UPDF Widows Want Husbands’ Bodies
Oct 03, 2002
“You are told that he died at the battle front like a hero but you wait in vain for his body to be brought home for a decent burial with his ancestors.<br>
By Joyce Namutebi
“You are told that he died at the battle front like a hero but you wait in vain for his body to be brought home for a decent burial with his ancestors.
“You are paid your deceased husband’s one month salary and told to pack up and leave the barracks and head for his home.
But when you get there with your children, you are treated with hostility by your in-laws because you cannot say where the body of their beloved son is. At times you are not even informed about his death.â€
These and many more are the complaints voiced by UPDF widows to the Minister of State for Defence, Ruth Nankabirwa, at Kiryandongo Army Production Farm in Masindi on Monday.
Nankabirwa had gone to see the state of the over 7,000 acre farm.
The women appealed to the Government to notify them when their husbands died.
They asked the Government to help them start income-generating projects.
They also asked for more secondary schools to cater for their children.
Nankabirwa said the Army Council and the High Command decided that soldiers would be buried in cemeteries but said there was a provision where relatives could request for a body to be buried. Ends
“You are told that he died at the battle front like a hero but you wait in vain for his body to be brought home for a decent burial with his ancestors.
“You are paid your deceased husband’s one month salary and told to pack up and leave the barracks and head for his home.
But when you get there with your children, you are treated with hostility by your in-laws because you cannot say where the body of their beloved son is. At times you are not even informed about his death.â€
These and many more are the complaints voiced by UPDF widows to the Minister of State for Defence, Ruth Nankabirwa, at Kiryandongo Army Production Farm in Masindi on Monday.
Nankabirwa had gone to see the state of the over 7,000 acre farm.
The women appealed to the Government to notify them when their husbands died.
They asked the Government to help them start income-generating projects.
They also asked for more secondary schools to cater for their children.
Nankabirwa said the Army Council and the High Command decided that soldiers would be buried in cemeteries but said there was a provision where relatives could request for a body to be buried. Ends