The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Lwengo, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Claimants for the remains of one of the persons killed in machete attacks that occurred in Lwengo district have flatly refused to be subjected to police DNA tests, citing the doubtful integrity of the force and therefore tests conducted by it.
Commissioner Julius Twinomujuni from the Police Directorate of Forensic Sciences-DFS, had been sent to Lwengo district to pick blood samples from three people claiming to be relatives to Francis Ruhamyakaaka alias Nkaaka, who want to exhume the deceased’s remains.
The three are George Mbonimpa, Kwizera Nfitumukiza, and Rosemary Nyirabasaveni, residents of Gakoro village, Nkakabande sub county in Kisoro district, and arrived in Lwengo on Tuesday.
They claim to be siblings to the deceased and accordingly secured a court order granting them permission to exhume Ruhamyakaaka’s remains and have them taken for a decent burial in Kisoro district.
However, police delayed the execution of the court order until DNA tests are carried out on the remains and the claimants, to ascertain whether there is a relationship between them.
The claimants have also rejected having their blood samples taken for DNA tests, citing doubts over the police’s impartiality in the matter.
Kwizera Nfitumukiza argues that police are already biased after it was established that some of their officers took advantage of the murder incident when they deliberately presented ghost relatives to President Yoweri Museveni with intention of fraudulently obtaining the 10 million shillings condolence handout which was given to each of the bereaved families.
He indicates that in light of the complicity of their officers in the condolence financial scam, police lost its credibility and that it cannot conduct a DNA test with impartiality.
Nfitumukiiza explains that they have already proven the duplicity of the police officers in their arguments to the court of law, after they presented introduction letters witnessed by police and local leaders in Kisoro district, as proof to their assertions, arguing that subjecting them to another verification process is a waste of time.
He accuses the police of failing on their responsibilities when they allowed the burial of Ruhamyakaaka before making any attempts of looking for any of his relatives.
The deceased was buried on the land of his friend known as George Ssentongo, who accordingly received the presidential condolence package of 10 million shillings, which he allegedly shared with police officers. Nfitumukiza wonders why the police did not opt to bury the deceased’s body in a public cemetery, as it does to other unclaimed bodies.
Rosemary Nyirabasaveni who claims to be a blood sister to the deceased indicates that they are pessimistic about the results of the DNA, owing to how local police officers have tossed them about on the matter until they sought the intervention of higher authorities.
She says they will not conform to any tests conducted by police, preferring their samples are instead picked by the Uganda People’s Defense Forces-UPDF.
Herman Ssentongo, the Lwengo Resident District Commissioner who has been arbitrating into the dispute, says he is not aware of the relevance of the police’s DNA test, yet there are no other people claiming for the same remains.
He however says that he has called for a meeting between police and the deceased’s relatives on Monday to find a way of defusing the standoff and recovering the money that went into the wrong hands.
Apparently, three people including Patrick Mbabazi, a Crimes Investigations Officer at Lwengo district police station are behind bars for falsely obtaining the condolence handout from the President, in respect to Ruhamyakaaka’s death.
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