Son resurfaces three days after his ‘burial’ in Luwero

Luwero, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | There is excitement and confusion in the family of Christopher and Gertrude Kazirya, residents of Kayonza village in Butuntumula Sub-county in Luwero district. It all started on Tuesday this week when the couple received news that their son, Bernard Wajja Nsamba, had been killed in a fight on Monday.

The family mobilized Sh3 million and picked the purported body of their son from Kyamatyansi village in Nakaseke district where he was working on a farm and laid him to rest at their ancestral in Nalongo village. His mother, Gertrude Kazirya, says that the deceased was supposedly badly injured, making it difficult to recognize his face.

She says that they relied on the deceased’s aunt who positively identified the body. Kazirya, however, says that as they were healing from the shock of burying their son, his brother, Godfrey Kawalya received a phone call on Friday indicating that they had buried the wrong person.

According to Kazirya, they initially thought it was a group of conmen playing with their minds but when they put their son on the phone, they easily recognized his voice. She says that they immediately asked Nsamba to return home because they had buried someone thinking that it was him.

Nsamba’s father, Christopher Kazirya couldn’t hide his tears of joy when he saw his son alive.

He hugged him and welcomed him home. Kazirya says that he is now waiting for the Police to identify the body of the man they buried man before he allows them to exhume the grave.

Nsamba told URN that he was equally shocked to get news that he was pronounced dead and buried. He, however, confirms that he was in a bar in Kyamatyansi trading center with his auntie Nakiganda the day the unidentified man was killed but they left and returned to the farm safely.

He says that on Friday morning two men from the trading center went to work on the farm only to tell him that he was declared dead and buried at his ancestral home.   He says that he rushed to the trading center and everybody was shocked to see him alive.

Residents immediately mobilized money for him and hired a Boda boda, which transported back him to his family.

Mike Lukwago, a motorcyclist, says that his colleagues declined to transport Nsamba to his village fearing that it could be a ghost. Lukwago says that he volunteered to transport but also checked at some point to confirm that he was riding a human being.

He delivered Nsamba to his home around 5 pm on Friday. Hundreds of relatives and residents gathered at Kazirya’s home to catch a glimpse of Nsamba, whose funeral they had attended.

Richard Luwondera, the LC 1 Chairman of Nalongo village told URN on Saturday morning that they were yet to establish the identity of the person they buried. Isah Ssemwogerere, the Savannah Regional Police Spokesperson told URN that he was still waiting for police in Nakaseke to brief him on the incident.

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