Uganda grapples with human sacrifice

Horrific stories of people, especially children mutilated and killed in human sacrifice rituals have been common. Many of the victims are killed to obtain their body parts and blood largely driven by a desire by some people to get rich-quick, an ignorant society and an increasing belief in witchcraft, writes Evelyn Lirri.

The story of three-year-old George Mukisa is a chilling one. On February 15 2009 his severely mutilated body was found in a bush near the residence of a traditional doctor in Namawombe village in Bugiri District, in eastern Uganda.

His genitals had been cut off. John Olebati, the witchdoctor suspected to have had a hand in the gruesome murder of the boy, was arrested and charged with murder.
This is after the boy’s missing body parts were recovered, three days later, in a forest near the witchdoctor’s garden.

In another famous case, 12-year-old Joseph Kasirye became a victim of a suspected human sacrifice ritual after a witchdoctor in Masaka and his wife confessed to having been paid Shs360,000 by a city businessman, Mr Kato Kajubi to get him a head of a human being for some rituals.

Mr Kajubi, who has since been charged with murder at the Masaka High Court, had allegedly promised his accomplices Shs12 million but had only paid them Shs360,000 by the time they were arrested.
These two are just some of the victims of the heinous circle of ritual killings that the country has been grappling with and which the Police and human rights bodies continue to fight.

The figures
Mr Moses Binoga, who heads the Anti Human Sacrifice and Trafficking task force in the Police, said there were 29 suspected ritual murders reported in 2009 alone, with 15 of the killings involving children.

This is comparable to 25 cases registered in 2008 and only three in 2007.

Police also put a staggering figure of 123 people missing in the past year. Of these, 90 are children while 33 are adults. While Police say the fate of these people remains unknown but many children who disappear end up in the hands of ritual murderers.

Mr Binoga said most of the human sacrifice incidents manifest in unique murders, abductions and kidnaps, reported missing people and selling of children.

He explains that while the practice of ritual sacrifice for cultural reasons has been common among Ugandan communities, the concern today is the trend which it is taking which now involves sacrificing human beings.

“Parts of human bodies especially blood, hair, head, breasts, tongues and private parts are mixed with herbs. Some people believe this works as medicine,” Mr Binoga said.
In most of the cases that the Police have handled, the victims have been found without some body parts-especially the private parts.The victims are often children.

Some witchdoctors believe these body parts have magical powers which can bring success and wealth.
“There’s big suspicion that these acts are related to wealth creation especially in urban areas where people are constantly looking for riches,” said Mr Binoga.

He said most of the human sacrifice cases have been concentrated in the central and western regions, with Kampala registering the highest number of incidents of ritual murders at four in 2009 alone.

According to a report on the status and trend of ritual murders compiled by the Police Anti-human Sacrifice Task force, there were three cases of ritual murder in Jinja and two each, in the districts of Mukono and Mityana.

Mpigi, Kamuli, Kaliro, Fort Portal, Ntungamo, Bushenyi, Pader, Kabale, Kiboga, Gulu, Masaka, Nakasongola, Oyam, Apac, Kitgum, Ibanda, Soroti and Mbale districts registered at least one case each.

Quack herbalists
Part of the blame for the persistence of human sacrifice and ritual murders has been put on the emergence of quack traditional healers and herbalists who take advantage of the ignorance of desperate people to con them of millions, promising in return to make them rich.

“There are many people who believe in witchcraft and demonic powers for wealth, job security and good health. Such people have become obsessed with witchcraft beliefs that they are easily manipulated by some traditional healers into accepting to sacrifice human beings,” said Mr Binoga.

The witchdoctors, it is said, also usually extort exorbitant amounts of money from their clients in return for riches, complicating matters by asking for human body parts.
Mr Binoga added: “When these people insist on following them for their money, they get killed by the very witchdoctors they had gone to.”

The quack witchdoctors, according to Police, ask for money from their clients from anywhere between Shs 500,000 and Shs100 million.

Only one witchdoctor, Musa Bogere, from Kawempe has so far confessed to Police to having killed a person in a case of human sacrifice. The rest have been arrested on circumstantial evidence

Mr Anslem Wandega, the national coordinator for research, information and policy advocacy at the Africa Network for the Prevention and Protection against Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) Uganda chapter, told this newspaper in a recent interview that poverty has had a hand in the surge in ritual-related murders.

“Some parents are perpetuating this crime by selling their children. Because of poverty, parents are willing to trade their children to anyone who can give them money,” he explained.
Mr Livingstone Sewanyana, the executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) said public sensitisation about the dangers of human sacrifice would help end the vice.

“When you have a population that does not know the dangers of such a crime then it becomes hard to address it,” he said.

“Overall, the ability of the Police to detect this type of crime is also low. In this case, you find that the Police are not any better from the public that they are serving. This makes it hard to fight the crime with success,” Mr Sewanyana said.

He said tougher immigration laws should be put in place to stop witchdoctors coming from neighbouring countries into Uganda.

But Mr Binoga said the Police are already sensitising the public about the crime.
“We are already mobilising traditional healers countrywide so that we know the genuine ones. In fact the public has been vigilant and they have helped us to arrest some of the suspects”

Case backlog
Mr Binoga said in 2009 alone, some 125 suspects were arrested countrywide. Of these, 54 have already been taken to court, charged with various offences including murder, abduction and death practicing witchcraft.

But the justice system is notoriously slow and only one conviction has so far been made.

“It would be better if we had special courts to handle these cases so that they can be speeded. The current court process is too long that it sometimes looks as if Police is not working, witnesses lose interest in the case and sometimes there is difficulty in tracing witnesses,” said Mr Binoga.
The chief justice, Mr Benjamin Odoki has also asked the courts to pass tougher sentences for those involved in child abuse offences including child sacrifice and human trafficking.

According Mr Binoga, currently most of suspects who have been committed to the High Court in relation to ritual sacrifices, have been charged with murder.

Police list of human sacrifice victims (2008-2009)
• Mackline Namusoke
• Samanya Vincent
• Joseph Kasirye
• Christopher Okello
• Joseph Nasima
• Shafiq Mugombe
• Kayanja Mohammed
• Florence Nyamwiza
• Prudence Kisakye
• Patrick Bogere
• Bernard Byaruhanga
• George Mukisa
• Scovia Among
• Bagaya Wankya
• Sipusuni Byabagambe Mohammed
• Sylvia Kangime
• Allias Benadette
• Jerome Mukwaya
• Moses Ogen
• Edein Kizza
• Emmanuel Kironde
• Robina Atino
• Solomon Otiti
• Sajjab Swaliki
• Kevin Ayaa
• Godfrey Byaruhanga
• Rita Nakanwagi
• Patrick Rwijja
• Furub Loruku

Some bodies were not identified by Police or relatives