GULU – Gulu Municipal authorities in collaboration with the Muslim community in the area have started exhuming remains of 311 people in the municipality to pave way for road construction.
The remains were of Nubians and Indians who were buried in the 1970s in the area. And the municipal authorities have reached an agreement with the Muslim community in the area to exhume the remains from Pece Division and relocate them to Lawiyeadul village in Bungatira Sub-county.
The remains are currently buried in an area where a 5.2km road that is being constructed by Japan International Cooperation Agency [JICA] will pass.
The Mayor, Mr George Labeja, told PML Daily on Friday that they reached an agreement with the Muslim leadership in the area to relocate the remains.
“This is to allow infrastructural development within the municipality. We have settled this matter amicably with the Gulu District Muslim Council,” Mr Labeja said.
The District Khadi, Sheikh Musa Khelil, confirmed that they reached an agreement with the municipal leaders.
Mr Labeja also revealed that Shs68 million will be spent on compensating the Muslim leaders for use of their land and the relocation exercise.
Sheikh Rashid Mohammed Bajurutta, who is in charge of the relocation exercise, said it is being carried with full consent from the deceased’s family members.
Sheikh Bajaruta says the exercise, which started last Wednesday, will last one and half months. He says the relics are being buried in mass graves of between 20 to 30 bodies in Bungatira.
According to Sheikh Majuruta, families are at liberty to take remains of their loved ones to family and alternative cemeteries. Uganda Muslim Supreme Council opened the cemetery to the public in 1972 during the reign of President Idi Amin. It was majorly used by Indians in the region to bury their loved ones.
