Family wants daughter’s death investigated as Saudi postmortem blames “natural causes”

Jinja, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The family of 31-year-old, Fauza Musubika, of Mpungwe village, in Kagoma town council, of Jinja district who was hired as a housemaid have been shocked by the postmortem report that accompanied her body from Saudi Arab stating that she died of natural causes.

The late Fauza Muasubika had for some weeks been sending messages complaining of being mistreated by her employers who finally returned her to the hotel where she had been from when her condition deteriorated and died soon after being rushed to a specialized hospital.

Musubika was recruited by Peak Labour Giants Limited of Mpererwe and left the country on 17th, December, 2025.

She however, passed away on 28th, January, 2026 under what the family members termed as suspicious circumstances.

Musubika’s remains were repatriated on Friday, 13th, February, 2026 and recieved by the family members at the Entebbe international airport during the early hours of Saturday, 14th, February, 2026.

The family representatives comprising of Musubika’s cousins, Idi Yasin and Amon Mugomba met with with a male representative from Peak Giants at Entebbe airport where the aviation police ushered them into a lobby from where they recieved the remains of Musubika.

Mugomba says that, they were approached by police detectives who instructed them to write a statement detailing circumstances of Musubika’s death.

Mugomba says that they were, however, disturbed by the postmortem report handed over to them stating that Musubika succumbed to natural causes.

“We recieved  the remains of our sister at around 3:30am on Saturday morning and the whole process seemed smooth, however, the postmortem report, which indicated that she had succumbed to natural causes raised our eyebrows as it was contradicting the complaints of mistreatment, great pain and serious illness she had been telling us about.,” Mugomba said. “I might not know the medical protocols in Saudi Arabia but couldn’t they at least indicate a specific cause of death like maybe malaria or something of the sort, rather than stating it a natural causes!”

He adds: “When we raised dissatisfaction about the postmortem report, the representative of Peak Giants insisted that, the procedures was just fine and we should not raise any queries about it.”

On his part, Yasin says that, he was Musubika’s official next of kin registered by Peak Giants and he had kept in touch with them since December last year.

Yasin says that, after raising suspicion about the postmortem report, a representative from Peak Giants coerced him to sign a document, which confirmed the family’s acceptance of the postmortem report from Saudi Arabia.

“My communication with Musubika seemed suspicious and we had agreed to conduct an independent autopsy procedure from Mulago national referral hospital. However, I would later understand that, the one page document, which the representative of Peak Giants told me to sign as a recipient form for the remains of Musubika, was instead an agreement barring the family from conducting an independent autopsy procedure and instead settling for the postmortem report from Saudi Arabia,” he says.

He says that, the representative from Peak informed them that, the agreement was legally binding and there was no reversal on the same.

Yasin says that, “as we were still questioning this procedure, the Peak representative organized a vehicle to ferry Musubika’s remains back home and handed over a condolence fee of One Million Shillings to support the funeral arrangements.”

Yasin says that Musubika contacted him on 29th, December, 2026 informing him on how she had gotten a job and had since departed from the settlement hostels at the recruitment office in Saudi Arabia.

Yasin says that, the communication between them seemed smooth until 05th, January, 2026, when she complained about ill treatment from her employer in Saudi Arabia. “She said that her employer had exposed her to inhumane treatment, coupled with denial of both food and water for five consecutive days,” Yasin says adding, “Musubika would later inform me on 09th, January, 2026 that, she was experiencing unbearable pain in the stomach and the situation was worsening for her, so she was considering returning back home.”

Idi says, “Our communication was interrupted by the nationwide internet shutdown, since we were communicating via WhatsApp. However, when the same was restored, she informed me on that her employers had taken her back to office after falling ill.”

Idi says that a representative of Peak Giants called him to discuss Musubika’s detoriarrating health on 18th, January, 2026, advising the family members to find ways of repatriating her back home.

Musubika’s mother, Mariam Namaganda says that, on recieving news about her daughter’s failing health, they embarked on a fundraising drive to raise the air ticket fees of 1.5 Million Shillings within the family to no avail.

Namaganda says that, “after failing  to mobilize the funds from individual family members, we resolved to lease out family land, measuring three acres to a sugarcane farmer for three and a half years at a cost of 1.5 Million Shillings.”

Namaganda further explains, “Officials from Peak Giants informed us that Musubika would return back on 28th, January, 2026 and a team of family members pitched camp at the Entebbe international airport in wait for her return, but she never showed up, only to be informed the following day on how she had been admitted at a specialized hospital, after collapsing at the airport in Saudi Arabia.”

Namaganda says that, “the representative from Peak Giants invited Yasin to their offices and only informed him how Musubika’s death had occurred on 02nd, February, 2026, yet the postmortem report indicates a different date of 28th, January, 2026.”

Namaganda now wants justice for her daughter whom she suspects of having died under suspicious circumstances. “My daughter passed all the medical checkups before living for Saudi Arabia, but I am surprised that she succumbed to ‘natural causes,’ just like that,” she says.

Zakariya Idiiro says that, his daughter has been a key pillar in supporting their family’s livelihood. “I am a father of 25 children, but I can confidently testify that, Musubika is a very calm and understanding girl. We discussed extensively before her departure to Saudi Arabia and without fear of contradiction, Musubika went abroad for the good of our entire family, she has been selfless.”

Idiiro argues that, much as Musubika’s remains were already laid to rest on Saturday last week, she is survived by a son aged eight years, whom he says deserves to know the exact cause of his mother’s death.

Mastuura Nabukeera of Peak Giants who was communicating with the family about Musubika’s affairs declined to answer our repeated calls by press time.

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