The widow of the late  Bank of Uganda (BoU) governor, Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile, has said her family is not homeless.

“We are not homeless. This is our residential house that we occupied in 1990. We are well catered for. Disregard the media reports that circulated that we do not have a home,” Ms Betty Mutebile said yesterday during the end of four days of mourning at her countryside residence in Katojo cell, Kijuguta ward, Kabale Municipality in Kabale District.

Before Tumusiime-Mutebile’s burial, it was suggested in Parliament that the official residence of the BoU governor be handed to his wife in honour of his legacy, drawing criticism from a section of the public.

Ms Mutebile said during his last two terms as BoU governor, she was worried about her husband losing the job.

She said her husband was, however, always confident of retaining the job despite his poor health.

“I thank President Museveni for retaining my husband in office until he died. If he was dropped sometime back, I imagine the government would not have accorded his burial ceremony a state funeral,” she said.

“I want to thank the people that comforted me during the time I spent with my husband in Nairobi Hospital in Kenya until he died,” she added.

Prof Mutebile died on January 23 aged 72.

His siblings, Maj Gen (Rtd) Timothy Sabiiti Mutebile, and Mr David Mutebile,  thanked his widow for caring for their brother.

“Forget the past and keep united as a family because our deceased brother loved unity, peace and development,” Mr David Mutebile said.

Maj Gen Mutebile said his brother would still be alive had he not contracted Covid-19.

While preaching at the ceremony, the Rev Benon Agaba, the sub dean of Rugarama Cathedral, re-echoed the need of ring-fencing the BoU governor job for people hailing from Kigezi region.

“You remember our son Mr Amama Mbabazi served as the prime minister before he was dropped and replaced by our own son Dr Ruhakana Rugunda who was also later dropped.

Prof Mutebile, being the governor- Bank of Uganda, remained the only hope for Kigezi. Now that death has taken him, we pray that his replacement comes from the Kigezi region,” the Rev Agaba said.