Court sets fresh ruling date over Justice Amoko burial place

The Family Division of the High Court has fixed June 27 to decide the burial place of the former Supreme Court Judge Stella Arach-Amoko, as the widower asked for letters of administration.
 
Court presided over by Justice Ketrah Kitariisibwa Katunguka set the date after hearing length submissions from the legal teams of both the children and siblings, plus that of Ambassador James Idule Amoko, the late justice’s husband.
 
“Originally I thought I would deliver the ruling today. Parties should exercise patience and restraint. Let the body of the deceased judge remain where it is until the final determination of the matter on Tuesday, June 27, via an email,” Justice Kitariisibwa ruled.
 
“Nobody should steal the body,” she added.
 
The applicants in the matter are Ms Annet Yossa, Mr Emmanuel Komakech and Ms Jackie Amoni - children of the deceased - and her brother Godfrey Richo and sister Christine Onyok.
 
The respondents in the case are the Attorney General and Ambassador Amoko.
 
The applicants through their lawyers raised 10 grounds that the court should consider including; that there was consensus of what Ambassador Amoko calls his “blended family” for the burial venue to be Nebbi, the family meeting was at his home, the Ambassador is estopped from departing from the family consensus and that two of the Ambassador’s former wives were not buried in his burial grounds at Adjumani contrary to his sworn evidence that he has a custom of burying his wives in Adjumani.
 
Other grounds are; the Ambassador’s alleged custom is inexistent, unproven, and repugnant, the custom alleged in support of the Nebbi venue is duly proven and valid, the Nebbi venue is supported by the ascertainable wishes of the deceased, Nebbi is appropriate for a dignified burial for the judge, the judges’ children and siblings are eligible applicants for the burial order sought, and that the applicants are wholly blameless in how the dispute arose.
 
Mr Roger Mugabi, the applicants’ lawyer while submitting questioned how convenient it is for Amoko who did not bury two of his former wives in Adjumani to insist on his allegedly mandatory custom of burying at his ancestral burial grounds in Adjumani only in the case of Stella Arach-Amoko.
 
He further told the court that the family consensus is unchallenged as the Ambassador hosted and guided the family meeting that created consensus on Nebbi on June 18, a day after the judge had passed on thus causing the family members to communicate the Nebbi venue to all stakeholders.
 
Another lawyer Mr Stanley Oketcho explained that while no family can pretend to be perfect, the portrait painted by the Ambassador in his affidavit is not entirely true as there is plentiful, painful and embarrassing evidence on record of preexisting strain, tension and disharmony that is sufficient to disqualify him.
 
Mr Richard Aduba also told the trial judge that the relationship between the applicants and the late Justice is an organic and growing relationship while that of the ambassador is contractual and has come to an end with her death.
 
“The late Justice has these biological children who also have children who are her grandchildren, and when they get more children to call the late their great-grandchildren, the relationship will continue growing. So that fact should be borne in mind by the court when determining where the burial of the Justice should take place,” he submitted
 
However, in his response through his lawyers, the Ambassador Amoko noted that there is no evidence of the alleged family consensus and so there is no reason to apply the principle of estoppel as the applicants should have brought a video recording, minutes or WhatsApp chats in relation to the said meeting.
 
“There is no evidence of the deaths of the alleged former wives of the Ambassador Amoko, and so there is no proven case of the Ambassador’s past failure to observe any custom in relation to a wife. Was the Ambassador even married before? What are the names of his former wives? Where were they buried?” Mr Ernest Kalibala, the Ambassador’s lawyer submitted.
 
The court further heard that the Constitutional provisions on the family are conceded by Ambassador Amoko and do not give its members the rights acclaimed in the instant case as there is no provision subjecting the decisions of a family head to the consent/consensus of his children/relatives.
 
“The Ambassador is 75 years old and stationed in Juba, South Sudan and there is no way he could have stayed by the judge’s bedside during the past six months in hospital prior to her demise,” Mr Kalibala further submitted.

He then asked the court to issue letters of administration for the judge’s estate to the Ambassador immediately.