The burial of the late Forum for Democratic Change ( FDC) women league spokesperson and activits, Sarah Eperu at Koloni in Ngora District turned into battle field between Katonga and Najjanankumbi factions of FDC.
It all started when the two factions accused each other of body theft and exclusion , which later erputed into heated confrontation that forced angry mourners to intervene and halt proceedings.
It is reported that the angry mourners traded insults over who should speak , promoting the priest to proceed with the burial without speeches from distinguished persons.
Dr Besigye , who was chief mourner at the burial and head of Katonga faction denounced the abrupt end to speeches and the exclusion of parliamentary representatives from eulogising the late Eperu.
He said Eperu’s affiliation with the FDC Katonga faction was never in doubt and lamented the disregard for her legacy.
“Up to now I do not know the cause of this, all the MPs were on the programme, even my Brother [Patrick] Amuriat, I still don’t know where and how it started,” Dr Besigye said.
But FDC resident Amuriat instead accused Besigye of trivialising the funeral of the late Eperu as he officially claimed that the Najjanankumbi faction was responsible for Eperu’s funeral.
“Besigye has come here to turn Sarah’s funeral into a joke,” he said, before accusing the Katonga faction of failing to handle the body of the late Eperu.
However, the Koloin Parish Priest, the Rev Fr John Eriau, called for reconciliation, stressing the need for forgiveness amidst political strife.
“If forgiveness is not given chance then we shall not realise development,” Fr Eriau said.
Hundreds of mourners converged in Koloin to bid farewell to the late Eperu, a political and rights activist who dedicated the last two decades of her life to FDC party mobilisation.
Eperu, who died on Sunday from renal complications at Life Link Hospital in Kampala, was laid to rest on Saturday at her ancestral home in Koloin.
