Family stranded with Karegeya’s body in South Africa

Family members of Col Patrick Karegeya at his home in Rwenjeru Biharwe Sub-County in Mbarara District on Saturday. Photo by Alfred Tumushabe 

By  RISDEL KASASIRA & FREDRIC MUSISI

 

 

In Summary

Close family sources said Rwanda was opposed to the burial of Col Karegeya in Uganda but this claim could not be officially verified as Rwandan High Commissioner in Kampala Maj Gen Frank Mugambage didn’t answer our repeated calls.

KAMPALA- The South African government released the body of former Rwanda spymaster Col Patrick Karegeya but the family is still stuck with it in Johannesburg because they have not received clearance from the Uganda government to bring it in the country for burial.

Col Karegeya’s brother Ernest Mugabo told the Sunday Monitor yesterday that the body was being kept in a private mortuary waiting for clearance from Kampala.

“The body has been handed over to us. It is in a private mortuary but we are stuck because the government of Uganda has not cleared us to bring it for burial. We do not know what to do,” he said.

Col Karegeya, 53, was discovered dead on a bed in Johannesburg’s luxurious Michelangelo Towers Hotel room on New Year’s Day, prompting accusations that Rwandan president Paul Kagame was behind the assassination. The Rwandan government has dismissed the claim.

On Thursday, Col Karegeya’s family in Uganda appealed to the government to allow the body to be buried in Uganda. Col Karegeya has a home in Biharwe, Kashari County in Mbarara District.

Mr David Batenga, the deceased’s nephew to whom the South African government released the body, said consultations were still ongoing and a final funeral programme would be released later in the day.

This newspaper understands that preliminary findings of the postmortem done at Johannesburg General Hospital were inconclusive and experts there had extracted additional samples from the body for further toxicological analysis to determine the exact cause of death.

The Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Mr Fred Opolot, said yesterday that the Uganda government would first consult the Rwandan Embassy in Kampala since Col Karegeya was a Rwandan citizen.

“The government will consult with the Rwandan Embassy about this issue. But our position is that we cannot take unilateral decision since Col. Karegeya is not an ordinary Rwandan,” Mr Opolot said.

Earlier on Friday, the State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Okello Oryem, said Col Karegeya’s family would be allowed to bury him in Uganda but “without involvement of the Uganda government in the arrangements” but added it would be after consultations with the Rwandan government.

“We are doing it specifically on humanitarian grounds….,” Mr Oryem said.





Although the Uganda government said Col Karegeya, who was born in Uganda, could be buried here as requested by his mother, other relatives are understood to be weighing all options available.

Close family sources said Rwanda was opposed to the burial of Col Karegeya in Uganda but this claim could not be officially verified as Rwandan High Commissioner in Kampala Maj Gen Frank Mugambage didn’t answer our repeated calls.

However, Mr Opolot said they had not received any formal protest from Kigali either, regarding the burial of Col Karegeya’s body in Uganda.



He also said Karegeya’s family had not made a formal request to the government to have him buried at his home in Mbarara.

High Court judge Kenneth Kakuru, who is chairing the committee of friends and relatives making burial arrangements, confirmed the family had not made a formal request but said there was no need to.


“I have never heard such. Many people have died in different countries and their remains are flown and buried back home. There is no need to make a request,” Justice Kakuru said.

He said the widow, who lives in the USA, would give a statement later in the day on when and where the deceased would be buried.