Mayuge man buried in metallic coffin

PIC:  At the funeral, mourners were told that Vincent Muwaya had asked to be buried in a metallic coffin. (Credit: Betty Angatai)

MAYUGE - A man in a remote village in Mayuge district has been buried in a metallic coffin, stunning mourners.

Such was Vincent Muwaya's will, according to his children.

A resident of Nabuwaji village, Muwaya had told his family that they should bury him in a metallic coffin when he died.

Moi Muwanguzi revealed that his father, an experienced fabricator, wanted to be remembered for his work.

And as such, his instruction in his written will was to lay him to rest in a coffin made out of a material he had for years worked with.

"When daddy was still alive, he instructed us to bury him in a metallic coffin when he dies and as children, we fabricated one to fulfill what he had said so as to let his soul rest in eternal peace."

Muwaya died of hypertension on Friday at Musana Medical Centre in Iganga district and is survived by a widow and five children.

Before joining the fabrication business, he had for several years been a renowned mechanic.

"He was a fabricator and when he died, he wanted his body to be laid in a fabricated metal coffin in remembrance of his work," Muwanguzi told mourners.

‘Dead are not dead'

When he died, Muwaya's family immediately contributed money for welding a coffin.

It was fabricated at Ali Metal Workshop located along Iganga road in Mayuge town council at a cost of sh1m.

The coffin was painted white.

Patrick Mudhungu, a former district councilor for Buwaya sub-county and the president of Uganda Nakazade, an association for traditional herbalists and healers, urged locals to respect wills.

"The dead are not dead," he warned.

"Therefore, when someone leaves behind a will make sure you fulfill it to avoid problems. We have seen circumstances when the dead are exhumed and later reburied after failure to respect what they had instructed during their lifetime,'' said Mudhungu.