Zakayo’s leadership will be sorely missed by both humans and chimps

The chimpanzees of Entebbe are missing Zakayo sorely and the humans are also in low spirits since the elderly primate passed on. ILLUSTRATION | JOHN NYAGAH | NMG 

In Summary

• At 54, Zakayo was almost as old as modern Uganda which became independent in 1962. In his adult life, Zakayo has seen two peaceful transfers of power, the first from himself and the second from his replacement to yet another Alpha male.

By JOACHIM BUWEMBO
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Uganda has been mourning a popular elder who succumbed to chronic gastroenteritis (stomach flu) at the age of 54.

Mzee Zakayo lived in Entebbe’s Uganda Wildlife Educational Centre (UWEC) as the oldest primate. There he nurtured fellow chimpanzees until Matooke, a younger alpha male he had mentored, overthrew him.

Matooke was in turn replaced by Aluma in 2013, and Aluma is still in command and has been the chief mourner during the weeklong mourning rites.

Ugandans can now appreciate the pain and loss the Rwandans felt when, in 2009, their old silverback mountain gorilla Titus passed away.

Ugandans have been mourning with the chimpanzee community, and moving eulogies have been delivered by officials of the Tourism ministry and UWEC managers. 

The late Zakayo has been roundly praised for his generosity, as different mourners who knew him well said he would never ate until the weakest of the chimp community at Entebbe had been served. This is so unlike other animals where the leader takes priority only allowing the followers to eat after he is satisfied. Human leaders aren’t much better, but Zakayo was above such selfishness.

While still active, Zakayo performed his duties diligently. Besides leading his community along the principles of justice and equity, he also earned his keep by entertaining visitors at the zoo. While modern zoo keepers discourage feeding of the animals, in his younger days, visitors gave Zakayo beer, which he relished. But the beer never went to his head because there are no recorded incidents of misbehaviour on his part.

Zakayo has also been a good father and husband. His two wives, Amina and Ruth, have been mourning for a week and have refused to eat. Officials of the centre will urgently have to devise ways of ensuring the two widows’ health is not adversely affected by prolonged lack of food.

Animal medical experts at Entebbe did their best in a bid to save Zakayo’s life. He died in the referral hospital at the centre which usually handles emergencies and complicated cases from the country’s national parks.

Zakayo was still in intensive care after an abdominal operation that failed to save his life. The official postmortem attributed his death to the severe stomach flu which worked against his advanced age. A decision was taken to bury his intestines while the rest of the body is to be preserved for posterity.

At 54, Zakayo was almost as old as modern Uganda which became independent in 1962. In his adult life, Zakayo has seen two peaceful transfers of power, the first from himself and the second from his replacement to yet another Alpha male.

Zakayo has also been luckier than most Ugandans, having lived in the vicinity of a well-equipped referral hospital. In fact there was no need to fly him abroad for treatment and his failure to recover is seen as an act of God and his advanced age.

The chimpanzees of Entebbe are missing Zakayo sorely and the humans are also in low spirits since the elderly primate passed on.

May the Lord strengthen them to carry on in Zakayo’s absence. At least he hasn’t left a power vacuum because his replacement had been worked out by his community, and he had spent a decade in retirement. Now that is leadership.

Joachim Buwembo is a Kampala-based journalist. E-mail: buwembo@gmail.com