Chaos at Nebanda burial as Speaker rejects Gov''t death report

By Vision Reporter

The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga has rejected a report released by Government on the death of former Butaleja woman MP, Cerinah Nebanda.

This was at the burial ceremony of the late legislator whose death a week ago immediately sparked off fierce public debate and controversy, with the exact cause of her demise still unclear.

On Saturday evening, government released results of tests carried out on the late MP’s blood, urine and tissue samples in London, UK.

The results revealed the presence of several chemical residues that included cocaine, heroine, morphine, alcohol, chloroquin, cocaethlene and dextromethorphan.

At the burial of the vocal lawmaker in Butaleja Sunday afternoon, Speaker Kadaga said she did not accept the outcome of the tests.

The event turned even fierier when the Government representative at the interment, Gen. Moses Ali was stopped short in his delivery of the message from the Government by angry mourners.

“I know my MPs better than anybody. I know who drinks; I know who does not drink. We must establish the cause of her death. We are demanding for an inquest and if the Government is not ready, we in Parliament are going to apply to the courts of law for a special inquest,” said Kadaga, while addressing hundreds of mourners who turned up for the burial of the NRM MP.

Kadaga addressed the mourners immediately after Gen. Moses Ali, who represented the Government, was heckled and forced to end his speech just as he was still making the introductory comments.

Gen. Ali, the Third Deputy Prime Minister, started by introducing the ministers who were present. Hell broke loose when Ali informed the mourners that he had a written message from the President to deliver. At this stage, mourners heckled and made it impossible for him to proceed any further. Ali was unable even to announce the Government’s funeral contribution.

Kadaga then took the microphone and addressed the mourners who increasingly became rowdy and disrupted the burial ceremony, prompting the security personnel to whisk away Ali and other dignitaries.

When contacted shortly after he flew back from Butaleja in a helicopter, Gen. Ali declined to talk about what had happened. An aide said Ali preferred to report to his superior first before talking to the press about the incident.

Among other things, Kadaga told mourners that she is the one who gave the three MPs, Dr. Chris Baryomunsi, Dr. Medard Bitekyrezo and Dr. Sam Lyomoki permission to be in the postmortem room at Mulago National Referral Hospital.

Earlier, Lyomoki and a number of MPs had also addressed the mourners, questioning the cause of death of Nebanda. They insisted that Nebanda could not have been killed by drugs and alcohol, but poison.

The main ceremony and the requiem mass was held at the Butaleja district grounds, located about a kilometre away from the burial grounds, which is also the late Nebanda’s parents’ home.

MPs contributed sh25m towards the burial. The Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Nandala Mafabi, was carried shoulder-high by the mourners after the VIPs had been evacuated.

At 5:50pm, the body was brought into the home and was taken to the house. The Police attempted to block the mourners from entering the home yard.

A preliminary report released Saturday by the Director General of Health Services, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, combined the postmortem examination carried out at Mulago Hospital and toxicology test done at ROAR Forensics Ltd in the UK and the Government Analytical Laboratory in Kampala.

The results of a third test, referred to as histology, done in Israel, are not yet ready.

Dr. Aceng said the toxins or drugs were detected in Nebanda’s stomach contents, suggesting that she may have taken them orally before her death.

“The detection of the products and their breakdown substances in the blood and urine indicates they were absorbed and distributed in the blood stream to various body organs and eventually excreted in the urine,” she said.

Other samples taken from wine that was reportedly found in her boyfriend’s residence, where she spent her last few hours, also had some traces of these substances.

The report explains that the various chemicals found in her blood could have reacted with one another to cause a deadly effect.