Family divided over burial of former Obote minister Kuuya
The late Patrick Masette Kuuya. PHOTO/FILE/COURTESY
What you need to know:
- Mr Patrick Kuuya died from Kenya.
There is still uncertainty over the burial of Patrick Masette Kuuya, a former minister in the second Milton Obote government.
Kuuya, who served as minister for Rehabilitation, succumbed to cancer at Kenyatta University Hospital in Kenya on November 22. He was 76 .
By yesterday, some family members were embroiled in arguments over where the late Kuuya should be buried.
One of his sisters, Ms Sarah Buyekha McCulloch, accused some clan leaders and the burial organising committee of changing the burial site and keeping them out of the burial programme. She said together with her brother Peter Makitwe, they were excluded from burial plans.
Ms Buyekha, who stays in the United Kingdom (UK), also claimed that they were blocked from accessing the body at Entebbe airport. Kuuya’s body arrived in the country on December 7, 2022.
“We expected the body to be brought here at his Sibanga home on December 10 but some family members have decided to block us. They have also threatened to arrest us,” Ms Buyekha said.
She said they were stuck because some family members planned to bury Kuuya’s body in a banana plantation at his ancestral home in Lutaaso Village, Bunangabo Parish, Khabutola Sub-county in Manafwa District.
“This is crazy! How can you bury a very important person like my brother in the banana plantation?” she asked.
She said the burial site where all family members are laid to rest is in a gated secure area at their ancestral home in Lutaaso Village.
“The burial site is behind the derelict building, in the banana plantation far right where my brother Kuuya’s grave will be positioned all alone away from others,” she said.
A teacher by profession and a holder of PhD in Economics, Kuuya was also the Mbale South lawmaker between 1980 and 1985. When Obote was toppled in 1985, Kuuya fled to neighbouring Kenya and stayed there until his death.
Mr Nathan Wasolo, the deceased’s son, dismissed the complaints over his final resting place.
Remembered
Kuuya was hailed for initiating the Wakhooli Memorial Centre at Nabumali Trading Centre and Wanale Quick Transporters, whose plans were thwarted by the regime changes.
