It was a sombre mood at Nebbi Catholic Parish in Nebbi district on Thursday as the remains of a priest who died 14 years ago was exhumed.
Church leaders in the area say the site at which Father Paul T. Jalcebo was buried is to be used to construct a resource centre.
Relatives had a long day on Thursday while exhuming the remains of Father Jalcebo, the first Alur priest who was ordained in 1945 when West Nile was still under Gulu Catholic diocese. He died in 1998 after working and establishing Nebbi Catholic parish where he was buried.
But the current parish priest, Father Albert Oromcan, says they have taken the decision to exhume the body to pave way for building a resource and refreshment centre that will generate income for the church.
Records from the parish indicate that the deceased priest was the only person buried there after his death and since they had a plan of developing the area they acquired another land within the parish to relocate the cemetery.
Father Jalcebo’s remains will be reburied this afternoon in their village in Panyimur Sub County.
However, relatives of the deceased priest are not happy with the decision of the church. Otho Korine, one of the elders who led relatives to exhume the remains, says they are demanding that the church takes all the reburial expenses and organise rituals to cleanse the home where the burial will take place.
He says in Alur culture, if a body is exhumed, there must be rituals performed including slaughtering a goat, adding the church must organise it.
Father Oromcan says the church will meet all expenses incurred during the reburial.
