Body spends 11 years in Fort Portal hospital mortuary as police investigates unsolved murder

By Bridget Kabahenda

Authorities in Kabarole district are investigating circumstances under which the body of an unidentified person has spent eleven years in the Fort Portal regional referral hospital mortuary.

The body was first deposited at the hospital mortuary in 2007.

The puzzling case was brought to light by the executive director Rwenzori Anti Corruption Coalition (RAC) Angella Byangwe.

In a meeting ahead of the Anti Corruption Week, Byangwe explained that despite the referral hospital having only two mortuary refrigerators, one has been permanently occupied by the body for 11 years. She wondered how the leaders could be comfortable with this situation yet the rights of the dead person are being infringed upon.

The Rwenzori regional police commander Bob Kagarura confirmed presence of the body in the mortuary. He, however, explained that the body had been preserved to help in investigations in an unsolved murder.

Hospital administrators declined to comment on the matter. They said they could not make comments on the unidentified body because it was brought to the mortuary before they were in office.

The body in question was discovered by police in a garden in the mountainous Kasenda sub county of Kabarole district in 2007. This was the same year when a Reverend Fr Tobby Kiiza, a parish priest of Kamwenge catholic parish, went missing. The body was assumed to be his but two DNA tests carried out on Fr. Kiiza’s relatives proved it was not.

Police said investigations are still on-going to identify the body before it can be given a decent burial.