Makerere in spotlight over killing of student

Kampala.

In what could turn out to be a case of mistaken identity, David Ojok Otim lost his life after he was beaten to death by a mob of Makerere University students.

What was a normal Sunday evening for Ojok, a regular at the Nkrumah Hall of residence where he usually watched football matches, turned tragic after he failed to show his identification when confronted by the residents of the hall.

All it took was a mention of the word “thief” by one of the students, for the mob to gather and without further probing, start beating up the deceased in the corridors of the hall with anything they could find. His efforts to flee only fuelled the mob further until he was cornered in the Nkrumah quadrangle where he was rescued by police who arrived a little too late. He died on the way to Mulago hospital.

The deceased, a recent graduate of computer science from Makerere University, also ran a computer repair and stationery business - Polyang Computer Systems - in Kikoni.

“He had gone to collect money amounting to Shs500,000 owed to him by one of his student clients in the hall of residence before an irate mob of students pounced on him and beat him up with sticks and stones after he failed to properly identify himself,” said Eric Makafu, a final year student of Information Systems and resident of Nkrumah Hall.

Currently, the Makerere University Nkrumah Hall chairperson, Mr Marvin Mutungi, is under police custody in connection with the death.

Police efforts
At around 10am yesterday, police detectives had sealed off the scene of crime, littered with stones and sticks, to gather more evidence. They ordered all the canteens to close down and barred students from accessing the area for more than two hours.

Mr Brian Ampaire, the DPC Wandegeya Police Station, said they received information at around 10pm on Sunday that students were carrying out mob action on a suspected thief.

Mr Ampaire said they rushed to rescue him and drove him to Mulago hospital where he passed on.
“He had no identification and was knocking on several rooms, claiming that he was looking for a certain person he could not identify before someone confronted him and shouted thief. We are currently holding the chairman of Nkrumah hall for safe custody and to help guide us on what transpired,” he said.

Speaking to Daily Monitor over the incident, the Makerere University Dean of Students, Mr Cyriaco Kabagambe, was quick to deny the university’s responsibility in the matter.

“The deceased was a student of the university three or four years ago and he was moving around at night without proper identification,” Mr Kabagambe said.

He, however, condemned the act of mob action and said the law should take its course.
This comes in the wake of a similar incident at the same hall last month where a suspected thief was beaten and set on fire by the students before he was rescued by police. No suspects were arrested and the case is still under investigation.

Mr David Bala Bwiruka, the Makerere University guild president, blamed the increase in acts of mob violence at the university on laxity in security, slow police response and loss of faith by the students in the criminal justice system.

PROFILE
David Ojok Otim
Born. October 10, 1989.
Background. 2003-2006: Namilyango College (O-Level),
2007-2008: Jinja College (A-Level)
2009-2013: Makerere University:
Work experience. Software developer.