Political commentator and presidential advisor on media matters, Joseph Tamale Mirundi, is dead.
The former presidential press secretary died of lung-related complications on Tuesday at around 11:40pm at Kisubi Hospital in Kampala, according to family sources.
“He has been in the hospital for over a month. He had even started showing signs of improvement. On Sunday and Monday, he seemed okay. The doctors said he had water in his lungs. They have been sucking it out. However, today his health condition deteriorated and when they tried to suck the fluid out, it was
Mirundi was sacked by President Museveni as his press secretary in July 2015, a postition he had held for about 13 years.
Since then, he has been appearing on different television stations and vlogs, commenting on politics and current affairs.
“As a journalist, civil servant, and social-political commentator, Mirundi made significant contributions to his country, and his loss leaves a great void. My sympathies go out to counsel John Mirundi, the entire family, his friends, and relatives,” Speaker Anita Among eulogised
Born in 1964 to Molly Namatovu and Yowana Mirundi, the outspoken National Resistance Movement (NRM) members went to Rubaga Senior Secondary School for higher education and later joined Makerere University.
Mirundi was appointed President Museveni’s spokesman in 2003.
Over time, he carved out for himself the reputation of a man who would say anything to defend the president, along the way winning as many admirers as enemies and leaving no one in the middle.
He was born in Matale-Kalagala Village, Kalisizo Town Council, Kyotera District, as the ninth child of Molly and the late Tamale Mirundi.
He came to Kampala in 1979 for secondary school, and began writing for Munno newspaper in 1981 while in Senior Three at Rubaga S.S.
He graduated with a degree in Mass Communication from Makerere University. In 1998, he left Munno to start his own two newspapers, The Voice and Lipoota, but the newspapers failed to pick up.
