Following the mysterious death of Father Simon Lokodo who was also the Minister of Ethics and Integrity, the Uganda Human Rights Commission over the weekend came out and asked the Government for shs.500 million as the total sum needed to repatriate his body to Uganda from Geneva, Switzerland.
The money stirred questions on today’s Fatboy Show as the Presenters James Onen popularly known as Fatboy, and Olive Najjuma expressed doubt about the expatriation amount.
“Being someone who has been in the government, it seems obvious that they should bear the responsibility of bringing him back; but shs.500 million is a lot,” said Fatboy.
Olive also additionally said that although repatriation of the dead is often expensive, she wondered whether the money also catered for medical bills. However, Fatboy affirmed that the information around the Late Lokodo’s death seemed to provide that he died shortly after being hospitalised meaning the expenses weren't as high.
“So the shs.500 million is for what then? Embalming his body, buying a coffin and then putting it on a cargo plane to come home? Isn’t that too much? she asked. Fatboy additionally said that as cynical as Ugandans may be, the sum needs to be scrutinised.
Having been a member of the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC), many criticised Lokodo for watching the abuse of human rights escalate during his tenure, pointing to the instances of torture of political activists and opponents of the ruling government such as satirical novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija and Nubian Li who narrated stories of the inhumane treatment they experienced during their time in jail.
Like many others who didn’t support his directives, Olive commented, “As the Minister of Ethics and Integrity, he's the one who had proposed the ban of miniskirts. As a woman, he wasn’t a hero to me because I wouldn't like anyone telling me what to wear or not.”
Nevertheless, the Presenters agreed that the deceased deserved a decent burial in his home country. “Actually the government shouldn’t wait for the UHRC to ask for money to bring him back, he was a public servant who served diligently and as the government, it's the least they can do,” Olive said.
Father Lokodo died on January 30, 2022 at the age of 64 in Geneva Switzerland where he had travelled for a UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Conference that took place on January 24, 2022.
At the time of his death, Lokodo, a former priest and Ethics Minister from 2011-2021, was serving as a Commissioner in the UHRC after getting dropped from the presidential cabinet last year.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive, Sarah and Lesham every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.
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