His hotel, Tropic Inn in Masaka City employs over 100 people with some having acquired requisite skills on the job under his sponsorship.
A Ugandan dentist of repute, Dr. George William Ssamula has succumbed to diabetes and hypertensia after being bedridden for a long period.
The late Dr. Ssamula has since the 1980s been popular, with his dental clinics on Uganda House in Kampala and another one in Masaka claiming a sizable clientele of Ugandans and diplomats. He has been the proprietor of Tropic Inn in Masaka City.
His hotel was badly damaged by long range missile code-named ‘Saba Saba’ during the 1979 liberation war spearheaded by the combined force of the Tanzanian People’s Defence Forces (TPDF), ‘Jeshi la Wanainchi wa Tanzania na Zanzibar’ (JWTZ) guerrilla forces including Yoweri Museveni’s Front for National Salvation (FRONASA), the ‘Kikoosi Maalum’ headed by the late David Oyite Ojok and other fighters all bent on ousting dictator Idi Amin.
Twenty years later in 1999, he restored it to its present-day glory at a cost running in billions of shillings. Its Manager, Dennis Majwala, a staunch member of the Democratic Party (DP), stated that the deceased was also a strong DP supporter.
Former Masaka district chairman, Joseph Kalungi spoke highly of the late medic as an advocate of education, and that while still a student at St. Henry’s College Kitovu, he used to support fellow learners especially of science subjects, to pass examinations.
He is also famed for supporting residents of Masaka to access jobs in different places. A relative Bernard Kasozi hailed the deceased as a person who has been struggling to ensure that whoever is close to him enjoys life. His hotel, Tropic Inn in Masaka City employs over 100 people with some having acquired requisite skills on the job under his sponsorship.
He was born at Nninzi village in Kalisizo, Kyotera district and is to be buried there. He has spent a long period undergoing treatment till he finally passed on.
Corruption, Election Irregularities Pushed Mukula Out of NRM CEC Race
SSAMULA GEORGE WILLIAM
Dental Surgeon
Dr. Ssamula graduated from the University of Birmingham in 1971 with a Bachelor’s Degree of Dental Surgery. He returned to Uganda in 1972 where he was posted to Masaka Regional Referral Hospital under the Ministry of Health before being transferred to Mulago.
He was actively involved in taking over the operations of Mulago public health dental assistant’s school, with Dr Jack Barlow, Mr W Nganwa and Dr Tiromwe.
In the late 80s, Dr Ssamula was a key member of the revival team of the Uganda Dental Association whose existence had been stifled during the regime of former President Idi Amin Dada. Dr Ssamula, together with Mr Nganwa, Prof Raphael Owor spearheaded the commencement of the Bachelor of Dental Surgery program at Makerere University.
This program was started officially in 1982. The first lot from this program graduated in 1987. Dr Ssamula opened his practice to them as an internship site where they could be exposed to the intricacies of private practice.
He has since remained in private practice to this day at Dr. G.W. Ssamula’s Dental Clinic.