US soldier to fight for KCC cemetery
An officer in the US Air Force, Dr. Ivan Edwards, who is part of the larger Edwards family has vowed to block the proposed takeover of a city cemetery by an investor.<br>Edwards argues that his departed relatives burried there, had the right to rest in p
By Steven Candia
An officer in the US Air Force, Dr. Ivan Edwards, who is part of the larger Edwards family has vowed to block the proposed takeover of a city cemetery by an investor.
Edwards argues that his departed relatives burried there, had the right to rest in peace.
Several of the family’s ancestors who include Noel Godfrey Owtram, a Briton and Jaromir Skrlandt, a Czech, migrated to Uganda and married Ugandan women.
They were buried at the cemetery on Jinja Road, opposite the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Edwards, a flight surgeon, in an email said: “We shall fight to have our relatives’ resting sites revered and left alone!
“These ancestors are our people; they loved Uganda, and that is why they left the comforts of Europe to come and settle in Uganda,†he said.
He said it was the wish of his relatives to be buried in Uganda.
The Edwards family is the first family to openly oppose the planned giveaway of the cemetery to a Korean investor.
Last week, part of the Edwards family in Uganda paid homage to their dead buried at the cemetery..
Edwards said his great grandfather, Noel Owtram, a British national, together with his children had contributed to the growth and development of the early technical and infrastructure sectors in Uganda.
The reaction from the family comes after it remerged last week that an investor was poised to take over the cemetery and construct a shopping mall after the land was allocated to him by Kampala City Council.
However, top officials said the council was opposed to the allocation and blamed the former mayor, Ssebaana Kizito and then town clerk James Ssegane for the confusion.
An officer in the US Air Force, Dr. Ivan Edwards, who is part of the larger Edwards family has vowed to block the proposed takeover of a city cemetery by an investor.
Edwards argues that his departed relatives burried there, had the right to rest in peace.
Several of the family’s ancestors who include Noel Godfrey Owtram, a Briton and Jaromir Skrlandt, a Czech, migrated to Uganda and married Ugandan women.
They were buried at the cemetery on Jinja Road, opposite the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Edwards, a flight surgeon, in an email said: “We shall fight to have our relatives’ resting sites revered and left alone!
“These ancestors are our people; they loved Uganda, and that is why they left the comforts of Europe to come and settle in Uganda,†he said.
He said it was the wish of his relatives to be buried in Uganda.
The Edwards family is the first family to openly oppose the planned giveaway of the cemetery to a Korean investor.
Last week, part of the Edwards family in Uganda paid homage to their dead buried at the cemetery..
Edwards said his great grandfather, Noel Owtram, a British national, together with his children had contributed to the growth and development of the early technical and infrastructure sectors in Uganda.
The reaction from the family comes after it remerged last week that an investor was poised to take over the cemetery and construct a shopping mall after the land was allocated to him by Kampala City Council.
However, top officials said the council was opposed to the allocation and blamed the former mayor, Ssebaana Kizito and then town clerk James Ssegane for the confusion.