Suspects confess to Busoga killings

Jinja.

Two of the 18 suspects arrested over the killing of Muslim leaders and other people in Busoga sub-region, have confessed to the crime, revealing how they carried out their missions.

The two suspects held at Nalufenya Police Station in Jinja District said they killed the deceased on the orders of the Allied Democratic Forces rebel leader Sheikh Jamil Mukulu.

In December last year, Muslim leader Sheikh Abdulkadir Muwaya was shot dead at his home in Buyemba village in Mayuge Town Council. The killing of Muslim leaders is said to have started in 2012 with the shooting dead of two sheikhs: Yunusu Abubakar Madangu and Yowadu Ssentunga in Bugiri District. There have been other killings of people in Busoga, including two police officers in Bugiri and the chairman for Buyinja Sub-county in Namayingo District.

Mr Salim Yahaya and Ali Kabambwe, aka Munakenya, who are accused of masterminding the killings, told the press at Nalufenya Police Station on Friday that they shot some of the mentioned victims.

Mr Yahaya, who was presented as the gang coordinator, said he was contacted by Sunni Muslim sect leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid Wasigu, who is also in police custody, to kill Sheikh Muwaya for popularising the Shi’ite Muslim sect in Mayuge District.

Mr Yahaya said he first disagreed with Sheikh Wasigu over the reason for killing Sheikh Muwaya but he promised him Shs40m if he accepted the assignment.

He said the promise of money was followed with a message that ADF leader Jamil Mukulu had ordered Muwaya’s elimination.

‘’The programme for killing Muwaya was brought by Sheikh Wasigu whom I first told that the issue of promoting Shi’iite religion was none of my concerns but he told me that Sheikh Mukulu had made instructions and money was available for me. I contacted Kabambwe to go for the shooting,” Yahaya told the press.

Mr Kabambwe also confessed before the press that he had been involved in the killings. Mr Kabambwe said he is a former ADF rebel, adding that he was poor and resorted to being an assassin to earn a living.

He narrated that he tracked Sheikh Muwaya from a mosque and followed him to his home at about 9pm on Christmas Day of 2014, where he shot him dead.

“We arrived near his home with a person who was transporting me on a motorcycle and we saw him going for prayers but we waited until he came back home. I shot him dead as he sat in his shade,” Mr Kabambwe said.

He said he had been promised money to buy a truck which would generate money for him through transporting sand.

Mr Kabambwe said some other people contacted him to shoot Buyinja Sub-county chairman in Namayingo District and he did it but declined to reveal their names.

He added that after realising he was running short of ammunition, he went and waylaid the two police officers who were guarding the home of former Inspector General of Government, Ms Faith Mwondha, and shot them dead to take their guns and bullets. The duo pleaded for pardon from government, saying they had been influenced by their leaders.

‘“We ask government to forgive us because in the army, order is order. There was no way I would refuse to kill if ordered given my training as a soldier,” said Mr Kabambwe.

The suspects were later taken and charged with terrorism and murder in Jinja Magistrate’s Court. Bukooli South MP Stephen Mayende was not taken to court as he was released on police bond.

The suspects
Last week the Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, said police were still looking for more suspects. He said 26 suspects, including ADF leader Sheikh Mukulu and Australian-based Ugandan doctor Aggrey Kiyingi had been listed but only 18 had been arrested.