Homage to late Uguro

By REBECCA KUKU in Madang
EDUCATION secretary Dr Uke Kombra told yesterday of the worst message ever relayed to him via mobile phone at 8am on Feb 7.
“(Education) Minister Jimmy Uguro has been found dead in his Wewak hotel room bed this (Feb 7) morning” – was the text message he received at the Jackson International Airport in Port Moresby after arriving back from Wewak where he had been with Uguro the previous day.
The people of Madang turned out in numbers yesterday to receive the casket of their late son, father, Member of Parliament and State Minister when it arrived from Port Moresby.
Kombra recalled that Uguro had told him that he would come in (to Port Moresby on Feb 7) on the midday flight from Wewak, “but, instead, he arrived in Port Moresby in a casket”.
The late Usino-Bundi MP and Education Minister was on an official duty visiting two schools in Yangoru-Saussia, East Sepik.
Uguro had heaped praise on MP, Richard Maru, for initiating long-term development plans on education for the electorate.
Kombra added: “In life all of us, at one point or another, receive a message on our phones that we don’t want to read, or that we have to read twice to confirm what it is saying. “I couldn’t believe it as the night before, he was alive and was the centre of conversation.
“After dinner, he told me, ‘you go ahead, I’ll come on the midday flight and we will meet at Airways for coffee’.
“But that day never came, and will never come.
“Today, I have brought the body of my immediate boss for the last three years to his people.”
Kombra yesterday addressed told the people of Madang at the Marape Hall, Tusbab Secondary and High School, during the provincial government’s funeral programme.
He said Uguro was larger than life; he was open, outgoing and always had a smile on his face.
“He was an educationist who lived, breathed and talked education wherever he went.
“The late Uguro was a smart and visionary leader who achieved many milestones including the implementation of FODE education and the implementation of the science and math programmes in schools that has seen 45 Papua New Guinean students been accepted into and are now studying in the US.”
Madang Governor Ramsey Pariwa yesterday pledged to continue Uguro’s work in his Usino Bundi Gama district.
Pariwa said Uguro was born and raised in his village and never forgot his roots.
“He was a man who was passionate about rural development and had a lot of plans for Usino Bundi Gama.
“His dreams for his people and the education sector will live on. He was a great visionary leader.
“I may not get to fill the footprints he left behind but I will fight for his dreams to be fulfilled.
Prime Minister James Marape said Uguro’s education dreams would be fulfilled with the implementation of the 1-6-6 base system to ensure all children complete their Gr 12 year of study.
“This will ensure all Papua New Guinean child complete their Gr 12 and do away with the system of children dropping out at grades eight, 10 or 12,” Marape said.