OBITUARY | In August last year, an Anglican church aptly named St. Francis was consecrated and dedicated at Kakureiju in Kyeshero Parish in Greater Kayonza Archdeaconry in Kanungu District.
The church was constructed by the family of Francis Kanyaruharo on land they donated to the parish. The price for guessing the dedication is as good as the sky being blue in daytime.
When your family is able to establish a parish on behalf of the wider church—complete with the parish priest's residence—and build a school on top of refurbishing other amenities for the community, you can tell the influence.
Yet for Mzee Kanyaruharo, it did not appear to mean much. He remained the farmer he had undertaken to be since 1992 when he retired from public service and lived a life modest to a fault.
Kanyaruharo was a man who lived by a simple mantra: "Everybody work together." He pushed every limit in his desire to uplift the community he existed in along that ethos.
It was in that "everybody work together" spirit, too, that Kanyaruharo introduced grafting in Kanungu and encouraged the farmers to undertake the scientific technique to improve their output.
Grafting is a method of asexual plant propagation that joins plant parts from different plants together so they will heal and grow as one plant.
The technique is used to propagate plants that do not root well from cuttings, to utilize superior root systems, or to maintain clonal production.
But all that humility is now up to his children to live and sustain. Kanyaruharo passed away on Sunday, November 3, at the age of 89, at Nsambya Hospital in Kampala.
His daughter Esther Mujambere said he lived a generally healthy, energetic life into his 70s, until 10 years ago when he suffered a stroke and his health deteriorated.
On Wednesday, November 6, Mzee Kanyaruharo will be taken to "his" church one last time for a requiem mass preceding his burial on the same day.
Selfless 'Everybody'
Francis Kanyaruharo was born on May 25, 1935, in Kakureiju. His life was engraved in farming, but he was a father and a community leader who earned a unique endearment: "Everybody"—for his dedicated ethos "everybody work together."
He used the phrase to inspire all those he interacted with to commit their efforts in unity.
It is in this same spirit that the man who would later confess that he earned more in retirement as a farmer than from wages as a civil servant would spend his time encouraging the peasants to give farming its deserved attention.
In 1959, Kanyaruharo married Ruth, and together they started a family in Kakureiju, Kyeshero. They were blessed with seven children, including Maria Itaza Kanyaruharo, Freda Ndagije, and Peter Kwizera.
Others are Grace Kanyaruharo, Esther Majambere Musoke, Moses Kanyaruharo, and Naomi Mucyo.
His family described him as "an amazing man who stood for hard work, honesty, love, unity, generosity, and so many other attributes."
Electoral Commission head of media and public relations Julius Mucunguzi—himself a native of Kigezi—said Kanyaruharo was a man whose name was well known in Kigezi.
A prominent farmer and innovative man who was passionate about people and loved his immediate and extended family fiercely, Kanyaruharo's home was always full of people.
"He was loving, hospitable, and very good company," said Esther Mujambere, who has been on the ground in Kanungu fixing everything that needs fixing as she tilts the ground in her bid to unseat Kanungu District Woman MP Patience Nkunda Kinshaba come 2026.
"His love for farming and people led him to be one of the pioneers of commercial farming in Kanungu. He did not leave the skill to himself but had a passion to teach the community the basics of commercial farming and also allowed the government to mark his farm as a model farm for the region."
His Foray into Farming
Kanyaruharo studied agriculture at Bukalasa Agricultural College and first worked with a fishing company, Oceanic Industries, based in Tanzania for seven years, where he met his wife Ruth.
In 1962, he returned home and took up a job with Kayonza Tea Factory as a cooperatives assistant and later as a paying clerk until he retired in 1992—only to realize he was retired but not tired and dive deep into farming.
In an interview with The New Vision in 2013, Kanyaruharo confessed that he had since 1992 earned millions of shillings from farming, money he would only dream about as a civil servant.
At the time, he said he had about six farm enterprises that included a banana plantation, goat rearing, poultry, tea, and rice gardens, which he was managing on 44 acres of land that he inherited from his late father, Richard Ngaboisonga, a former teacher.
"When I retired, I became redundant, and yet my father had left extensive land which was unutilized. Having worked with farmers during my prime time as a cooperatives officer and knowing well how they earned, I decided to venture into farming to kill off boredom," he told The New Vision.
His love for fruits threw him into passion fruit growing, but the soils in the area being acidic did not favor the temperate fruits.
He abandoned it after several trials and went into what he had worked in public service doing—engaging in tea.
"I have 8 acres of good tea where I earn close to Shs1 million per month and 4 acres of banana plantation where I earn Shs500,000 a month," he said then.
Because of the need to produce on a commercial basis as a progressive, market-oriented farmer, he established linkages for production and marketing with financial support from local Saccos, where he practiced the best modern methods of farming.
His "everybody" slogan was used to encourage the peasants in Kanungu to join cooperatives, which he believed was the way forward for farmers to realize value for their produce.
At his peak in farming, he was one of the pillars of the Uganda Commercial Farmers Association, earning rave reviews from high-profile people, including former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi, as well as recognition for his contribution from President Museveni.
"He has lived life to the fullest, and we believe that he has fulfilled his purpose on the earth," his family said.
Indeed, a fulfilled life it has to be, when you did what you wanted with the earthly gift called soil and left behind a church aptly named after you. It has to be such a life.
And a legacy.
