Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT & URN | The Family Division of the High Court in Kampala has ruled that Lawyer Bob Kasango should be buried in Fort Portal, Kabarole District.
The lawyer succumbed to heart-related complications almost a month ago from Luzira Prison, from where he was serving a 16-year jail term for theft of more than 15 billion Shillings meant for pensioners. However, his burial was delayed by a bitter fight between Kasango’s widow Nice Bitarabeho, and his family from Tororo District. (READ TEXT OF FULL RULING PAGE 2)
The controversy started when a section of relatives from Tororo grabbed his casket from All Saints cathedral-Kampala, where it had been announced, after a funeral service, that the deceased would be buried in Fort Portal.
But the vehicle, which was reportedly taking the body to Tororo, was intercepted by police and the casket was sent back to the funeral home where it is being held to date. In the aftermath, the widow sought a court order to bury the husband in Kabarole district on grounds that Kasango had denounced his family and never wished to be buried in his ancestral home.
The court also heard that Kasango was never close to his family members in life, let alone her mother, Rose Kabise, who was fighting to stop the burial in Tooro. The wife also told the court that one of the family members had confided in her that the family in Tororo had planned to kill Kasango when he was still young, as a result of family wrangles. Reports indicate that Kasango’s father had a relationship with two sisters, one of which resulted in the birth of Kasango.
Bitarabeho also told the court that she never met her mother in law, until after seven years of her marriage to Bob Kasango and that every time she asked him about his father, he broke down in tears. But Kasango’s mother Rose Kabise told the court that Kasango was born to a Musoga father, Livingston Richard Kasimo and raised by his stepfather Bonaventure Okello, a Japadhola from Tororo.
But she added that Kasimo died many years ago and, she heard that, he had been buried somewhere in Bulemeezi where he had bought a piece of land. Kabise added that Kasango had bought her land in Tororo, and that is where she wanted her son to be buried. However, during cross-examination by Bitarabeho’s lawyers Jamilu Mujurizi and Humphrey Tumwesigye, it was revealed that there is no proof for the purchase of land in Tororo.
Justice Lydia Mugambe Ssali today ruled in favour of the wife. she instructed that the burial should take place within four days from today. She added that the family of Kasango’s mother should be allowed to attend the funeral and ensure that the deceased is accorded a decent burial.
But in her decision Mugambe explained that the Japadhola culture was not applicable to Kasango since her mother already indicated that his real father was from Busoga. She added that Kabise also couldn’t impose that culture onto the deceased, in a country that has about 54 tribes whose people keep migrating to other areas.
Justice Mugambe noted that Kasango did not have a strong attachment to his parents, pointing to the fact that the mother-in-law remained unknown to Kasango’s wife, Kasango’s failure to recognize Kabise at their wedding, Kasango’s wife and children having no attachment to the Family in Tororo, and the fact that Kabise only visited Kasango on Bitarabeho’s invitation.
She also noted that during the hearing of the matter, Kasango’s eldest son said that they were comfortable burying their father in Fort Portal. As such, the Judge said that the land in Fort portal which the deceased used to visit regularly is big enough for burial.
But the Tororo family said that they will not attend the burial in Fort portal. (SEE FULL RULING PG 2)
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