Woman accuses police of kidnapping husband
Tabula Ssekitoreko. PHOTO/BENSON TUMUSIIME.
A woman in Busawula in Wakiso District has accused security agencies of kidnapping her husband, who she said has been missing since January 9.
Ms Rhoda Namirembe told Daily Monitor yesterday that her husband, Mr Tabula Ssekitoreko, 38, a carpenter, was kidnapped at his workplace in Katwe, a Kampala suburb.
Ms Namirembe, a mother of six, said on the fateful day, her husband went to work early in the morning but at around 12 noon, his workmates called and told her that he had been arrested by armed police wearing black uniforms.
“I started calling him (husband) but he did not pick up his phone. I waited until 10pm and that was when I realised that he had been kidnapped,” Ms Namirembe said.
She adds that the following day she went to Katwe Police Station to find out whether he was there but she did not find him.
Ms Namirembe said she proceeded to Makindye Military Barracks, the Special Investigations Unit in Kireka, and Mbuya Military Intelligence headquarters but still could not find him.
“Later, I went back to Katwe Police Station and opened a case of kidnap. Up to now my husband’s phones are off and I cannot trace his whereabouts,” she said.
Mr Vincent Mutebi, a workmate of Mr Ssekitoreko, who witnessed the arrest, said some people came to put up posters of President Museveni but Mr Ssekitoreko stopped them.
“In front of our workshop, there is a space where political candidates used to put up their posters. On that day, some people came with posters of President Museveni and wanted to cover the posters of other candidates.
Mr Tabula told them to instead put the posters in a space where there was no poster,” Mr Mutebi said.
He added: “A man in civilian clothes then came and asked Tabula why he was stopping the people from putting up Museveni’s posters. Tabula was handcuffed and shortly after a group of five armed men came out of a Super Custom vehicle that had been parked outside the workshop and took him away. We have never seen him again,” Mr Mutebi said.
When we contacted, Mr Patrick Onyango, Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, he said the police did not have him.
Kidnappings
Last Thursday, Internal Affairs Minister Gen Jeje Odongo revealed that government is yet to account for the whereabouts of 31 Ugandans, who were reportedly kidnapped by armed personnel between November 2020 and January.
