23 Bodies Exhumed

Mar 05, 2003

FOR three days, over 20 clan members have been camping at a grave yard, staring at human bones exhumed from 23 graves, as they protested eviction.<br>

By Muhammad Tamale
FOR three days, over 20 clan members have been camping at a grave yard, staring at human bones exhumed from 23 graves, as they protested eviction.
The clan members spread their beddings in a banana plantation on a 0.20 decimal piece of land at Lusaze in Rubaga, Kampala, protesting against Ruyondo and Company Advocates, who allegedly acted on behalf of a client to dig up the graves.
The Police at Old Kampala stopped the exhumation on Saturday and the group has since vowed not to leave the grave yard until the bodies were given a decent burial.
“We were surprised on Saturday morning when we saw over 20 men digging up the graves of our late clan members,” said Capt. Mawuuba Kagimu, the clan head of the Mawuuba.
Kagimu, who is also in charge of security at the Movement Secretariat, said the land had been the clan’s burial ground where the first body was laid in 1920.
He said the advocates claimed their client had bought the land from Christopher Zzimbe, a clan member whom he said died two years ago.
Kagimu said their dead clan members had been disrespected by the exhumation.
“One of the men who dug up the bodies was only identified as Makanga, a KCC law enforcement officer.
“He claimed KCC had authorised the exhumation for development of the place,” he said.
One of the female members who gulped a chain of beer bottles in the scorching midday sunshine said the act was against the Ganda culture for the spirits would retaliate.
Kagimu said if the land was legally bought, top clan members would have been notified.Ends

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