Dead civil servant buried with money to ‘bribe’ God

The body of a Ugandan civil servant who was buried with Shs200m to “bribe” God, has been exhumed.

Charles Obong, 52, who worked as a senior personnel officer in the Ministry of Public Service from 2006 to 2016, reportedly wanted to use the cash to redeem his soul before God, according to the Zambian Observer.


Obong died recently after a long illness and was buried at his ancestral home in a metallic coffin estimated to have cost Shs20m.

David Elic said his brother-in-law had left behind a will, dictating that when he died, his wife Margaret should put huge sums of money in his coffin.

He planned to give the money to God to forgive his sins and save him from hell.

But relatives and local leaders who attended the deceased’s send-off said the will didn’t say what sins Obong wanted to make amends for.

He had worked at the Public Service ministry, which has been engulfed in pension scam scandal which cost the government about Shs257bn. The money was stolen by senior government officials.

The coffin was exhumed last weekend and the money taken out.

“The price for eternal life is the blood of Jesus. If you want your sins to be forgiven, do it when you are still alive,” Anglican priest Joel Agel Awio said.

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