Col Engola’s last hours 

Yesterday, the country woke up to the tragic murder-suicide of Col (rtd) Charles Patrick Okello Engola, the minister of state for Labour, Employment and Industrial Relations, and his bodyguard, army private Wilson Sabiiti.

Pte Sabiiti is believed to have shot the minister dead at his home in Kyanja, an emerging middle class neighbourhood outside Kampala City 

Mr Aggrey David Kibenge, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development, did not expect anything untoward hours before the stunning shooting. 

READ: Govt officials, politicians throng slain minister Engola’s home

The minister, he said, was in high spirits as they left the Labour Day celebrations in the eastern Uganda district of Namutumba on Monday evening. 

“He was full of life and in high spirits when I saw him on Monday. Even last week as we attended an annual labour conference at [Kampala] Serena [Hotel] as the master of ceremonies called the late to speak he referred to him as one of the men with the smartest beard. And indeed if you looked at him, he was suave,” Mr Kibenge said.

ALSO READ: Minister Engola’s last public statement 

Recalling the last 48 hours in Namutumba, Mr Kibenge revealed how: “We were seated with him and he was walking to the podium to speak and they brought him an umbrella and he waved it away and walked to the podium in the rain in a suit. We made a comment, saying Honourable Engola is a real soldier. They later brought him the umbrella of course because it was raining cats and dogs but we later all left and he was happy and cheerful”.

Like others who spoke about the colonel, Mr Kibenge described the minister as an outgoing, calm and organised person with a generally agreeable nature.

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“People usually fear working with soldiers but he was a very reasonable person, if he had any issue he would candidly raise it, he never held onto grudges,” the permanent secretary noted.

“At a personal level, I had a very good working rapport with him and I was in touch with him every other day. In the days leading up to the Labour Day celebrations we had our final national organising committee meetings in Namutumba on Sunday.

 “He called me in the night of April 29 to tell me that he will be able to join us but he had a function in Ntungamo, but that from Ntungamo he would travel back and make sure on Monday by 8am he would be at the venue and indeed he was at the venue that early. He arrived even before some of us who slept nearby.”

At the ministry, a heavy air of grief hung over the premises as shocked staff huddled together and consoled each other.

“It is very tragic, we have all been hit by this news of his passing,” Mr Kibenge said.

“As people who worked with him, we found him very reasonable, very understanding. He consults his colleagues, he will call you if there is a matter. But all in all the country has lost a gentleman who out of uniform you would mistake for a civilian because of humility and his gentility.”

Mr Frank Mugabi, the spokesperson of the ministry, said some of the minister’s usual guards had recently been redeployed abroad. The suspected killer soldier, Pte Sabiiti, had just spent three weeks as one of the replacements

“Some of the minister’s security detail were deployed to AMISOM (the African Union peace enforcement mission in Somalia) and he was a replacement and had just reported for duty, so we can’t tell what could have sparked his actions because he was with the minister for three weeks,” Mr Mugabi told this newspaper yesterday.

 Mr Mugabi described the deceased as easy to work with and a person who never had long standing disagreements with his colleagues.

“He was actively involved in the arrangements even in Namutumba. He kept checking to ensure everything was in place. He was a down-to-earth person, approachable and also believed in teamwork, so it’s very shocking to hear what happened.”

 According to witnesses who heard gunshots at around 9 am, the bodyguard exited the minister’s home and emptied his weapon in the air as he proceeded to a nearby salon where he ended his life as well.

“I saw him come out with the gun and he was shooting up but he looked like he was celebrating his previous act of shooting his boss,” the eye witness said.

One of the neighbours who spoke to this reporter described the deceased as a generous person who “never hesitated to help his neighbours”.