The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Hoima, Uganda | GODFREY SSALI | Security Minister Lt Gen. Henry Tumukunde has apologised to mourners at Suzan Magara’s funeral for the government’s failure to rescue her after she was was kidnapped in Kampala on February 7, 2018.
Suzan Magara, a cashier with at Bwendero Dairy Farm (BDF), was murdered and her body dumped at Kitiko between Kigo and Kajjansi on Entebbe road 21 days after her kidnap. She was laid to rest at her ancestral home in Kitoba Sub County in Hoima district on Thursday.
“We plead guilty in this particular case because security could have saved the life of Susan,” Tumukunde told the angry mourners.
Tumukunde, while promising to pursue the killers, dismissed claims that there is lack of cooperation among security agencies, an issue which has been blamed for the current wave of crime.
Members of the public including politicians have been critical over the wave of crime with some indicating that a possible security clash could be to blame.
The security minister said that although the public’s most pronounced reason for Magara’s death was a perceived rivalry between security agencies, he stressed that the truth is that agencies collaborated in intelligence gathering, tracking suspects and sharing clues. He however hastened to add that crime has become sophisticated and that there’s need to find new ways of dealing with criminals who are proving to be more mobile and active.
“This must be an organised gang. Everything was done,” said Tumukunde. “We had three operational centers. I was commanding one for gathering information, police was doing investigative and follow up,”
Tumukunde told mourners that Magara’s death is a wake-up call to security agencies to streamline the sector.
“The death of Susan will signal fundamental changes in Uganda, watch the space,” Tumukunde warned.
Police endures barrage of criticism
Thousands of mourners thronged the Muganwa ancestral home to bid farewell to Magara described by family and friends as a respectful, loving, amiable, gentle soul who listened to people and more so the elders.
The somber mood got heightened as her body was lowered to the grave, bringing to an end a budding life of a business career and philanthropy at Rotary Club cut short by callous killers.
The failure by police to rescue Magara from the kidnappers, a spate of gruesome and unsolved murders of women in Wakiso and Entebbe were among the complaints leveled at the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Abbas Byakagaba who represented the Inspector General of Police Gen.Kale Kayihura.
Byakagaba was booed as he told how far police has gone with investigations and apprehending the kidnappers and killers.
“We have made some progress. We are tracing the suspects. We shall arrest the killers because we have got good information from the toll free telephones, which we gave the public,” he said, as mourners booed. (see police statement page 2)
The mourners included a number of leading public figures like former first Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Service Henry Muganwa Kajura, Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom Prime Minister Andrew Byakutaga, cabinet ministers, area MPs and religious leaders.
“There are many unanswered questions around this death. Many women have been killed. What has been done to stop that?” he Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom Prime Minister Byakutaga said.
He asked the government to put more effort in streamlining the security sector and urged people to work with the government in promoting peace and stability in the country.
Kadaga challenges security agencies
Earlier in Kampala, the speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga challenged security agencies to double their efforts in dealing with the current wave of crime.
Kadaga said it is disheartening for many innocent citizens to die in the hands of cruel assailants.
“Criminals continue to abduct kill and Ugandans especially women with no action being taken to bring them to justice. Security agencies must take serious steps that would end this impunity,” Kadaga said.
Bobi Wine raps police over sh100m bounty
Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine also criticized police for putting a bounty of sh100 million on the head of the suspected kidnappers and killer of Magara.
Kyagulanyi argued that police owes Ugandans an explanation for this huge bounty for one person.
“It is rather disappointing for the police to come out with this huge bounty yet the same was not done when dozens of women were killed in Nansana and Wakiso,” Kyagulanyi said.
