Fallen former DP President General, Dr. Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere, to be accorded an official burial - M7 gives a directive

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has directed that the veteran Democratic Party president general Dr. Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere gets accorded a state of art befitting send off.

In a communication issued by the Minister for presidency Milly Babalanda, it is revealed that government will effective today take over the burial preparation for the veteran former presidential candidate Ssemogerere who passed on in the wee hours of Friday morning at his residence in Rubaga.

Requests to have him granted a state of art burial were first lobbied by the Norbert Mao led DP faction that tasked the NRM government to honor the deceased who served in different portfolios in his active political years before he retired in 2005. He had led the DP for at least 25 years prior to the reinstatement of multiparty democracy.

Dr. Kawanga who died aged 90 was a two time presidential candidate in the 1980 polls that were allegedly rigged by the UPC government of Dr. Milton Obote. He again vied for the same office and staked a huge challenge to president Museveni in the 1996 general elections.

Dr. Kawanga had served as the leader of opposition in the 1980-85 Obote government, before being appointed as internal affairs Minister in the Tito Okello Lutwa regime. He was later appointed for the same position by the NRA government, then reshuffled to the foreign affairs ministry, and then public service which he dropped and opted to vie for presidency for the second time.