Ugandan polygamist man and father of 115 Hajj Nulu Ssemakula died Thursday morning July 1 at Amazing Grace health center in Ntunagmo town after his blood pressure rose.

At least 64 of his children attended the ceremony, as many of their siblings who were away from home did not travel despite the COVID-19 restrictions announced by President Yoweri Museveni.

The Ugandan Daily Monitor reported that at least 200 of his grandchildren, six wives, several parents and religious leaders attended the ceremony.

This despite government measures which had limited the number of mourners to less than 20.

“Because of Sharia law, we had to bury him on Thursday, July 1,” Ssemakula’s younger brother Daudi Suubi told Daily Monitor.

“Most of the relatives and his children complained that they were not given the opportunity to bury their father,” he added.

Some of Ssemakula’s children work in law enforcement; the police, the army and the civil service, among others.

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Issa Turyeija, director of Ruteda Herbal Laboratories, said he spent part of Wednesday with Ssemakula in the town of Rubaare before being taken for a medical exam that evening.

“We spent a lot of Wednesday with Hajji, we laughed and made jokes. He said he was looking at another young woman he was planning to marry. He was so worried about COVID-19. Doctors say it was his blood pressure that continued to fluctuate, ”Tureija said.

“When he felt weak at night I think he was worried it was Covid and he couldn’t come back. Unfortunately we buried him in this state and most of his people never did. attended his funeral, “he added.

Former Minister of State for Labor Mwesigwa Rukutana praised Nuuhu as a hero and icon of the development and transformation of the then poor, uncivilized and backward village of Ruyonza.

According to Rukutana, Nuuhu pioneered the cultivation of coffee and the commercial cultivation of bananas.

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“He excelled at raising cattle until his entire herd was looted by the TZ liberation forces in 1979,” Rukutana said.

“I’m glad I helped him and the group get compensation from the NRM government when I was DAG (Deputy Attorney General),” Rukutana added.

Ssemakula was the first Muslim from Rushenyi County to visit Mecca in 1977. He once owned a fleet of public transport vehicles that operated on the Kabale-Mbarara road.

In a previous interview in 2019, Ssemakula said he married 19 women, four of whom have since died.

He lived with seven women in one house, including his first wife, whom he married in 1952.

His youngest wife was only 24 years old and had a 3 year old child. She expected that too. He, however, married another woman in 2020 who had given birth at the time of her death.

Ssemakula could still, in his old age, go to the garden and dig, drive a car, read the Koran, count money and run businesses and have time for his family.

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One of his sons, Rashid Kigwe, said his father was exceptionally bright because even at his age he could sit his family together, advise them and unite many people in his village and Rushenyi County.

He is survived by 115 children, over 300 grandchildren and several great grandchildren.

Source: Tuko