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FDC Katonga  faction pays tribute to  Sarah Eperu

Members of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Katonga group carry a casket bearing the remains of the late veteran activist, Sarah Eperu at Katonga FDC offices in Kampala on April 11, 2024. PHOTO/ ISAAC KASAMANI

What you need to know:

  • Eperu died on Sunday at Life Link Hospital in Kyaliwajjala.

The former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president, Dr Kizza Besigye, has scoffed at a group of people who allegedly took Sarah Eperu’s body from Mulago mortuary to Mengo without the consent of the relatives.

Addressing mourners, who gathered at the offices of the Katonga faction in Kampala to pay their last respects to Eperu, a fallen comrade, Dr Besigye said it is useless for people to scramble for a dead body yet they did not support her when she was still alive.
“If you want to help anybody you love, don’t wait for the body because he, or she will no longer be there. Nurse, treat, massage, comfort the person who is living,” he said.

“You know what happened to her in her last moments, maybe that is what weakened her most when she went to the party she loved most and could not get in. ...they arrested her driver, beat him up and locked him for a night in jail and she was left stranded there at the headquarters,” he added.
Dr Besigye’s comments came after the deceased’s relative, Mr Ben Eperu, told mourners that he was dismayed by the way the body of the late Eperu was taken from Mulago Hospital Mortuary without their consent.

Dr Kizza Besigye walks near a casket bearing the remains of the late Sarah Eperu at St. Jude Church in Naguru, Kampala on April 11, 2024. PHOTO/ ISAAC KASAMANI

“We were supposed to hand over the body to A-Plus  on Wednesday, so  we took the changing dresses from home and went to Mulago at around 2pm. When we reached the mortuary, we didn’t find the body there,” he said. 
“When we asked, at first, they didn’t give any good explanation, when we insisted, they told us that a group led by a Member of Parliament from Soroti picked it up at A-Plus  funeral home in Mengo yet we had the authentic  documents,” he added.
He wondered how the group cleared the bill of about Shs300,000 and the body was released to them. Mr Eperu said A-Plus later blocked the Najjanankumbi group from taking away the body from the funeral home.

Family members lay a wreath on a casket bearing the remains of the late Sarah Eperu at St. Jude Church in Naguru, Kampala on April 11, 2024. PHOTO/ ISAAC KASAMANI

Eperu died on Sunday at Life Link Hospital in Kyaliwajjala.
 Mr John Kikonyogo,  the spokesperson of FDC  Najjanankumbi faction, said: “The FDC leadership had talked to the family before another group of our political friends came in and they had agreed, and that is why they even went and hired A-plus, the party paid to handle the body, even the family members went to choose the coffin now I don’t know how the statement changed.” 

“As  FDC we have a way of sending off our leaders, so we consult with a family and agree to bring the body to headquarters, if  it is their wish,” he added.
 Eperu will be laid to rest in Kapil Village, Ngora District, tomorrow.

By Jane Nafula, Sylivia Katushabe, Priscilla Maloba and  Lydia Felly  Akullu