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By Our Staff writers
WEEKLY OBSERVER
The body of a Ugandan born businessman may remain unburied for months,
caught in a legal wrangle between his two widows and sister over the
burial place.
In a story that smells of asylum seeking and scramble
for property, two Ugandan lawyers may fly to England to explain why a
Uganda-born man should or should not be buried in Uganda.
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DECEASED: Martin Luther
Wabbalayi |
The High Court in London has ordered that the burial site of Martin
Luther Wabbalayi, 41, a Birmingham estate agent who died on March 1, 2006,
should be determined by the High Court Chancery Division.
At the centre of claim No. HQ06X00701 is Wabbalayis sister Elizabeth
Namaganda Mashate, who wants the body buried in Uganda, and his UK
girlfriend Damali Ndagire Wabbalayi, who wants him buried in England.
Another woman, Susan Masuama Wabbalayi, who Martin had married in 1983,
has joined the row as the lawful next of kin, backing the familys effort
to return the body for burial in Uganda. The case has already attracted UK
media coverage and is poised to make a landmark decision for British law.
One lawyer told court that British law was plunging in un-charted
territory.
The Weekly Observer has learnt that soon after the mans death, his
partner Damalie opposed plans to return his body to Uganda for burial.
Fearing that Damali might arrange a hasty burial, Namaganda went to High
Court in London to block such a burial. She claims in her application that
her deceased brother was heir to their late father Sezzi Nabende Wasazza
of Bukonde, Bufumbo, Mbale district. It is therefore essential for the
deceased to be buried at the family ancestral cemetery in Uganda for the
continued stability of the clan.
Damali Ndagire, a daughter of G.W. Semakadde of Bunamwaya, Kampala,
moved to UK nearly two years ago. In two sworn affidavits, she argues that
her deceased husband had expressed his wish to be buried in the UK
because he was a naturalised UK citizen and Britain was his only home.
Her views are supported by two affidavits by the deceaseds daughter,
Margaret Wanyenze, and his Uganda-based brother, Myke Malundah.
Second wife illegal
However, the deceaseds sister Namaganda, also wife of UK-based
Uganda-born journalist Dr. Jesse Mashate, argues that Damali Ndagire was
only Wabbalayis second wife, which is not recognised under English Law.
She therefore cannot be the next of kin and cannot decide on the burial
place.
Namaganda was initially represented in court by her husband
Dr. Mashate. Although not a lawyer, Britains Mackenzie friend rules
allow a non-lawyer to represent a person in court.
Namaganda says that the deceaseds lawful wife was Susan Masuama
Wabbalayi whom he married in 1983. She claims that Ndagire is actually the
wife of one Edirisa Sebaggala (now living in Boston, USA), with whom they
have children.
In response, Ndagire admits having lived with
Sebaggala but says she quit the relationship before meeting Wabbalayi, the
deceased.
According to Namaganda, the reason Ndagire wants her deceased
husband buried in England is because it would allow her to extend her UK
immigration visa. That visa expires this month. It means that returning
the body could also see Ndagire forced back to Uganda. The deceased is
also rumoured to have owned several properties, which neither side wants
to lose.
As the wrangle rages, Namaganda claims that Ndagire has frustrated
efforts to embalm Wabbalayis body in the hope that the body would
deteriorate and thus facilitate a UK burial. Court later ordered the two
parties to have the body embalmed and stored by a specialist firm, pending
the outcome of the main hearing.
Meanwhile, Wabbalayis aunt, Mary Nambozo Musisi of South Norwood in
London, also made a signed statement to the court supporting burial in
Uganda. Musisi says the deceased never introduced Ndagire to her and yet
it is customary that the younger generation introduce their brides. The
effect of Musisis statement would be to reinforce Namagandas argument
that Ndagire is not the deceaseds next of kin. Court was also shown
affidavits by the head of the deceaseds Bamalunda clan, Joseph Wabbalayi,
in which he demanded the return of the body. The clan leader argued that a
burial in England would bring a permanent curse on the clan.
Real wife
When the two women last appeared in court in London on April 7,
Namaganda sought and got court permission to be enjoined or substituted by
a new claimant, the original wife of the deceased, Suzan Masuama
Wabbalayi. Masuamas affidavit, sworn in Kampala at Omoding, Ojakol and
Okalany Advocates, states that she was the rightful wife of the deceased
and wants her husband buried in Uganda. Masuama also provided certified
copies of her customary marriage to Wabbalayi. Interestingly, sources say
that this customary marriage was all but dead after Wabbalayi moved to
England. But British courts are likely to hold that as long as it was not
dissolved, it was still a marriage.
Damali Ndagires lawyers, Simon Rose Solicitors, urged court to
disregard the customary marriage but the court ordered that it would
require at least two law experts from Uganda to explain customary
marriages to enable the UK High Court reach its decision. The court held
that until the contrary is done, it would regard Masuama as the rightful
widow of the deceased and his next of kin.
Curious twist
As the above court hearing was going on, drama ensued. A clerk to the
defence lawyers brought into court a handwritten document faxed from the
Centenary Rural Bank (fax number +256 41 237 030) in Uganda, purporting to
be from Susan Masuama Wabbalayi. In the statement, Masuama pledged her
support for her co-widow Damali Ndagire to have the body buried in the UK.
Namagandas new lawyers, Stanley and Company Solicitors of Wembley,
London, promptly asked the court to treat this document as a forgery.
Court agreed and went ahead to have Masuama as a co-applicant.
The family said later in a statement to court that the document was the
work of the deceaseds female relative who is a clerk with Centenary Bank.
The statement said this relative was blackmailing Masuama and using the
banks facilities to threaten family members opposed to burial in Uganda.
The hearing continues. | 
