Court clears Katakwi burial of former minister Obwangor's wife

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Mourners in their hundreds are gathered in Kiiya village, Omasia parish, Magoro sub-county in Katakwi district on Wednesday evening for or burial of Rose Alupo, 58, widow of former justice minister Cuthbert Obwangor.

Her burial at her marital home compound comes ten days after her death.

Her burial was delayed following attempts by her stepdaughters, Angela Margaret Itinot, 80, and Rose Mary Atim, 69, to block her burial in Obwangor's home in Kiiya village.

The elderly daughters who went to Soroti High Court to block the burial of their stepmother claimed that the deceased was not related to their father by blood, marriage or otherwise.

However, a court ruling made by Justice Boniface Wamala dismissed their court order on Friday last week and granted Alupo to be buried next to Obwangor's grave.

“However, it’s clear to me that the question as to whether the late Alupo should be buried in the ancestral home of Obwangor is not to be determined based on whether legal marriage existed between her and Obwangor,” the judge ruled.

The judge further noted that Alupo was married to Obwangor in 1990 and the two stayed until 2012, when Obwangor died, and she continued to stay in her marital home until her demise without being evicted by anybody.

According to LC3 of Magoro, Paul Aruo, who doubles as the clan vice chairperson, Ikoubwa-Ikarebwok, expressed his disappointment with their daughter's actions.

"It's shameful for elderly daughters married in their homes with children who have given them grandchildren to come and fight for their father's property. They have no right to question the paternity of their stepchildren because we, as a clan, are not complaining," Aruo said.

He told mourners that the same daughter caused the exhuming of their father's body for DNA tests, saying that the results turned positive, that the two children Obwangor produced with Alupo were biological children of Obwangor.

Neither Atim nor Itinot attended the burial.

Alupo is to be buried on the right of Obwangor's grave.

According to Veronica Kwapi, her mother, who resided at her marital home in Teso Inn in Soroti city, got an attack at 5 am on Monday, 9. While she was rushed to a clinic for medical attention, she was pronounced dead on arrival.