Man shot by counter-terrorism police narrates ordeal

Mr Simon Katuramu, 26, was on Tuesday morning shot in the back by counter terrorism police officers attached to Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) weigh bridge station in Kacence West Cell in Kakiika Division, Mbarara District.

By press time, he was still admitted to Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital emergency ward with bullet wounds.
On the fateful night, Mr Katuramu was reportedly travelling from Kampala to Mbarara in his private vehicle, but when he reached Lyantonde Town, his vehicle developed a mechanical fault.

He boarded a Fuso truck carrying goods he did not bother to know, for they were covered by a tauplin. Mr Katuramu sat in front beside the driver.

“When we reached Akageti Trading Centre (about 20km from Lyantonde Town), a pick-up truck overtook us and the driver commented that it was for Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) customs department,” Mr Katuramu said from his hospital bed yesterday.

Between the weighbridge and Koranorya Town, they found the double-cabin pick-up truck parked on the roadside and the occupants flashed torch lights at their truck and waved down the driver.

“The driver of the Fuso truck ignored them and drove on. When I asked him why he did not stop, he said: ‘these are thieves, I am carrying emaari (valuable items) of an Indian, I don’t want them to steal it. I will only stop in Mbarara Town centre,’” he narrated.

As they drove on, the double-cabin truck pursued them. When they reached the roundabout opposite Hotel Triangle (about a kilometre from the weighbridge), the driver of the Fuso truck took the Northern Bypass route instead of the road leading to Mbarara Town centre.

“They pursued us; and as we ascended the hill at Nkokonjeru Church of Uganda, they started firing bullets at the truck. They shot the tyres but the driver still did not stop. Then I saw a person, who I think was the driver’s colleague, oozing blood before collapsing. He was seated in the compartment behind the driver’s seat,” Mr Katuramu said.

Mr Kauramu, who is also a Western Youth MP aspirant, was shot in the back as he urged the driver to stop. He opened the door and jumped out of the moving truck and fell in a trench.

“The customs officials still pursued the Fuso truck. I saw lights in a nearby home and crawled there. I called and they opened. I narrated what happened. They called the village chairperson, who came with police and they took me to hospital,” Mr Katuramu said.

The Rwizi region police spokesperson, Mr Samson Kasasira, said the man who was seated in the compartment behind the driver in the Fuso truck, who was later identified as Ivan Saturday Bimanyirwoha, was found in the abandoned truck on Northern Bypass road dead, his body bearing bullet wounds.

The whereabouts of the driver were not yet known. Mr Kasasira further said the case was reported at Mbarara Central Police Sation by Mr Andrew Mugume, the vice chairperson of Kacence West cell.

Mr Katuramu hails from Kaguhanzya in Rubaya Kashari Mbarara. He has been working as an administrator at Metropolitan University in Kisoro District.

Compiled by Milton Bandiho
Rajab Mukombozi
& Robert Muhereza