Ugandan Prisoner Pleads for Temporary Release to Bury Dying Wife’s Wish

KAMPALA, Uganda – A remand prisoner facing serious criminal charges has made an emotional appeal to the judiciary, requesting temporary release to fulfill his late wife’s final wish: that he bury her.

Alex Waiswa Mufumbiro, Accused No. 8 in Criminal Case No. 1363 of 2025 and also charged in Criminal Case No. 147 of 2026, has been held at Luzira Upper Prison since September 8, 2025. In a letter dated April 8, 2026, addressed to the Hobbsville Justice of the Supreme Court of Uganda, Mufumbiro pleads for bail to lay his wife, Edith Katende, to rest after her long battle with cancer.

“With great sadness I have learnt of the passing of my dear Wife Edith Katende who has been battling cancer for a considerable time,” Mufumbiro wrote.

According to his letter, in her final days, as her condition deteriorated beyond recovery, Katende expressed her “last and most earnest wish” in the presence of family members: that her husband be by her side and be permitted to bury her.

Mufumbiro, who has seen multiple bail applications rejected, is scheduled to appear before the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Kawempe at Kanyanya on April 10, 2026, at 9 a.m. for bail rulings on both cases. He faces charges of unlawful drilling (Case No. 1363/2025 before Her Worship Damalie Aguma Asimwe) and incitement to commit an offence (Case No. 147/2026 before Chief Magistrate Her Worship Ainembabazi Doreen).

“I approach Your Lordship not as a man who disregards the law, but as a man who is taking the law in its most human and dignified expression to permit me one final act of love for my wife,” he wrote.

Mufumbiro has pledged to abide by any release conditions the court deems necessary. Copies of his plea were also sent to the Principal Judge, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Chief Magistrate at Kawempe, and his legal representatives at Alma Associated Advocates.