Kampala
  19/08/2007
 
SHOCKS AS THUGS VANDALISE UGANDA’S NATIONAL HEROES TOMBS IN KAMPALA.

By Leo Odera Omolo

Uganda’s national heroes, whose remains were buried at the heroes corner cemetery located at Kalole Airstrip near Kampala are not resting in peace.

Unscrupulous people have vandalized the tombs while searching for possible hidden valuables such as gold wrist watches and other ornaments.

Among the dignified heroes whose tombs were reported to have been vandalized is the former President Prof Yusuf Lule Kironde, and the veteran politician and early nationalist the late Mr. Ignatius Kangare Musaazi, who played the most pivotal role during the struggle for the independence of the country in the 1950s and 1960s.

The heroes tombs is located only meters away from a police post, but thugs have invaded the heroes corner and stolen eight lights that were supposed to illuminate the graves at night, leaving the area in total darkness.

The clay flower vases were also broken. The glass covering Ex – President Lule’s epitaph on the marble tombstone was broken, while a wooden face board was missing from the tiled roofing over Ignatius Musaazi’s tombs.

Police in Kampala have confirmed the incident, saying they were investigating the crime.

“ That is serious crime. There are several offences, including trespassing on burial grounds and theft. The penal code is very clear on that”, says a police spokesman Mr. Simeon Nsubuga.

He was further quoted by a local FM Radio station as saying that this type of offence carries a penalty of not more than two years in jail. “Theft carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison”.

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, who initiated the idea of a heroic cemetery a few years ago, usually lays wreaths on the tombs of heroes during national functions like independence Day and Heroes Day.

The late Ignatius Musaazi is remembered for triggering off pre – 1950s resistance to colonialism leading Uganda to the attainment of political independence in 1962.

Prof. Yusuf Lule had ruled the country briefly in 1979, following the toppling of the despotic rule of Dictator Idi Amin Dada by combined exiled Ugandan and Tanzania National Defence forces from April to June 1979, when he was replaced by the London trained lawyer Godfrey Binaisa. He was born in 1912 and died in 1985.

Ends.

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com