Uganda: Government Officials Are Worried About the Emerging Culture of Celebrating the Death of Their Colleagues
Government officials have expressed concern over the strange emerging culture of celebrating the death of other people, especially their colleagues by a section of Ugandans.
These made the expressions during the parliament session to eulogize the former State Minister for Labor Charles Okello Engola Macodwogo on Tuesday.
The Speaker of Parliament Annet Among labelled as uncultured and immoral, the acts of celebrating the death of other people.
“It is very immoral and uncultured to celebrate the death of anyone because you hold divergent views,” she said.
Lt Gen James Mugira, UPDF’s representative in Parliament also castigated sections of Ugandans on social media for the provocative “silly jokes” regarding the death of officials.
“I condemn in the strongest terms possible, the insensitive, provocative and silly jokes on social media, celebrating and making fun of the circumstances surrounding the tragic death in cold blood,” Lt Gen Mugira said.
The Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs Norbert Mao said that members have a responsibility to respond to the outrage being expressed whenever the people’s reasonable expectations are ignored.
Engola was shot last week by one of his guards Private Wilson Sabiiti while he prepared to go to work. Sabiiti would later seek refuge at a salon nearby and allegedly turn the gun on himself.
In the wake of his death, Engola was mocked by among others, vlogger Ibrahim Tusibira alias Isma Olaxes Jajja Ichuli on social media, unfortunately for him, Olaxes would later be shot to death from the same radius just days later.
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Also after the death of former Security Minister Gen Elly Tumwine in October last year, President Museveni castigated social media users for celebrating his death, calling them “confused malicious people”.
“We shall all die eventually. That therefore can not be a matter of celebrating whether you like the person or not. People who do that are deceiving themselves.”
In his sermon during Gen Tumwine’s funeral service, the retired Bishop of North Kigezi Diocese, Rt. Rev. Dr Edward Muhima asked Ugandans not to agree with what is being written about Gen. Elly Tumwine without getting to know him.
“Those who appreciate Gen. Elly Tumwine, I ask us to forgive those who have rejoiced at his death for they didn’t know him if they knew him…not about him…but if they knew him, they would never write the kind of stuff they are writing and saying about him,” said Bishop Muhima. He described some of the reports written about the late as rubbish and cautioned against reckless statements about Gen. Tumwine.
