The suspicion of a family rift was high over the weekend in Kanyogoga village, Kyamulibwa Sub County, Kalungu district, Greater Masaka at former minister, Attorney General and Buganda Katikkiro (prime minister) Joash Mayanja Nkangi’s funeral.
Nkangi died on Monday morning last week at Nakasero Hospital where he had been admitted for suspected pneumonia. He was 85.
During the funeral service, all the speakers hailed Nkangi as a “hero” but his most popular son, Ham ‘Tshaka’ Mayanja’s deliberate absence was hard to ignore. His blood-sister Josephine Namazzi Mayanja Nkangi introduced the legendary politician’s children; Marcus H. Luswata, Esther Ddambya, Alexander Isaya Lugemwa, Joy Kateesakwe and Moses Mayanja, Josephine feigned ignorance about why Tshaka was not able to join the other mourners.
Even at their ancestral home in Kanyogoga, Tshaka was sighted by mourners at a neighbor, Mr. Ben Ssali’s home about 30 meters away.
The 40-year-old (born Winston Mayanja) Mayanja is a Rastafari who does not believe in death and believes there is no formal funeral ceremony to mark the end of life hence his absence at his father’s funeral.
When we reached out to Tshaka, he said he had been very close to his late father and there was nothing to be suspicious about after all he had crossed to the next life.
He said; “I was on good terms with my father. I would call him ‘Daddy’ and he would tease me by calling me ‘Taata’ and as a matter of fact we used to talk about so many things every day. We had already talked about the issue of my beliefs with my father, the reason why I would keep away as he was being lowered into the ground. From almost six years ago.”
“I was there in Kanyogoga, Kalungu but didn’t take part in the final procession. I left after midnight that day,” Tshaka added.
He later said online; “And when the dust settles, after hymns, sad songs and sermons are done; after the crowds are gone, after the sound of wailing has died; when it’s serene and the sun is setting……”
“The Roots Man stays and finds some time alone to reflect and say farewell, until the moon rises and the stars are shinning. It’s a beautiful place to be.”
“I haven’t shed a single tear yet, no lump in my throat neither. For He’s not gone, he’s only a whisper, a dream, a vision away. The dead aren’t dead, they’re next door.”
A family source tells TheUgandan that Tshaka has taken nine nights to celebrate his deceased father with a belief that he is no longer suffering in life. His friends were visiting him in Ntinda, Ministers Village with drinks and food. It is believed that the spirit of the deceased passes among the people during the party time.
Stories of the deceased are told and memories are shared of the dead to family members and friends. The partying time before burial gives close family members and friends to give their goodbyes to the deceased.
In the Rastafari dialect, burial is preferred to cremation although the wishes of the deceased are followed.
When a member is dead, post mortem and transplant operations are forbidden by the Rastafari Religion.
Though is routine has been hampered by the unfortunate passing of his father, on most evenings, Tshaka can be seen at Magic Parking (opposite Theatre Labonita) talking to close friends. Wearing dreadlocks, Tshaka is a teetotaler who does not take drugs or smoke anything associated with Rastafarianism, an ideology to which he subscribes for so many years now.
Some of the prominent people who attended Nkangi’s burial are Vice President of Uganda Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi, Charles Peter Mayiga, the Katikkiro of Buganda, Government Chief Whip Ruth Nankabirwa, several Members of Parliament, cabinet ministers and district leaders among others.
