Rakai school inferno: Deceased students should be buried in one place – Bishop Katumba

RAKAI. The Bishop of West Buganda Diocese, Henry Katumba-Tamale has proposed that the 11 students who perished in the Sunday fire that gutted a senior three dormitory of St Bernard’s Secondary School, Manya, in Rakai District, should be buried in one place, preferably at the school.

Bishop Katumba who had paid a visit to the school on Tuesday, said that in many countries, when people die in tragedies like accidents which sometimes emerge out of recklessness, they tend to lay them at one place to be a reminder to the rest.

"If it would be possible to the stakeholders, I would propose that the deceased students are buried here at school to remind students the results of grave decisions which they make without any positive thought, if at all it is students who did it as school administrators said," he said.

Bishop Katumba added: “Even in Uganda, martyrs would have been buried at their individual ancestral homes but they were laid to rest in one place.”

His proposal comes after a standoff that happened on Tuesday between the school administration and parents of some of the deceased students as the latter pestered the administration to give them the bodies so that they can arrange for burials at their respective homes.

Mr Mpakani Expedito, a father to Maurice Basiita, one of the deceased students, accused the school administration of reluctance to release the body of his son.

"The administration should ensure we get the body of our son or else we shall sue them. They are telling us to wait for five days which is approximately a week," Mr Expedito, flanked by other family members, said Tuesday.

Mr Vincent Kafeero, also a parent to one of the deceased students told Daily Monitor that there are many mourners at their home village in Isingiro District waiting for the body of his son for burial and that he cannot afford to keep them longer because he does not have enough money and food to feed them for a week.

"We beg the administration and concerned government officials to help us get the bodies of our sons very quickly so that we bury them,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bishop Katumba appealed to schools to consider holistic learning so as to make a complete person who is able to deal with differences and a person who fears God.

“Some teachers after the lesson, they simply go and never bother to talk to students to establish if something is wrong with them. You may see them in class and tell that someone is distressed and you offer help,” he advised.

Bishop Katumba appealed to Uganda Counselling Association to offer services to those traumatized by the incident (students, parents and teachers).