IGP camps in Mayuge over slain cleric
Gen Kale Kayihura and Busoga East Region Police Commander Moses Muluya (L) address mourners at the burial of Sheikh Muwaya in Mayuge last Friday. PHOTO BY DENIS EDEMA
What you need to know:
Gen Kale Kayihura says he will not leave the district until the killers of the Muslim leader are arrested.
MAYUGE. Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura has vowed not to leave Mayuge District until the killers of the leader of the Shi’ite Muslim sect in Uganda, Sheikh Abdul Kadhir Muwaya, have been apprehended.
Sheikh Muwaya, who was also the founder and director of the Ahlal Bait Islamic Foundation, was gunned down in front of his house in Kavule village on Christmas Day. He had just returned from evening prayers from the nearby Buyemba Mosque.
“Let me assure you that the killers are to be caught. I have already dispatched another team from Kampala to intensify investigations and I will camp at Mayuge Police Station to engage with security committees to find why cases of murder are increasing,” Gen Kayihura said on Friday in Buyemba village prior to the Sheikh’s burial.
Kadaga’s request
The police boss was responding to the Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, who asked him to expedite investigations into the incident the same way police had done in the killing of Kampala businessman Eria Sebunnya Bugembe alias Kasiwukira, who was killed in October.
“General, all the thousands of people you are seeing have not gathered here for fun. We are here to mourn. I ask you to do like what you did with the murder of Kasiwukira in Kampala, where within one month, the perpetrators had appeared in court,” Ms Kadaga said.
Ms Kadaga, who delivered President Museveni’s condolence message accompanied by Shs10 million as contribution for burial expenses, said the Sheikh was personally known to the President and that he would soon be in the district to commiserate with the family.
At the burial, members of the Mayuge District Council also expressed concern over the rampant gun-related incidents. This year alone, councillors noted, there have been five murders.
