The High Court in Kampala has ordered the Attorney General and Ambassador James Idule Amoko, the late Supreme Court Justice Stella Arach’s spouse, to file their defense in the case in which her biological children are contesting her burial in Adjumani District.
Ambassador Idule was sued alongside the government by Family Division judge Ketra Kitarisiibwa Katunguka on Thursday, and the matter will be heard orally today, Friday, June 23rd. Both the Attorney General and Idule were neither present nor represented in court.
The ruling was issued in response to an application filed by three of Arach’s children, Emmanuel Komakech, Yossa Annette, and Jackie Amony, as well as their Uncle Godfrey Picho and Aunt Christine Onyok.
The lawsuit was filed when the two families couldn’t agree on where the deceased should be buried. The deceased’s spouse prefers that she be buried in Adjumani District, while her children desire that she be buried in Nebbi District.
The funeral was originally scheduled for today, Friday, but it was canceled when Judiciary Chief Registrar Sarah Langa Siu issued a statement saying that the date had been pushed back until further notice.
The applicants, represented by lawyers Pius Katumba Busobozi and Stanley Okecho, are seeking an order preventing the Government and Idule from accepting, transporting, and burying the deceased’s remains in Adjumani District.
They also want the court to grant permission for their mother to be buried in her ancestral burial ground on Jukiga Hill Ward,Nebbi District.
According to the evidence presented in court, while Arach was in the hospital, she called her sister Onyok and brother Picho and conveyed her desire to be buried in Nebbi district, near her ancestral home.
“The judiciary had earlier been misguided to publicly announce Adjumani as the final resting place of our mother. We pray that we are allowed to grieve and heal in peace through this funeral of our mother,” reads the affidavit.
The deceased’s children claim that they were never introduced to Adjumani and have no residence or relationship to the area. They urged the judiciary to respect Amoko’s wish to be buried next to her father in Nebbi.
On the other side, Kaal Ker Kwaro Jonam Kapita, the Jonam’s cultural institution, issued a statement on June 19, 2023, stating that Justice Arach should be laid to rest at the royal burial grounds at Kaal Ragem in Pakwach district.
At the moment, Arach’s remains are still at A Plus Funeral Home.
