IHK doctor's murder: Weak laws fuelling crime – Museveni
Farewell. President Museveni pays his last respects to the slain International Hospital Kampala doctor Catherine Agaba (inset) at Orurembo Village in Mbarara District on Wednesday. PHOTO BY FELIX AINEBYOONA
What you need to know:
- During the burial service earlier in the day, the priest of Rubindi Catholic Parish, Rev Fr Robert Ayebazibwe, appealed to the President to always sign death sentences quickly so that murderers can be eliminated from communities.
President Museveni has said those found guilty of murder by courts of law should as well be killed.
Mr Museveni said Ugandan laws are too soft that people no longer fear to commit crimes such as murder because they are sure that they will be taken to court where they will receive lenient sentences.
The president said this has increased murder cases in the country.
He was on Wednesday evening speaking to mourners after the burial of Dr Catherine Agaba at Orurembo Village, Kagongi Sub-county in Mbarara District.
Dr Agaba was murdered in Muyenga, a Kampala suburb. She was an employee of International Hospital Kampala.
“Being soft has led to breaking the law. This girl never had a problem with anybody and there is nobody who has a right to kill another. When we were in the bush, such lapses were not there but when we got into the government, Parliament came to life and court as well, which led to these tendencies,” Mr Museveni said.
He was responding to the cries by the locals who said killers of Dr Agaba be given a death sentence. Mr Museveni, who had other public functions in Mbarara earlier in the day, visited the family late in the evening after burial.
Mr Museveni said he will engage Parliament and Judiciary to ensure that when a person kills, he is also killed so that rampant murders can stop.
“We will agree with Parliament and Court that fire puts out fire because criminals do not have power but because of holding them lightly, it has increased criminality in the country,’’ Mr Museveni said.
Mr Museveni assured the deceased’s family that he would make sure that the suspected murderers face full wrath of the law.
During the burial service earlier in the day, the priest of Rubindi Catholic Parish, Rev Fr Robert Ayebazibwe, appealed to the President to always sign death sentences quickly so that murderers can be eliminated from communities.
Mr Emmanuel Mbarebakyi, an uncle of Dr Agaba, said during the burial ceremony that police should keep the hunt for the real suspects saying the guard (Robert Obangakene) — the arrested suspected killer — could have lied.
“I have read through the newspapers that the arrested suspect killed Dr Catherine Agaba because she was reporting him to his boss, it is a lie because Catherine was not talkative but she would only talk about what matters to her,’’ Mr Mbarebakyi said.
