Lives we lost: Mivule had only come to Kampala 8 months earlier

This photo handout shows 25-year-old electricals technician Shafik Kamoga who was shot dead during the deadly November 18/19 deadly protests. Read story below for details. PHOTO/NMG. 

What you need to know:

  • He had come to Kampala eight months earlier to learn how to repair electronics. His brother, Eddie Kamoga, says he had a girlfriend who is four months pregnant.

In the new 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.

SHAFIK MIVULE KAMOGA, ALIAS DJ FANTOMU
The 25-year-old was an electronics technician living at End Corner Trading Centre, Barracks Zone, Makindye Division, Kampala City.

He had come to Kampala eight months earlier to learn how to repair electronics. His brother, Eddie Kamoga, says he had a girlfriend who is four months pregnant.

“He was a humble guy who never took notice of politics. I remember I even used to force him to listen to the news. On the first day of the riots, he remained in his workshop, working. His workshop is near a motorcycle garage, and when a group of youth we did not know came to the garage to demand for tyres and petrol to burn in the middle of the road, I told him to close the shop immediately. He obeyed me and returned home.”

Fateful day
On the second day of the riots, a Thursday, Mivule did not work because he felt sick. Kamoga says his brother spent most of the morning and early afternoon sleeping. He even missed lunch with the family.

“When the rioting began in our zone at about 1pm, the noise and shooting woke him up. He had lunch at about 2.30pm and at 3pm, I sent him to buy airtime for me. When he returned, we entered our room and locked the door. There were three of us in the room – we were with a mutual friend. When the shooting intensified, he hid behind my back. I told him not to be scared because we were indoors.”

Kamoga tuned into Bukedde Radio to listen to a programme called Ekirya Atabaala through his headsets, while Mivule played music on the music system. At 3.30pm, the shooting stopped and calm descended on Barracks Zone. Kamoga decided to send Mivule to a shop to buy for him drinking water.

“He opened the door and took two steps out. We heard a gunshot, and the other boy who was hiding with us said it sounded like the bullet had penetrated a body. I got up and went to the door. I saw Mivule on the ground. He had been shot through the neck.”

Mivule died at Nsambya hospital 30 minutes later. He was buried in Kasalira Village, Ndagwe Sub-county, Lwengo District.
Kamogo says no one in the government has called him to help him find justice for his brother’s wrongful death.

“Mivule used to send money to the village to cater for his mother. Now she is sick, and she has hospital bills, but I do not have money to care for her,” Kamoga says.
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