Kampala Central MP, Muhammed Nsereko has blasted opposition National Unity Platform for what he termed as hijacking the funeral of his deceased Kawempe North counterpart, Muhammad Ssegirinya.
Ssegirinya, who died on Friday was laid to rest at his ancestral home in Butale village, Masaka District.
Commenting about the funeral, Nsereko said it was wrong for the biggest opposition party to hijack the event.
“They should have expressed their views at the party headquarters, not at the funeral. Let the Muslims at the mosque also offer their eulogies. You entered the mosque without proper ablution, sitting there pretending to converse. What were you discussing? What prayers were you going to offer? You left the mosque and went to his ancestral home. The family should be allowed to honour him in their own way and treat the deceased with respect,” Nsereko said.
There was drama at the burial in Masaka on Sunday as NUP party president, Robert Kyagulanyi also known as Bobi Wine and his former Buganda region deputy, Mathias Mpuuga, each tried to show supremacy.
This came after NUP supporters protested a move by Mpuuga to relocate funeral activities from the family home to a nearby playground which was said to be more spacious.
The NUP supporters stood their ground and prevented police from removing the body from the home, leaving Mpuuga with an egg on the face.
Commenting about the fracas, MP Nsereko said it was uncouth of NUP to dominate affairs in the mosque but also at the burial grounds in Masaka yet Ssegirinya’s body had also spent a night at their party headquarters at Kavule in Makerere.
“This person has been taken to his ancestral home, meaning, they are responsible and that’s how it should have been. As a party, you mourned at your headquarters. Did you see anyone not a member of your party disrupting you? You had your time to speak all the good and the bad that you wanted. That is where your part ended. If the body goes to parliament, let those concerned speak from there. Did you ever hear me request to speak from somewhere else(apart from parliament)? I spoke and gave my eulogy,” Nsereko said.
“The body was taken to Mbogo mosque. Let the Muslims at that mosque also give their eulogies. You go to a Mosque without making wudhu and sit. What are you doing in the mosque? Which aya( verse) are you going to recite at the Mosque? Which Duah are you going to recite for him? Then from the Mosque, the body was taken to his home, if you have been a great friend, go and give an eulogy from there. The finally let him rest in his ancestral home.”
