Draft:Francis Xavier Ruhesi

• Comment: While documenting notable Ugandan atrocities is a worthy cause, using this biography of a non notable person is using it as a WP:SOAPBOX.
  Far better to create or add to an article documenting all than using ths as an example 🇵🇸‍🇺🇦 Fiddle^Timtrent Faddle^Talk to me 🇺🇦‍🇵🇸 08:46, 9 June 2025 (UTC)

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Francis Xavier Ruhesi was born in 1931, in Isingiro county is an engineer. His father, Petero Kabateraine, was a world war l & II veteran serving in the King’s African Rifles (KAR), who later settled in Rwariire 1- Katojo, Rwampara, now part of Mbarara city..

He attended primary education and junior secondary at St. Aloysius and St. Joseph's schools in Nyamitanga, Mbarara and completed senior secondary education at St. Leo's College Kyegobe in Fortportal . He advanced to the Uganda Technical College, Nakawa where he successfully completed the City and Guilds Examination of London. His outstanding academic performance earned him a scholarship (in 1957) from the then Ankole Kingdom Native Government, to the renowned Portsmouth College of Technology (now the University of Portsmouth), in Hampshire, England, where he qualified as a Civil Engineer.

As one of the pioneer native chartered engineers, he was instrumental in the planning and implementing much of the post-independence infrastructural development projects in the 1960s and early 1970s, mainly in what was then Ankole and Busoga districts.

Career

Mr. Ruhesi’s started working on 1st January 1957 as an Engineering Assistant under the Ministry of Works (Public Works Department) . He went on scholarship to the United Kingdom in August 1957.

He returned to Uganda briefly in August 1960, and was hosted and recognized by the Ankole Kingdom, as the first Munyankore to qualify as a civil engineer. After two months, he returned to England for practical training

Mr. Ruhesi returned to Uganda in July 1963 and was appointed as the Regional Engineer (Ankole and Kigezi) under the Ministry of Works, Communication, and Housing (MOWC&H), based at Kamukuzi in Mbarara. In 1964 he was appointed as an Inspector for Petroleum (Inspection, Testing, Licensing, and Regulatory Compliance), by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry . In July 1965, he was promoted to the level of Senior Executive Engineer .

On 9th February 1967, Engineer Ruhesi was appointed as Deputy Commissioner of Water Development based at the Water Development Headquarters in Entebbe.

In August 1970, Eng. Ruhesi was transferred to Jinja Municipal Council, on secondment, and was later confirmed as the Town Engineer under the Ministry of Regional Administrations.

Personal Life

Optional; only if reliably sourced and relevant.

Eng. Ruhesi married Hildegarde Korugyendo on 10th September, 1960, with whom they had six children; Declan Ruhesi Tamale, Eng. Richard Mujungu Ruhesi, Brig. Gen. James Barigye Ruhesi, Rose Komugisha Ruhesi, Emmanuel Tusiime Ruhesi, and Dr. Hilda Ruhesi. The children, all orphaned before teenage-hood, are all still living and went on to successful careers. Mrs. Ruhesi is still living and is based at her home in Kakoba, Mbarara City.

Mr. Ruhesi was picked from his office by military personnel and was last seen alive on 25th September 1972 aboard a military vehicle in the outskirts of Jinja town. During that period, many of his friends and associates were abducted in similar circumstances and killed. Most victims were abducted from their offices or some other public place in full view of a number of people and their abductors were military personnel, in civilian clothing.

Following this sad incident, the family, supported by friends, and sympathisers, made all possible attempts to establish his fate, all in vain. There were numerous cases of false sighting at government prisons, army barracks, lakeshores, forests, etc. including extortion by anonymous persons and military personnel. After many years and after all reasonable efforts to locate him were exhausted, he was presumed dead and the search was abandoned.

In February 2005, over 32 years later, when the remains of Late Shaban Nkutu, another victim of Amin’s regime were discovered, it was disclosed that some other government officials who disappeared in early 1970’s including employees of Jinja Municipal Council were buried at the Jinja government cemetery at Masese, known as “Mailo Mbili“ cemetery. The above disclosure and other information obtained from the former cemetery workers, gave the family reason to believe that the late FX Ruhesi was also buried in that cemetery. Subsequent investigation also indicated that he was brutally murdered and may have been buried in a mass grave at the Mailo Mbili cemetery.

His Excellency the President of the Republic of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, facilitated the family by engaging the services of the government pathologist and the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) personnel to carry-out further investigations (2005-2011). However, the results from the investigations and DNA samples obtained and tested were not very conclusive. The family has sadly conceded that they may never get to find the remains of their beloved one.

References

Category:People from Mbarara District Category:Victims of Idi Amin