By Richard Wetaya
If there is, at present, a suburb in Mbale enjoying unprecedented growth, it is

The early part of Saturday (last week) got me curiously wending my way through Boma Ward, the once famous and glistening Mbale suburb. Boma ward-commonly known as Senior quarters is found in Wanale Divison.
Many people, who grew up admiring the beauty and peace of this place, feel it has, in many ways, lost its sparkle.  To all appearances, they are right. For starters, Senior quarters, Mbale was and probably still is the hub of Mbale’s rich, more like what Kololo is to Kampala.
Therein, you will find residential homes for Mbale’s rich and famous. Stephen Wekomba, owner of Mt. Elgon Millers is on that A-list. He owns several rental houses and other buildings in the area.
Senior quarters is also home to several senior civil servants and many of Mbale’s upscale and affluent hotels, to wit Mbale Resort hotel, Crown Suites, Kayegi hotel and Mt Elgon hotel.

Senior quarters is also where you will find the famous Mbale Presidential lodge. It is a place almost every student wants to visit, especially when they know the President is around Mbale. Here you will also find Mbale’s most popular and classy night hangout spot, the Thatch gardens, owned by the famous Mbale Doctor, Dominic Martin Waburoko. Through the years, Thatch gardens has obtained a footing as Mbale’s number one happening place, hosting parties, concerts, weddings and conferences.

Whilst it is fair to state that Senior quarters has gotten more residents through the years, it is out of the question to state that it has improved infrastructure wise. Moving around, I bore witness to many of the quarter’s infamous poor roads. Many residents I had spoken to earlier had lamented about the poor state of the roads in the area, principally the road from the Presidential Lodge to town via the Resort Hotel. That evidently is not the only bad road here. The road from the Presidential Lodge to town via Mooni has also been in quite a sorry state for some time.
 “Good roads used to be this area’s claim to fame in the days of old. A little tarmac was laced on the road between Mooni to the area where Mount Elgon Hotel is located but it was substandard. The road was heavily pot holed, yet the President uses it whilst going to rest at the Lodge. Concerned residents speculated that the President’s vehicles have strong shock absorbers and he never felt the impact of the pot holes whenever his car rode through the road,” Fred Bwayo, a resident, says.


Sam Wamutu, Chairperson of the Boma ward development committee says a feasibility study has been done and the road, right from Mbale’s regional block is going to be worked on in due course.
All that awaits is the funds to be released, Wamutu adds.
 
The Senior quarters of today also has quite a number of old and dilapidated buildings.
“In the good old days, you would be hard pressed to find old and unpainted buildings in this area. There is increased apathy on the part of the owners of some of the old buildings” Bwayo says.

Lots of new buildings are being constructed but they are evidently juxtaposed with the old ones.
In the colonial days, Senior quarters housed the colonial administrators sent to Mbale to oversee the governance of the Eastern region. The area according to old Legend had state of the art recreational facilities wherein the colonial overseers invariably went to parlay.
“Senior quarters was unquestionably Mbale’s cleanest suburb, especially in the times when Mbale was the cleanest town in East Africa. It was serene and its lush greenery was second to none. Many people always wanted to come and visit on account of that. There were no old buildings and bad dusty roads as is the case today. The place lost its glory, just like Mbale town did,” states Wangota Khaukha, an elder in Mooni, an area neighboring the quarters.

Tales are told also of how Semei Kakungulu used to frequent the quarters, often coming to consort with and consult the colonial masters. Kakungulu it is said planted many of the area’s existing eucalyptus trees, just like he did in many other areas in the East.
“The trees Kakungulu planted added to the beauty of Senior quarters. The road leading up to the Presidential Lodge was a boulevard, with well manured trees on each side. Obote as well was fond of Senior quarters. During his Presidency, he always visited and hosted visitors at the lodge. The road was in a good state in the 80’s. Much as the area has lost its splendor, we are happy Hotels like Resort and Kayegi have been taken root. Resort particularly is a modern hang out,” Khaukha says.


SCHOOLS
Senior quarters is also the place where you will find the famous Fairway Primary school.
Almost everybody who grew up in the early 90’s in the East heard of this prominent school. It was always in the best of the bunch academic wise.
Though it has lost some of its sparkle, it still stands in a good stead with many people.
“Fairway is one of the few schools existing in Senior quarters. Understandable being that the area is mostly residential. There is also Boma primary school and 4 to 5 other private schools,” Wamuttu says.

SECURITY
Security wise, Boma ward is safe and sound, albeit there have been sporadic incidents of crime reported, especially in areas neighboring less affluent suburbs like Mukhubu, Mooni and Busamaga. 
Wamutu says whilst there have been security lapses; the general peace of the area has not been compromised a lot.
“That problem is being looked into. Most of the area’s security problems are caused by thugs emanating from neighboring suburbs,” Wamutu says.

SANITATION
In terms of sanitation, the area has not done badly though Wamutu says they are waiting for the area’s sanitary sewer system to be connected to the main Namatala carriage system.

LAND PRICES
Though land prices have been fluctuating through the years, an acre of land in Senior quarters goes for about 150-200 million.

Clean and safe drinking water is a hard to comeby commodity in many hard to reach and distant villages in Bududa District, Eastern Uganda. In many of the villages, water shortage is a part of daily life, notwithstanding the fact that Bududa is richly endowed with rivers and other abundant water resources.
Fresh water sources in villages like Bushegi, Bunabuniu in Bushika subcounty and Bunakasala in Bulucheke subcounty are few and far between. As I moved around, I noticed there were many abandoned and non functional domestic water points.
Many of the hilly area’s potential for water supply is principally through rain water harvesting. Making do with harvested water is not bad in itself, but the containers I saw the villagers using to collect water were far from clean. In effect, this puts the lives of villages at a risk of e-coli and water borne microbes associated with diarrrhoea.

When the dry season sets in, usually at the threshold of each year; the few water sources in villages like Bunanyuma, Bushegi and Bunakasala are left half dry or completely dry.
Most of the water springs and wells as it seems, dry up due to the drought.

The little water the villagers struggle to fetch is itself far from clean but that does not seem to bother the children and people I saw queuing up to draw water. Unwittingly, they also expose themselves to water borne pathogens, which the World Bank says contribute to the high child mortality rates world over.
According to water aid.org, 12,000 Ugandan children die each year from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water.

These unprotected water springs are our lifeline. It is the only water we have, rationalised Piyo Kuloba, a resident of Bunakasala village. “What do you expect people here to do? They have no choice but to use the little spring water at their accessibility however unsafe it may be. The springs are not protected and there are no boreholes or piped water systems in most of the villages around Bunakasala. During the dry seasons, the situation exacerbates as villagers are compelled to move long distances to get water. Moving from a hilly area to fetch water downhill is a tall order. When the rains come, the situation in a way improves because people can at least harvest water, though most do not have big containers that can store water for long,” notes Kuloba.

Water from river Manafwa is also in high favour with many people especially those living alongside its banks. I bore witness as children from Namasho village in Bulucheke subcounty drew water from River Manafwa using dirty containers for home usuage. All the while, other children swam in the very water. My attempts to dissuade those drawing water fell on deaf ears. Seemingly, Domestic animals also pollute the river’s waters going by the animal excrete I saw near the river’s banks.

In 2010, a ministerial statement presented to Parliament revealed that River Manafwa was contaminated. Most of the pollution the statement noted was from human feaces emanating from the pit latrines constructed near the river. In many respects, water from river Manafwa is still unsafe for usuage considering the continuous dependence on the river’s water’s for activities such as bathing and washing. That in essence means people living along the river’s banks are invariably at risk of water borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid, skin diseases, eye infections and infestinal diseases like schistosomiasis.

In some parts of Bududa, ill advised traditional attitudes still govern the usage of water, especially water from river Manafwa Unboiled water from the river is traditionally thought of as tastier than treated water. As such some people would rather drink it, than treated or boiled water.
“Many people use river Manafwa as a primary source of water. It is used for household consumption because people have waited for the piped water and the gravity water systems in this area as promised by the government for long. The government needs to redeem its pledge to build a gravity water system from the nearby mt. Elgon area. That needs to be fast tracked. The ignorant belief that water from river Manafwa is more tastier has been there but that can be stemmed through concerted educative drives in the villages concerned,” notes Wilson Wangota, an elder in Kushu village, Bulucheke subcounty.

Families living in the hilly and distant areas are hard pressed in going downhill to fetch water. The problem is areas downhill are also grappling with problems of access to safe and clean water. There is almost no guarantee that one will find safe water when they head downhill.
The gap between Bududa’s population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and those with access has gotten wider through the years. Manifestly, Bududa is amongst the districts where safe water coverage is still hovering below the 64% national average and where access to safe water has stagnated.
Five years back the situation seemed better. 
A 2010 report by the Directorate of Water Development, Ministry of Water and Environment, showed that 66 % of Bududa’s population had access to safe and clean water.
Recent records from the Ministry of Water and Environment however paint a grim picture. Recent accounts show that access to safe water in Ugandan rural areas has stagnated at 65%, in the past two years, yet Uganda’s target is to increase access to safe water in rural areas to 77% in 2015 in line with its millennium development goals.

“The government’s investment in the water sector especially in the rural areas needs to be improved. Interventions also need to be fast tracked especially when people are facing a problem like it is in Bududa. The government as well needs to invest in water purification schemes for the rural areas. Communities should be helped to protect their wells. Access to safe water is a critical disease prevention investment and a recipe for good health. It can go a long way in helping communities in Bududa and other areas around the country to confront the health based poverty trap. With the construction of the first phase of the Bududa-Nabweya Gravity Water Flow Scheme, there will hopefully be a new lease of life in the above sectors,” says John Okumu, a water and sanitation engineer in Manafwa.

According to UN Water.org, Investments in water and sanitation services result in substantial economic gains. The return on investment of attaining universal access of improved drinking-water is estimated to be 2 to 1. To cover every person worldwide with safe water and sanitation is estimated to cost US$ 107 billion a year over a five-year period.

The Bududa district Community Development Officer in charge of Water and Sanitation, Anthony Wakholi says the district in unison with the Government is working on a gravity water flow system, which will pump and generate water from Mt Elgon.
“Water will be supplied to different areas using this system. It will cover 6 sub counties, namely Bukigai, Bududa, Nabweya, Bushiribo, Bushiyi and Bulucheke. The district has developed protected springs, groundwater wells and gravity flow systems before in some sub counties like Bukibokolo. There is also the Bukalasa gravity flow scheme, which covers 3 sub counties. Drilling boreholes in hilly areas is a hard task. That explains why there are few of them. Rain water harvesting as recommended by the government has however been gaining currency amongst the people. As regards the usuage of water from river Manafwa, people do not do it on purpose. It is largely because they have no choice and because they are averse to messages dissuading them from using that water,” Wakholi says.

Wakholi however says some of the water problems in Bududa are sometimes brought about by the residents themselves.
“There is generally a problem of poor water supply management in some of the villages. Counterproductive activities like the cutting of underground water pipes in some villages has adversely affected the sector. These pipes transport water down from the hilly areas but certain mischievous people have continuously tampered with them. In some areas, people have continuously cut the water pipes to irrigate their crops,” Wakholi says.
 
Many people’s livelihoods have also been affected as a result of the lack of water in many of Bududa’s villages.
In Bunakasala for example, crop diversification has become a problem. Villagers barely grow crops that depend on rain or water to flourish. The lack of water has in some ways also led to a reduction in the usuage of land in many of the villages, though families still subsist on staple crops that grow without much rain.

By Richard Wetaya

The Namisindwa cave in Matuwa,

It is a piping hot Saturday morning and I find myself treading through the hilly Bunanyuma village in Bushika sub county, Bududa District. There is not much semblance of human activity but the vestiges of an ominous landslide are clearly discernible. The landslide which occurred in June last year, left in its wake huge land fissures. The land fissures cover a surface area of about 35-45 metres. Huge swathes of rocks were swept downwards when the landslide struck.  Homes, crops, water sources, eucalyptus trees and livestock were laid to waste. Many residents were however able to evacuate in time, partly in response to a distress call from a fellow resident at the pinnacle of the hill.

“There was a heavy downpour that night. The rain lasted over four hours. Rocks were coming down from the apex of the hill with a vicious force. That was a cue for us to flee and to evacuate. People’s homes, livestock, coffee trees and a family of 7 were swept away, never to be seen again. This area has a history of landslides and when it rains, it floods. That was the third time; landslides were ravaging the area. Geologists and a team from the office of the Prime Minister came here in 2014to access the situation. They advised us to relocate, noting that there was a contingency plan to deal with the situation. We told them we are ready to move but no course of action was taken. The landslide occurred in 2014 just a few days after they had left,” states 63 year old Wilson Manga, a resident of Bunanyuma.

Against that backdrop and with the rainy season now fast on the horizon, one would expect the residents to be making arrangements to leave. One would also expect the government to come to these people’s rescue. At the moment however, there is no sign that any of the above is happening.
The residents I managed to talk to are apathetic to say the least. Much as there is a mood of apprehension, many seem resigned to fate, reasoning that they rather stay than move to other areas, where their safety, freedom and health is not guaranteed.

“People are reluctant to move on account of the stories they have heard about the conditions in Kiryandongo and the nearby IDP camps in Bulucheke and Bukalasi. Acclimatizing to a new area far away from your home area is a tall order. We would move if the conditions in the camps are improved. Many people are also reluctant to move for cultural and ancestral reasons,” states Luwulendi Wakinya, an elder in Bunanyuma.

Similar sentiments are echoed by some residents of Bunakasala village, Bumwalukani parish Bulucheke subcounty Bunakasala bore the brunt of landslides on the 25th of June 2012. 12 people died and many remain unaccounted for. Unlike Bunanyuma, the landslide in Bunakasala occurred at day time.
Kuloba James, a resident of Bunakasala says his family escaped by a hair’s breadth.
“My house was grazed by huge stones as the landslide swept. Fortunately only one side of the house was destroyed. The kraal for my cattle and my banana and coffee plantations were completely destroyed however. I also lost chicken. It rained heavily but nobody ever imagined the damage the rain would cause. I and my family of 6 survived narrowly. A family of eight who were my immediate neighbors were all killed in the landslide and their bodies, like those of many other victims were never recovered even when the bull dozers and excavators were brought. The rains are imminent but I do not see myself moving to any other place. I would relocate again if conditions were favourable in the places where the government wants us to go and if there is compensation. I was in an internally displaced people’s camp only last year but the foods the government disbursed were few and far between. When the food rations ran short, many of us were compelled to leave. The pit latrines were inadequate; there was inadequate access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene. Water was hard to come by in the camps even with the gravity system,” Kuloba says. 

In the same breath, water seems to be a problem in Bunakasala and Bunanyuma villages. All the water sources seem to be drying up or have dried up. Around the villages, young children can be seen queuing to fetch little drop of water from makeshift wells and water ponds that look far from clean.
Fresh water sources seem to be a real problem and the hilly terrain does not help matters. Families are hard pressed in going downhill to fetch water. Kuloba regrets that the promise made to them by the government to avail a gravity water supply system has not been redeemed. As such locals have to make do with the little unclean water at their availability.

Geologist Sam Owach says landslide losses can be avoided if the problem is recognised early. “Landslide susceptibility assessments need to be done at various spatial scales in Bunakasala, Namakansa, Bunanyuma, Namitsi and in all landslide prone areas around Mount Elgon. With the rainy seasons imminent, that needs to be fast tracked. Most landslides in the Bududa area are triggered by heavy rains and to larger extent by counterproductive human activities like digging in the hilly areas. By now, there should be contingencies in place to gauge the likely intensity and duration of the forthcoming rains, so as to avert any calamity. There should be continued assessment of soil depression and the land fissures like those in Bunakasala and Bunanyuma. If they are deemed dangerous as indeed they are, early preparations should be made to relocate the communities in those areas to safer zones. The residents of Bunakasala and Bunanyuma need to stop cultivating in areas around the cracks and in areas far up on the hills,” Owach says.

By Richard Wetaya

At 5 p.m, Bunamasongo Village was crawling with Initiates and their

Initiates dancing their way to Manhood during the Inemba dance rituals in Bushika subcounty,

Initiates from Bukhaukha village join in the Inemba Dance in Bushika. Photo by

One of the Initiates is taken through the mill of the Inemba dance. Photo by

By Richard Wetaya

Friday, march, the 13th was a memorable

By Richard Wetaya

22 year old Claire Lamunu has the

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BY RICHARD WETAYA

Victor Ochen, a Ugandan grassroots activist has been basking in the glow of his nomination for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize.
Ochen was nominated on the 17th of February by the American Friends Service Committee, an organization that promotes lasting peace with justice, as a practical expression of faith in action.
Online stories about Ochen and his work have been going viral and there have been congratulatory messages galore.
Venerable personalities such as Desmond Tutu, Fatou Bensouda, the International Criminal Court prosecutor, Ruhakana Ruganda, Uganda’s Prime Minister and Trust Africa, an independent foundation that works to secure conditions for Democracy and equitable development throughout the African continent, have all come forward to endorse and drum up support for Ochen.

Desmond Tutu has said Ochen is in the top pick of the bunch as regards being amongst the new breed of dynamic African youth leaders.

Ochen becomes the first Ugandan to be nominated for the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize award, which in the past has been won by eminent personalities such as former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and United States President, Barrack Obama, amongst others.
For the award, Ochen is pitted against esteemed people like Pope Francis, Ban Ki-Moon, Edward Snowden and the World Health Organisation, among others.
The winner will take home a Nobel medal and cash prize of $ 1.2 million. The winner will be announced in October.

By Richard Wetaya

Mazzi Wampamba is a

By Richard Wetaya

The expression, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound

By Richard Wetaya
Often it is

23 year old Sharon Karungi has all the makings of a great Basketball player. Her agile dynamism, competitiveness, prance like walk and stellar physical play have endeared her to basketball fans, not only in Uganda but also in the United States, where she currently plays.

By Richard Wetaya

Dark ominous clouds had enshrouded the horizon, as me and

In Bugisu, tradition demands that Imbalu initiates (those circumcised in any even year) marry only after performing the Inemba dance.
The dance is performed in the early months of every odd year.
The dance is usually punctuated by celebratory singing, drumming and merrymaking.

Richard Wetaya---- explores what lies beyond the Inemba fanfare

At the assembly point; elders from different clans are gathered with their initiates. Some kneel, while others stand in lines, facing each other.
The initiates are then instructed to run to the venue of the dance.
At the venue, crowds are gathered and drums are reverberating.
The Inemba dance is on.


Wilson Wakinya, 20, of Bunanyuma village, Bushika sub-county in Bududa district and his collegues, fully dressed in their regalia, locally known as tsisumbati, come running with long painted sticks (tsimbani) in hand. Wakinya and his collegues quickly perforate holes in the ground, using the tsimbani, before they set forth to the dance floor.
The tsimbani ostensibly represent weapons that a Mumasaba man should bear at all times to defend his family, clan and society.
Patrick Wabuteya, a clan elder in Bunamasongo, explains that the Isumbati, which is a bull or he-goat skin, is a symbol of the power accorded to one to perform Gisu societal rituals, such as naming offspring, offering sacrifices and performing Imbalu rituals.
“The Isumbati is only worn by Bamasaba elders. Being dressed in an Isumbati, also means that one has been given the right to sit with elders and discuss issues of importance,” he explains.

For Wakinya and colleagues, the event officially marks their induction into the club of Basani - full Bamasaba men.

8th July started off as any other normal day for Nosiata Andera’s close knit family. In Dwaliro zone, Mayuge town, where the family resides, there was an eerie peace and quiet as 43 year old Nosiata and her two daughters went about their early morning tidy up routine.
For some strange reason everyone in the home seemed downcast. It is just one of those days, Nosiata rationalized. There was not the slightest inkling in her mind that something tragic was about to befall her family. As night fell, the family gathered in the living room for Dinner.
Nosiata’s two sons, 20 year old student Yasin Daka and 32 year old security guard Stephen Owori had just joined in after returning home. After Dinner, Owori bade his sibling’s farewell. He straight away left for his night guarding duties at a nearby Maize mill.
Half an hour later around 9 pm, Nosiata was called out by concerned neighbors. The neighbors were troubled by the presence of an unknown man in the bathroom.  When she came out, she was baffled to find Emma, a close male associate to the treasurer of the Village savings scheme, standing in the bathroom.
A quick flash of intuition after, left Nosiata uneasy. The Kyowola Omwavu village savings and loan association group treasurer, Hajati Wotali Namutamba had on several occasions issued threats to Nosiata in particular on account of her firebrand nature in demanding for proper accountability of the group’s savings.  Namutamba had used Emma in particular to deliver the warnings. Namutamba had on several occasions refused to hand over the wooden boxes containing the group’s consolidated savings to members. This aroused suspicion and as time passed, the members realized she was using their money to her benefit.

Nosiata was keen to know what Emma was doing in her bathroom at night. Emma slyly managed to convince Nosiata that he had been sent by Owori to call Daka, his brother. Emma was on a sinister mission conjured up by Namutamba however. A reluctant Nosiata did not want Daka to go out at such a late hour, even if it was to see his brother.  It was 10 pm, pitch black and almost everybody else in the village had slept off.  Daka nevertheless managed to convince his mother that he won’t take long at Owori’s work station, so he accompanied Emma.

Along the way, Emma excused himself, as Daka and Owori got into a conversation seated on a bench, just outside Owori’s work station. Minute’s later gunshots aimed at both Owori, who was armed and his brother Daka rang out.  Caught unaware, Owori could hardly fire back.
As the shooting subsided, Owori lay dead, killed in cold blood. Daka, his brother however escaped by a hair breadth’s into the darkness, with serious gunshot wounds. Daka rushed to the nearby Mayuge Police station crying out for help but nobody at the police station came to their rescue. Even his screams during the shooting went unanswered. Mayuge Police Station is just opposite the Maize mill where Owori was on night duty.

After a short while, news of the shooting spread through the neighborhood. Inevitably the news reached Nosiata’s home. It was late in the night but she rushed to her son’s work station, only to find him dead and her other son missing. A sobbing Nosiata had cries from the nearby Mayuge Police station.
A bleeding Daka was at the Police station crying out for help but his pleas for help were met with cold shoulders.  Eventually Daka was rushed to Jinja Hospital in an ambulance. All the while, Daka kept mumbling to his mother that he knows the shooter and his 2 accomplices.
Daka said Emma who had lied to him that his brother had wanted to see him, just stood by in the dark and watched as the gun man, a Police officer by the name of Mugoya sprayed Bullets at them. The other accomplices, Namutamba and Godfrey Musobya just stood sentry as the shooting took place.

SUSCIPION FALLS ON NAMUTAMBA

Nosiata unmistakably points an accusing finger at Namutamba.  “Namutamba had gotten unscrupulous and shady with our group savings.  Whenever I and the other cooperating members took her to task about the status of our savings and other requisite group requirements, she would feed us on excuses, false promises and lies. She had unconvincingly told us earlier that burglars had ransacked her home and made off with the two boxes containing our savings. Seeing that we were unrelenting, she started issuing threats. I had no idea she was planning something horrendous. She would often send her emissaries to warn me. Every time, she threatened me, i would report to the Mayuge resident district commissioner’s office. I had saved money to the tune of UGX 1, 640,000. I lost all that. The group consolidated savings were to the tune of UGX, 15,000,000. Namutamba is complicit in the murder of my child because Daka clearly recognized her and her associates Godfrey Musobya and Mugoya, the Police officer who had fired the bullets, moments before the shooting begun,” Nosiata says.

With pressure unremitting, Namutamba was arrested and detained at Iganga Police station. She admitted to having swindled the money and promised to refund members money lastest, 1st July 2014, with the assistance of her husband. 
Namutamba was however released after the husband paid a paltry 3 million shillings to the saving group members, with promises to pay more in the subsequent months.
Prior to that, Namutamba had sought the services of a law firm claiming the saving member’s demands for her to account for 15 million shillings were unfounded. Ultimately however, her means to an end was to scare off those hot on her heels.
Nosiata took the lawyer’s letter to the Resident district commissioner. The commissioner referred her to the District Police Commander. Eventually she was referred to the District Police criminal investigations department. Nosiata was told the letter from Namutamba’s lawyers was only meant to scare off the saving group member’s.

DAKA’S ACCOUNT OF WHAT HAPPENED

On that ill fated day, Daka says Owori left for his work station after dinner. “I was exhausted so I could not see him off. Mom however was insisting I go the shops to buy milk. I was reluctant but eventually I rushed to the shops and got back as soon as possible because I could not find milk. On coming back I found mom with Emma. Emma told me Owori wanted to see me. I had no premonition whatsoever that there was a looming danger,” Daka says.
Daka says they passed by Namutamba’s house which is within sight of Owori’s work station. He says he saw 3 people following him behind. On reaching Owori’s work place, he sat down and asked Owori why he had called him. Owori denied sending anybody to call him.
“It was then that 3 people whom I could see clearly passed just nearby us. One whom I recognized as Mugoya suddenly walked towards us and started firing at us with an AK 47. He shot me first twice in the right leg, left forearm and thumb. Thinking he had finished me off, he started firing rapidly in my brother’s direction. It was about that time that I raised an alarm, whilst I ran into the thicket nearby for safety. Mayuge Police station was just opposite us but not a single Police man came to our rescue, even as they heard my screams for help and the gun shots,” Daka says.

Daka is currently bed ridden receiving treatment in Mulago Hospital orthopedic ward.