Philly Bongoley Lutaaya’s remains were reburied on April 14 in the central district of Gomba, but his family shrugged off speculation that they moved the body from its original 10-acre resting place largely to sell off the land at Bunamwaya in Wakiso district.
On April 14, as Christians in Uganda and around the world celebrated Good Friday, Lutaaya’s remains and those of six other relatives were being re-buried in Gomba, almost a week after being exhumed from Kasingiri zone in Bunamwaya.
Lutaaya, a legendary musician, shocked the world on Friday, April 14, 1989 when he announced that he was suffering from HIV/Aids. He spent the next eight months of his life championing the fight against the deadly viral disease, not just in Uganda but around the world.
Such was the impact of his campaign that the lead song of his very last music album, Alone and Frightened, remains the anthem in the HIV/Aids campaigns till today.
On December 15, 1989, exactly eight months after his famous “I have Aids” announcement, the 38-year-old Philly, as he was popularly known in music circles, succumbed to the virus at Nsambya hospital. He was buried at Bunamwaya in Makindye division. It is from here, almost 28 years later, that his remains together with those of six other relatives, were exhumed and relocated to Gomba, his ancestral home.
Abbey Lutaya, the late Philly’s elder brother, denied that there was a family wrangle over the land located at Kasingri zone. He explained that a decision to exhume the bodies was taken by the family about seven years ago to ensure that Philly is buried on the same burial ground as his parents.
Asked why it has taken the family 28 years to relocate Philly’s body, Abbey Lutaya said it needed careful planning.
“If I’m a contractor and I’m told to exhume someone’s body, it would be easy for me,” he said. “But it wouldn’t be easy if I’m exhuming the body of my brother and several other relatives.”
Abbey says the land at Bunamwaya was bought by their late father. He says the land, if demarcated into plots, can hold up to eighty-eight housing units but he has only constructed one on it.
Abbey, who says he sought police clearance to undertake the exercise, explained that he is happy to have been able to transfer the remains of his family members to a place where no city, municipality or local authority would demand their exhumation again.
