By Kassim Sematimba
There was chaos outside Rubaga Cathedral this Wednesday afternoon when disgruntled DP members and supporters converged in small groups to protest the mistreatment and alienation of their leaders inside the Cathedral during the requiem mass they had just attended. They were here to participate in the funeral service of their party stalwart lawyer JB Kakooza who succumbed to stroke-related complications at Mukwaya General Hospital in Nsambya last Saturday.
Inside the church were several political leaders and other mourners. Kakooza belonged to DP and even his party, under the leadership of Norbert Mao, contributed up to Shs3m towards burial arrangements. Other contributors included the NSSF where he was Corporation Secretary which gave Shs5m, the Judiciary, the employer of widow Justice Irene Mulyagonja, who contributed Shs20m. But JB was also a devout Catholic and personal friend of the Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala, Archbishop Paul Ssemwogerere and other big leaders of the church.
Because he was their outstanding member and respected elder in the party, the DPs came 100% sure that their party would take center stage and have conspicuous visibility at the church service. This never happened and, according Mao diehard supporter Kennedy Mutenyo, who also heads the party’s EC, the Party President’s representatives even struggled to have their written condolence message, accompanying the Shs3m, received and acknowledged by the announcer.
Lots of DPs, former and current, were in the house to see off their friend and mentor. These included Kalungu West MP Joseph Sewungu, Counsel Sam Muyizi, DP Secretary General Gerald Siranda, DP MPs Richard Sebamala & Richard Lumu, Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, DP Deputy Secretary General Christine Mugerwa and many others.
As ordinary DPs protested showing their displeasure outside the Cathedral after the service, Mutenyo told journalists that the mistreatment of the DP delegation at the church service was provocative and unfair. He went as far as saying it’s something that needs to be inquired into and investigated as to what the motive was.
He demanded to know who exactly ordered for such an injustice to be occasioned on DP, a party JB remained loyal to even when it became fashionable to leave for more momentum-driven parties like FDC and later on NUP. He claimed that the directors of the ceremony, who were Cathedral staff, can’t claim to have forgotten or done this as a mistake because they were severally reminded by Sewungu and the party administrator a one Martin about the need to accord the DP delegation the appropriate recognition at their eminent members’ send off.
Even their condolence of Shs3m was only acknowledged and announced towards the end of the ceremony even after the biggest mourner present , namely the Chief Justice, who was represented by his deputy Flavian Zeija, had had his message proclaimed.
Saying there was another service starting shortly and that it would breach protocol allowing anyone else to speak after the CJ’s speech had been delivered, the directors of ceremonies advised the DP leaders, who badly wanted to speak, to go and address mourners in Kalungu where JB Kakooza will be buried on Thursday. A crestfallen Siranda immediately drove away and left the Cathedral grounds after the church service and refused to address journalists who had wanted him to say something about the maltreatment of DP. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
