Lives we lost: Mats, basket weaver shot on the chest

What you need to know:

  • She was shot in the chest as she was walking in the trading centre and died on the spot.

In the last instalment of this series, we chronicle how bullets prematurely shattered the blooming dreams of dozens during two days of madness last November. In interviews with our reporter, Gillian Nantume, grieving families and friends share the triumphs, travails and final moments of relatives in a way that offers insights into the lives of victims hitherto treated as statistics.

JULIET NABUKEERA
The 37-year-old mother of three was shot in Kinoni Trading Centre in Lwengo District.
She lived in Kaboyo Village, Kisekka Sub-county. She was living with her son who is in Primary Five.
Her brother, Emanuel Mugumya, says: “She had just gotten married to another man after leaving her first marriage.

On the day of the riots, she had gone to the trading centre to check on one of her customers for an order. She derived her living from making mats and baskets which she sold.”

She was shot in the chest as she was walking in the trading centre and died on the spot.
“Her life rotated around her son, because all her older children had gone to Kampala and got married there. Nabukeera had no interest in politics and we were all shocked when we were told that she had been shot,” Mugumya adds.

Nabukeera was buried in Kyetume Village, Kisekka Sub-county, Lwengo District. Since the day she was buried, her brother and father have never left the bar. Every day, they drink themselves into a stupor to dull the pain. They say they have never received any answers from the government or district officials.