as having been one of the pioneers of writing in East Africa.

He also served as a Senior Media Advisor to President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, before taking on the current role he held till time of his death.