Lira pilgrim to be buried Wednesday

Jun 06, 2017

She collapsed and died on May 30 at Mattuga in Luwero district, having completed most of the journey.

MARTYRS' DAY

The foot pilgrim from Lira who died on her way to Namugongo for this year's Uganda Martyrs' Day main celebrations in Kampala will be laid to rest on Wednesday.

Scovia Namata, 32, was two-months pregnant and was part of a group of 461 pilgrims from Lira Catholic Diocese.

She collapsed and died on May 30 at Mattuga in Luwero district, having completed most of the journey. Her brother, Alex Okello, also aged 32, told New Vision she will be buried at their ancestral home in Atingadye village in Otuke district.

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Sources said Namata had walked from Lira to Kafu before complaining of severe abdominal pain. She was admitted to Bishop Asili Hospital in Luwero, received treatment and later discharged.

"After she was discharged from hospital, I advised her to return to Lira but she insisted, saying by all means she would make it to Namugongo Martyrs Shrine," Moroto County MP told mourners during a funeral service on Monday.

This was at the Uganda Martyrs Cathedral in Lira, where hundreds of people showed up to pray for the fallen pilgrim before her body was transported to Otuke.

 

 

 

Burial confusion

When the news of Namata's death emerged, authorities of Lira Catholic Diocese engaged in a series of dialogue meetings with her family and that of her husband, Alex Moro to agree on where the pilgrim should be buried.

Family and other members of Ogora clan said their daughter was not traditionally married and therefore she cannot be buried at the husband's home in Bar sub-county in Lira district.

But Omoloodyek clam members insisted that Namata should be buried at her marital home since their son had paid part of the marriage dues.

The misunderstanding escalated into violence, prompting the church authorities to deploy fully armed police officers to guard the cathedral as the requiem mass went on Monday.

Namata's family chased away her husband Moro from the ambulance transporting her body and warned him not to even to step at the burial site in Otuke.

 

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