By Patrick Ebong
A pregnant pilgrim from Lira Catholic diocese has died this morning at Matugga.
Ms Scovia Moro a resident of Ober parish in Barr Sub County had trekked from Lira to Kafu before complaining of severe abdominal pain and was admitted to Bishop Asili health centre 1V in Luwero.
According to the Member of Parliament for Moroto County in Alebtong district Samuel Okwir Odwee who is among the 470 pilgrims who started their journey on May 18th, the deceased developed some complications from Kafu and when they reached Luwero on Sunday her condition worsened and was admitted to Bishop Asili Health Center IV.
He says that unfortunately as they set off from Matuga this morning she collapsed and died. Odwee adds that the body of the deceased has been taken to Mulago hospital for postmortem.
Mr. Alfred Okello who is the coordinator of the pilgrims from Lira said the death of the colleague has reinforced their faith because they know that she has gone straight to heaven because she died as she was exercising her faith.
He said they have already reached Kampala and they were received by police band from Kawempe which will lead them to St. Jude catholic parish in Naguru where they will rest and head to Namugongo on June 1st.
In a seperate development, 12 pilgrims riding on bicycles from Lango Sub-region have today left Lira town for Namugongo Martyrs Shrine.
The Bishop of Lira Catholic Diocese, Joseph Franzeli flagged off the cyclists at his residence for a journey of about 365km. He says the event has become a tradition in the Roman Catholic faith with cyclists planting trees at some stopovers along the way to Namugongo.
According to Bishop Franzeli, of the 2 million people in Lango, 1million are Catholics and of these, 470-foot pilgrims from Lira Diocese left last week for prayer Namugongo.
Mr. Jimmy Okola, one of the bicycle pilgrims told KFM shortly before leaving Lira Cathedral that they expect to reach Kampala on Thursday evening.
Over 11,000 uniformed and covert police officers are to be deployed at Namugongo shrine to ensure security of pilgrims during this year’s Martyrs day celebrations.
Addressing a news conference ahead of the celebrations the Kampala Metropolitan Police Commander Frank Mwesigwa says these officers will help avert any kind of security threat and criminal activity.
Members of the public have an opportunity to receive free medical care ahead of the martyrs’ day celebrations slated for June 3rd.
The Church of Uganda has organized a health camp at the Protestants shrines in Namugongo which kicked off on Tuesday.
The chairman organizing committee Isaac Membe calls on members of the public to use this opportunity to get free check-up for various ailments.
