Brenda Nantongo, a daughter of outgoing Works minister Gen Katumba Wamala, who died in a shooting on Tuesday, was yesterday laid to rest in an emotional send-off in Kikandwa Village, Mukono District.
The 34-year-old public health consultant at Bombo Army Hospital died on the spot when the car she was travelling in with her father was attacked by assassins on Kisota-Kulambiro road.
At 4:12pm, Natongo’s body was lowered into the grave amid tears and sobs from her family and the public.
The burial was attended by various government officials, security personnel, and other dignitaries, who sat distanced in the vast home compound, while others followed the proceedings via zoom in nearby gardens in observance of the standard operating procedures.
“Brenda was our glue. She was quiet and calm. Ugandans stop killing each other. What did the gentleman (Gen Katumba) seated over there ever do to anyone of you? She wanted to have kids, she wanted to serve. She was just starting and that had been taken away. Where do you get the permission to take a life?” Ms Diana Katumba, her elder sister, said.
Archbishop of the Church of Uganda Stephen Kazimba, preaching from the biblical Cain and Abel passage, decried the heinous acts, saying they are bread by hatred.
“We need a peaceful and harmonious nation with no divisions. We can all co-exist,” Archbishop Kazimba said.
He urged government to scale up efforts to control gun misuse and account for all guns in the country.
Mufti Ramathan Mubajje urged government to conduct the investigation expeditiously and prosecute the culprits.
Gen Katumba said he decided to focus on giving her daughter a befitting send-off instead of concentrating on the “terrorists”.
They have touched a nerve, and we shall fight back,” the former army commander said.
Ms Margaret Kanyali, the elder sister of Gen Katumba, wondered what her brother had done to the person who wanted to kill him.