Bride price row disrupts Miss Tourism burial

KOBOKO.

A sombre mood filled Ludaru village in Koboko District on Wednesday evening as fallen Miss Tourism Northern Uganda Norah Atim, 23, was laid to rest at her maternal home.

Atim, Resty Namawejje, an NTV journalist, and Barbra Nakiwolo, a second runner up for Miss Tourism Buganda region, died in a road accident in Maya on Masaka-Mbarara highway last Saturday afternoon.

The deceased were going to Mbabara District to attend the 2015/2016 Miss Tourism Ankole region event.

Initially, Atim’s paternal and maternal families had a disagreement on where she should be buried because of unsettled bride price for her mother. The families later agreed to bury Atim at her mother’s home in Koboko District, but no member from her paternal family attended.

A separate requiem mass was held on the same day by paternal relatives of the deceased in Gulu Municipality.

Atim’s paternal uncle Joseph Okwera said they agreed with the deceased’s maternal family that the body be buried at her mother’s home in Koboko since they could not pay the bride price which was being demanded.

The deceased’s father, Mr George Okello, told Saturday Monitor that he was asked to pay four cocks, four cows, four sheep, three goats, an arrow and Shs1m, all amounting to Shs9m as bride price before he could claim his daughter’s body.

He said since he could not afford the payment, he opted to hold a requiem mass for her daughter at his home in Pece parish, Laroo Division in Gulu Municipality.

Ms Emily Likicho, the mother of Atim, confirmed in a telephone interview on Wednesday that they resolved to bury the deceased in Koboko because of the unsettled bride price.
“Our culture of Kakwa is the same like the Acholi, where bride price has to be paid before one can claim the body of their loved one,” Ms Likicho said.

She added that the paternal family’s refusal to go for burial of their daughter was a bad precedent, adding that Atim’s father had long neglected her and their daughter.