Category: Daily Monitor

Former councillors in Namutumba District have petitioned the Minister for Local Government, seeking intervention to compel authorities to pay outstanding salaries, allowances and emoluments owed between May and June 2021.

The petition follows a mediation meeting held last Thursday between former councillors and district technical staff led by Chief Administrative Officer Mr Emmanuel Ofwono, which ended in chaos after the district auditor informed them they had been overpaid.

“The district overpaid you and, in the process, some of you defrauded the district. It is the district demanding money from you, not the other way round. Each councillor is required to refund Shs350,000,” the auditor said.

In their June 4 petition, copied to the Regional Inspectorate of Government office in Jinja and other agencies, the former councillors demand an explanation regarding the alleged mismanagement of Shs300 million reportedly released in April to clear their outstanding salaries and allowances.

The councillors contend that although each member was entitled to Shs250,000 per month, they received only Shs175,000 after Pay As You Earn deductions, and want district authorities to account for the shortfall.

‘The purpose of this letter is to request your intervention and enforcement of the advice issued by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, who directed the Chief Administrative Officer to pay the former councillors their outstanding salaries. However, the CAO has declined to implement the directive, saying he will make his own decision on the matter,’ the petition reads in part.

Ms Winnifred Nabirye, the councillor representing workers and a former youth representative in the fourth council, said the decision to seek intervention was taken as a last resort after efforts to resolve the matter at district level failed. ‘Our repeated efforts to secure payment of our arrears and obtain explanations for the shortfalls have fallen on deaf ears,’ she said.

In April this year, councillors in the fourth council declined to pass the 2026/27 district budget, citing failure by the social services committee to pay their salaries and allowances. After the swearing-in of new councillors on May 14, the fifth council convened on May 21 and passed the 2026/27 financial year budget that had been expected to be handled by the outgoing fourth council.

Councillors said several promises had been made in the past, including a recent assurance by Mr Geoffrey Mugoya, the district vice chairperson in the fifth council and former speaker of the fourth council. Ms Mary Mukyala said before Mr Mugoya was sworn in as district vice chairperson, he had informed them that each councillor who served in the fourth council was entitled to Shs1,050,000 in arrears, covering salaries, allowances and emoluments.

‘He was our speaker in the fourth council. While we were preparing the district handover report to the incoming council, he told us our money would be paid before the fifth council resumed business. However, to date we have not been paid,’ she said.

According to Mukyala , the councillors also reached out to the District Speaker of the fifth council, Simon Peter Wakudumira, who previously served as chairperson of the Finance Committee, for assistance, but he denied the allegations, insisting that all councillors from the fourth council had been fully paid their salaries.

‘He, who was our chairperson of the Finance Committee in the fourth council, told us not to pass the budget because we were demanding our salaries. But now that he is the Speaker in the fifth council, he is backing the technical staff who are withholding our money,’ she said.

When contacted, the District Communications Officer, Mr Noah Kiire, declined to comment on the matter and referred the Monitor to the District Speaker.

‘I am not in a position to comment on the matter. You can talk to the District Speaker, Mr Simon Peter Wakudumira,’ he said.

The District Speaker, Simon Peter Wakudumira, had also declined to comment on the matter.

A 38-year old man identified as Charles Faustine Okonye died on Saturday from injuries sustained during a fight at his in-law’s place over a woman, identified as Rose Apio.

Police say the deceased, a resident of Kadoki Village, Akadot Parish in Pallisa District, had visited his in-laws to settle their marriage affairs and had to spend the night with the woman in a gazetted room.

However, on the fateful night, another man, believed to be the woman’s lover, stormed their house at night, leading to a confrontation which ensued into a bitter fight that left Okonye with several injuries.

Okonye died at Mbale Regional Referral Hospital, where he was rushed for treatment. The woman had reportedly returned to her parents following a domestic disagreement with the deceased.

Bukedi North Regional Police Spokesperson ASP Wilfred Kyempasa said on Sunday that preliminary investigations indicate that while the couple was asleep, the man stormed their house.

“The two men reportedly fought both inside and outside the house, sustaining injuries during the confrontation.” ASP Kyempasa said.

Adding that: ”Family members and neighbours who responded found Okonye critically injured and rushed him to Pallisa General Hospital before he was referred to Mbale Regional Referral Hospital, where he died on Sunday afternoon. ”

He explained that the case was first registered as attempted murder but has since been upgraded to murder following the victim’s death.

He confirmed that police have arrested two suspects to assist with ongoing investigations.

The body of the deceased has been taken to Mbale City Mortuary for a postmortem examination as investigations are ongoing.

The triple heritage is a sociological and cultural theory coined by the renowned scholar Dr Ali A. Mazrui. It posits that modern African identity and society are the result of the complex interplay and synthesis of three distinct cultural, political, and historical forces. Namely, the indigenous African heritage, Islamic heritage and Western heritage. In Uganda, this triad heritage does apply in dribs and drabs. It is the product of political socialisation or the lifelong process by which individuals acquire their political beliefs, values, and ideologies. This process is evidenced by the fortunes and faculties of three distinct generations.

At independence, my father’s generation was known as the silent generation (sometimes referred to as traditionalists), which is generally defined as the demographic cohort born between 1928 and 1945. All our former presidents belong to this generation, too. This demographic was democratic insofar as democracy guaranteed their freedom and its related liberties. They were idealists, trained by the colonialists to uphold governance standards and reflect the cultural values the colonial system of divide and rule bequeathed them.

Their silence was broken, as it were, in 1966. When Uganda’s military forces, acting on the orders of Prime Minister Apollo Milton Obote and commanded by Idi Amin, attacked the Lubiri (Kabaka’s Palace) in Mengo, Kampala, on May 24, 1966. After that, they were conflicted by their allegiance to a unified Uganda and the place it in for Buganda Kingdom. They were cured of this somewhat schizophrenic state when Mr Obote effectively turned Uganda into a one-party State between 1966 and 1969. Following a violent 1966 constitutional crisis, Obote’s Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) officially outlawed all Opposition political parties in 1969, consolidating his absolute rule. The daggers were drawn.

In these heady times, Gen Amin overthrew President Obote in a military coup on January 25, 1971. The coup took place while Obote was out of the country attending a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Singapore. Subsequently, guerilla warfare was introduced to our political culture by forces ranged against Amin. They felt he had gone back on undertakings given to a democratic promise at Independence. A twenty-year war erupted, and the children of these resisters were force-fed on the Dark Times which came to the light in 1986.

We were told by our parents that if we did not follow our parents’ advice, Uganda would be placed on a greasy pole. Which is exactly what certain elements from the North of Uganda felt when Mr. Museveni took power in 1986. The north and east took up arms, believing the country had gone south; literally and metaphorically. Consequently, my generation was not taught to exercise its rights; it was taught to guard them. Thus, our thinking paralleled our parents’ thinking until the former devolved into a survivalist ethic. This ethic foreshadowed the unbridled greed we see today.

After we survived Obote’s return, something that was used as a spook story to keep us in line, we tried to survive period. We are Generation X or the Star Wars Generation. Our idealism in coma, owing to our belief that opposition to the status quo doesn’t win unless the government loses. Our children were now caught in the headlights of an uncertain future as they adopted the Silent and Generation X’s principles, along with the third heritage of social media. This Triple Heritage ensured they had more heat than light to their political thinking, due to the friction between the three heritages.

Out of this, a dialectic between the heritages could take on the essential feature of a democracy designed to protect minority rights and ensure stable laws.

On January 26, 1971, the day after Idi Amin seized power, the new president held his first press conference. He assured the world that the coup had been bloodless, with a single wounded soldier as its only casualty. Even as Amin spoke, people were already being killed. Within days, the violence claimed its first high-profile victim: Brig Suleiman Hussein, the Chief of Staff, the most senior professional obstacle to Amin’s control of the army. Reports indicate he was beaten to death by soldiers in front of prison warders. His head was severed and, according to multiple historical sources, delivered to Amin, who reportedly kept it in a refrigerator.

This grotesque detail was not merely an act of brutality. It was a declaration. The regime was announcing, in the most visceral terms possible, that it operated beyond all bounds of law, decency, or human dignity. It was telling the army – and through the army, the nation – exactly what it was. History books count those who were killed or disappeared during Idi Amin’s rule in tens of thousands, some estimates reach 300,000. But numbers cannot capture the particular cruelty of enforced disappearance: the way it weaponises hope, the way it turns grief into a permanent condition, the way it denies families the most basic human right – to know what happened to their loved ones.

This is a story about those who were left behind. Dr Alicia Decker, in her foundational study of gender and militarism in Amin’s Uganda, gave their suffering its name: ‘the torture of the living.’ This series is an attempt to tell it. He wrote: ‘The archive of Amin’s violence was written in water and blood, not ink. The exact number of Ugandans who vanished into the long night of the 1970s will remain one of history’s most tragic unknowns.’

From military purge to civilian terror

The first wave of violence targeted the armed forces – in particular, the Acholi and Langi ethnic groups, whom Amin viewed as inherently disloyal. Within weeks, senior officers in the army, air force, and police were dead. On March 5, 1971, thirty-two officers were massacred at Makindye Military Barracks. Three days later, survivors were killed when explosives were detonated at Malire Barracks. Joshua Wakholi, a former Minister of Public Service detained at Makindye, later testified that he had personally witnessed the murder of 37 army officers in an adjoining cell.

At Mbarara Barracks, Langi and Acholi soldiers were separated from the rest and hacked to death or shot – estimates range from 167 to 258 killed. At Jinja Barracks, fighting from 10 to 14 July 1971 claimed approximately 600 lives, mostly Acholi. Children in neighbouring villages were also killed. These were not battles. They were massacres.

September 1972

While the violence of 1971 remained largely within the military establishment, the failed September 17, 1972 invasion of Uganda by rebels (aligned with Milton Obote and Yoweri Museveni), triggered total paranoia. It turned the State’s wrath outward, unleashing a tidal wave of terror upon the civilian world. What began as a tactical move to secure a coup evolved into a self-sustaining culture of fear.

Amin interpreted the attack not merely as an external military threat but as proof of a nationwide internal conspiracy. Security agencies – especially the State Research Bureau (SRB) and military intelligence – were given unlimited latitude to arrest, detain, and eliminate suspects with no oversight whatsoever. The scale, speed, and geographic reach of disappearances increased markedly after September 1972. A regime that had been killing selectively began killing indiscriminately. What began as a coup became a culture of extermination.

The machinery of disappearance

After September 1972, disappearance became systematised. The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), in its landmark 1974 report, documented the total absence of arrest warrants, with agents – usually from the State Research Bureau – acting with, in the ICJ’s words, ‘total immunity.’ Some victims were abducted openly by uniformed personnel, while others were seized by plainclothes agents in unmarked vehicles – from homes, workplaces, roadblocks, and police stations – reflecting the overlapping and often indistinguishable roles of the army, police, and Amin’s intelligence units.

No paperwork. No charge stated. No destination given.

Families were rarely told anything. Asking questions often led to further arrests. Sir Peter Allen, a High Court judge during the era, later recalled: ‘In the majority of cases it has been the wives, the sisters, the mothers who have tramped from the military police barracks at Makindye, to the Public Safety Unit at Naguru, to the Malire Regiment at the Lubiri, to the Air Force Detention Centre at Entebbe, searching for their men.’ Most searches ended in silence.

The sites of horror

Certain locations became synonymous with death. Their names are still spoken with dread by those who remember. Nakasero – nicknamed ‘The Butchery,’ located near the President’s Lodge. Its subterranean cells held thousands. Survivors described it as a one-way trip; bodies were removed at night in trucks. Makindye Military Barracks – and the adjoining Malire Barracks, home to Amin’s so-called elite regiment.

The Lubiri site became a major detention and torture centre. Survivor testimony documented by the ICJ describes systematic beatings, electrocution, mutilation, starvation, and psychological torture in which prisoners were forced to watch – or participate in – the execution of fellow detainees. Nile Mansions – and the notorious ‘Pink Building’ beside it – served as another hub of the regime’s terror apparatus. Few who were taken there returned.

Where the bodies went

Because the rate of killing exceeded the regime’s capacity to conceal the dead, bodies were disposed of with shocking casualness. The Nile River at Jinja became a dumping ground. Bodies were thrown into the water above the dam. On several occasions, human remains reportedly clogged the intake pipes of the hydroelectric plant, causing power outages across Kampala. Namanve Forest, on the outskirts of the city, was so notorious that for years after Amin’s fall locals avoided it entirely – because of the smell, and because human remains continued to surface. The SRB drove truckloads of prisoners into its eucalyptus groves for execution.

Kabaka’s Lake, on the Mengo Palace grounds, yielded confirmation after Amin’s fall in 1979: when it was dredged, significant quantities of human remains were found in the silt – consistent with survivor accounts of SRB trucks arriving under cover of darkness. The Rwizi River in Mbarara served as the primary disposal site for victims in western Uganda. Karuma Falls were used for bodies from the north: soldiers would bayonet or shoot prisoners and throw them into the churning water to ensure they were swept away.

Public executions

In February 1973, the regime staged its most elaborate spectacle of state terror. On February 10, twelve men were executed by firing squad in their home districts – Mbarara, Kabale, Gulu, Mbale, Fort Portal, and Kampala – simultaneously. Prior to the killings, Radio Uganda broadcast an official announcement: the public were to attend. Businesses were closed. Transport was organised to ensure maximum witnesses. The families of the condemned were commanded to stand in the front rows. The shootings were filmed and later broadcast on Uganda Television (UTV).

In Kabale, nearly 3,000 people stood in what Bishop Festo Kivengere – who had prayed with the men before they were shot – described as ‘a deathly, silent terror.’ The crowd was forbidden from crying. The shootings were filmed and broadcast on Uganda Television. A military spokesman declared the footage a ‘real lesson’ for the people of Uganda. One of the 12 was James Karambuzi, shot at Kabale Municipal Stadium. His wife and ten children were commanded to attend. In a rare and haunting act of defiance, Karambuzi and his colleagues reportedly smiled and waved to the crowd with their handcuffed hands before the shots were fired.

The bodies were not returned to families. They were removed in prison trucks to unknown locations. ‘Perhaps the most tragic case was Sebastino Namirundu, a 20-year-old from Mbale who tried to run when soldiers arrived. His panic was interpreted as guilt. He was executed half-naked in front of thousands, looking, witnesses said, incredibly young and bewildered.’ In a chilling repeat of the 1973 public executions, twelve men were executed at Kampala’s Clock Tower, by firing squad on September 9, 1977, in front of a massive, silent crowd that had been ordered to witness the final moments of those accused in the Operation Mafuta Mingi coup plot.

Government’s response

By late 1972, foreign governments and international organisations were raising alarms. The Amin government’s response was denial, deflection, and performative legality. On 9 January 1973, the government issued a statement attempting to account for the disappearance of 85 prominent people. The ICJ later found it wholly unsatisfactory, noting it failed to address eyewitness accounts of military involvement in nearly every case.

In 1974, under continued international pressure, the government established a Judicial Commission of Inquiry. Its findings were tightly constrained by political reality – it acknowledged abuses in general terms but refused to confront the central question of state responsibility. The ICJ’s independent study, published in Geneva on 4 June 1974, was more direct. It documented the systematic destruction of the rule of law: habeas corpus suspended in practice, military interference in judicial processes, the routine disappearance of persons last seen in state custody. The ICJ instituted its study, it explained, because domestic legal remedies had effectively ceased to function. Courts were intimidated. Lawyers and judges themselves became targets.

The numbers we will never know

The 1974 ICJ report estimated between 25,000 and 50,000 deaths in the first few years alone. The 1977 Amnesty International report placed the total at 300,000. The 1994 Justice Arthur Oder Commission gathered testimony for years but acknowledged that the scale of unrecorded village-level killings made any final tally impossible. The true measure of Uganda’s tragedy is not found in these competing figures. It is found in the silence of thousands of unmarked graves, in names never recorded, in families never told.

Because the regime specialised in the total erasure of its victims – destroying records, silencing witnesses, disposing of bodies in rivers and forests – the exact number of Ugandans who vanished into the long night of the 1970s will remain one of history’s most tragic unknowns. In Part Two tomorrow, read about what the machinery of disappearance did to the families it left behind – the women trapped between wife and widow, the children raised in the shadow of fathers who lived in a place called exile, and a grief that has never been allowed to end.

Police have recovered the decomposing body of a 52-year-old woman who was kidnapped from her home in Kigowa, Ntinda, a Kampala suburb, last Thursday.

The deceased, identified as Lydia Babirye, was discovered on Sunday in Wakiso District after her abductors successfully extracted a ransom from her family but killed her anyway. Following her disappearance, the kidnappers used Babirye’s phone to demand a Shs19 million ransom, prompting the family to file a missing person’s report at Old Kampala Police Station.

Kampala Metropolitan Deputy Police Spokesperson, Luke Owoyesigyire, confirmed that a joint security team tracked down and arrested two key suspects.

“One of the suspects, upon interrogation, led police to the house of his accomplice in Kiteredde Village, Kakiri Town Council, Wakiso District,” ASP Owoyesigyire said. “The body was found in a decomposing state inside the suspect’s house, wrapped in a mattress cover and tied with ropes.”

In a chilling twist, investigators also discovered a freshly dug grave within the compound, which suspects allegedly intended to use to conceal the body. The scene was processed by forensic experts, and the body was transferred to the KCCA City Mortuary for a postmortem examination.

“The motive behind the killing has not yet been established, and further inquiries are ongoing,” ASP Owoyesigyire added, noting that the suspects remain in custody.

Babirye’s brutal murder highlights a disturbing resurgence of violent kidnappings for ransom targeting Kampala residents. Over the last few years, metropolitan Kampala has witnessed a fragile security situation marked by criminal gangs targeting women and business owners.

This tragic incident mirrors the infamous 2018 Susan Magara case and several recent high-profile abductions where victims were killed despite their families paying the demanded ransoms. Security experts have previously warned that these syndicates often eliminate victims to destroy evidence and avoid identification, even after receiving financial payouts.

Public anxiety has been mounting over the efficiency of the country’s CCTV surveillance network and phone-tracking systems. While police successfully used mobile intelligence to track Babirye’s phone to Wakiso, the breakthrough came too late to save her life.

With investigations ongoing, joint security agencies have urged the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious movements within their residential areas immediately.

City Oilers will head into the National Basketball League playoffs as one of the teams to beat after completing an impressive regular season with a 20-2 record.

The 10-time champions signed off their campaign with a 67-61 victory over Sommet on Friday, capping off a regular season that has restored confidence within a team determined to reclaim the title they surrendered last year.

Oilers suffered just two defeats throughout the regular season, losing to Rezlife Saints in the first round before falling to defending champions Namuwongo Blazers in the second round.

But despite those setbacks, the team remained consistent side in the league, and are currently sitting top of the 12-team log after completing their fixtures.

The rankings can still change if the Blazers win their remaining games but Oilers would still be second and avoid meeting the defending champions until the finals.

The campaign marks a significant turnaround from last season when Oilers endured a difficult title defence and only secured a playoff berth late in the regular season.

Their struggles culminated in heartbreak during the finals, where they surrendered a 2-0 series lead and lost the championship to the Blazers in six games, ending a decade of dominance in Ugandan basketball.

Head coach Andrew Tendo, who was at the helm during that difficult transition, believes the team is now better equipped to challenge for the championship.

‘We have had a solid season this year compared to the last with fewer downs and more ups,’ Tendo told Daily Monitor after Friday’s victory over Sommet.

‘We have a great squad that is finally with great chemistry, something we lacked most of last season. A few of the players have matured in their roles and I am confident that we shall make some noise.’

One of the major factors behind the Oilers’ resurgence has been improved squad health and stability.

Last season was heavily disrupted by injuries to key players Titus Lual, Fayed Baale and Edgar Munaba.

All three spent extended periods on the sidelines and struggled to regain peak condition during the demanding finals series against the Blazers.

Determined to avoid a repeat, Oilers moved aggressively in the transfer market.

The club added experienced campaigner and former league MVP Landry Ndikumana and reigning league MVP Joel Lukoji, strengthening both leadership and scoring options.

Defensive specialist Joel Kayiira also arrived from UCU Canons after establishing himself as one of the league’s elite defenders. He was named Defensive Player of the Year last season.

The roster was further reinforced during the mid-season transfer window with the additions of Silverbacks centre Jonathan Komagum, Patrick Rembert and Germain Roebuck Jr.

While only Komagum featured during the second round of the regular season, Tendo has indicated that the remaining imports are expected to be available in time for the playoffs, giving the Oilers additional depth at the most important stage of the campaign.

On the court, the team’s success has been driven by the leadership of Baale and Lual.

Baale has averaged 14 points and four assists per game, providing stability and playmaking from the backcourt.

Lual has continued to dominate inside, averaging 10 points and nine rebounds while anchoring the team’s frontcourt presence.

Beyond individual contributions, Oilers have rediscovered the chemistry, defensive intensity and consistency that defined their championship years.

Their ability to bounce back from defeats, maintain focus over a long regular season and integrate new additions has underlined their status as genuine title contenders for this season.

Finishing with a 20-2 record represents more than just regular-season success for the City Oilers. It is evidence of a team that has learned from the disappointment of last season and rebuilt itself with a renewed sense of purpose.

With improved chemistry, experienced reinforcements and key players healthy heading into the playoffs, the Oilers appear far better prepared for the championship challenge ahead.

The regular season has provided encouraging signs, but their campaign will ultimately be judged by whether they can translate that dominance into a return to the National Basketball League throne.

National Basketball League

City Oilers

Record: 20-2

Current position: First

Last season: Second

Kyambogo University has been plunged into grief following the tragic death of a first-year student who was set ablaze in his rented room, marking the third student death at the institution in less than three months.

The deceased, Juma Bumba, a first-year, second-semester student pursuing a Bachelor of Procurement and Logistics Management, passed away on Saturday morning, June 6, 2026. He succumbed to severe burn injuries at Kiruddu National Referral Hospital, where he had been rushed for emergency treatment.

According to an internal memo issued by the Dean of Students, Ms. Bridget Mugume, addressed to Vice-Chancellor Prof. Eli Katunguka, Bumba-who was attached to Nanziri Hall-was attacked and burnt inside his rented apartment in Bweyogerere town, Kira Municipality.

“We hereby inform you of the passing on of Mr. Juma Bumba… Mr. Bumba passed away this morning from Kiruddu Hospital, where he was admitted after being burnt in his rental,” Ms. Mugume’s statement read in part, urging the university community to lift the bereaved family in prayer.

Ms Mugume revealed that the university covered the expenses for embalming, body transportation, and burial arrangements in line with the established Student Burial Policy. Bumba is scheduled to be laid to rest today, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Kamonkoli Village, Budaka District.

However, no official delegation from the university will attend the burial. Management noted that this is in strict compliance with the Ministry of Health’s Ebola prevention guidelines. Uganda is currently battling an outbreak of the Ebola Bundibugyo strain, and public health directives heavily restrict large gatherings and crowds to minimize transmission risks.

Bumba’s gruesome death comes barely a month after another student died under sudden circumstances. On May 14, 2026, Brighton Kamugisha, a third-year student of Bachelor of Textiles and Apparel Design, was found dead in his hostel room. A police post-mortem later attributed his death to hypertrophic heart disease.

Earlier in March, the university lost Anita Scovia Cherotich, who perished in a fatal boda-boda accident, also in Bweyogerere town.

The continuous loss of young lives at Kyambogo mirrors a deeply concerning trend across Ugandan higher institutions, where off-campus student safety, health, and security have come under intense scrutiny.

Over the years, police investigations into student deaths in halls of residence and off-campus hostels have frequently pointed to a grim mix of underlying medical conditions, fatal road accidents, electrocutions due to poor structures, and, increasingly, mental health struggles and targeted violence.

Security agencies have launched investigations into the circumstances surrounding the arson attack on Bumba’s rental to identify the perpetrators behind the heinous act. By press time, the police were yet to issue an official statement regarding arrests.

Israel’s ambassador to Uganda, Gideon Behar, who is based in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, recently travelled to Uganda and met up with Weekend Monitor’s Derrick Kiyonga. The diplomat explains why Israel and its ally, the United States of America, maintain a mood of hostility in the Middle East. Excerpts:-

When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was last in Uganda in 2020, tangible things in Uganda-Israel relations were discussed, such as direct flights from Uganda to Israel. We don’t see any progress. Why?

Israel has been a main partner of Uganda after independence and [in] the ’60s and the ’70s. We do like to develop our relationship to see more activities. This is my second visit [to Uganda] as an ambassador to Uganda. I’m learning the potential and opportunities and am working on increasing our partnership with Uganda at either business-to-business level [or] the economic sphere.

As an ambassador, you oversee Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi and Seychelles. It had, for one, been suggested that by now Uganda would have an ambassador of its own.

My wish is that indeed there should be a Ugandan embassy in Jerusalem and the Israeli embassy here [Kampala]. But these are things that have to be worked out. In the past, we had an embassy here, but now we have to work on it.

Israel has been engaged in two or three large scale wars since Mr Netanyahu’s last visit here. Hasn’t that affected the budgets in foreign offices?

Let me be more accurate: We were attacked. It is not that we have been engaged, we were attacked. First of all, on October 7, 2023, we were attacked by Hamas, an Islamic terrorist organisation. And in one day, over 200 people, mostly civilians, were killed. And immediately after that, we were attacked by Hezbollah in the north in Lebanon, Shiite militias from Iraq, the Houthis from Yemen and the Iranian regime. All of these [were] really to destroy Israel, but we have come out with [the] upper hand; though we were taken by surprise by this attack [on October 7, 2023]. Of course, when there is a war like this, all your efforts are diverted, and attention is put to how you win and how to survive.

So, now we are faced with another existential threat coming from the Iranian regime. This Iranian regime has declared many times that they are going to destroy the State of Israel. They say that Israel is a small Satan and America is a big Satan and that we should be destroyed. They are serious about it because they have developed the strategy and means to do that. This strategy is based on three pillars. One, the development of atomic bomb capabilities. The second pillar of this strategy is the development of a vast ballistic missile programme. And, the third one is to support terrorist organisations in the region like Hezbollah, the Houthis, like Hamas. This strategy is meant to destroy the State of Israel. They were creating a ring of fire around Israel. This was their strategy to encircle Israel.

So, we had no choice but to prevent this because the Iranian regime was in the process of concealing its atomic programme and ballistic missile programme under the ground. We knew that once they do that, it will be very difficult to stop them. And once they have an atomic bomb we are in no doubt that they will use it against Israel. Israel is a very small country because Uganda is 11 times bigger than Israel. So, we knew the window of opportunity was closing and that we [needed] to take pre-emptive action to stop it.

That is why we started this action against Iran. It is also very important to say that we have no problem with Iranian people. The Iranian people are suffering as a result of this regime, and this regime, you know, promotes the Islamic revolution. This is against the wishes of the people. Iran has put hundreds of billions of dollars in atomic weapons development, ballistic missile programmes and support terrorist organisations at the expense of the Iranian people who are suffering. […]

Let us take the issue of ballistic missiles-they were producing 100 ballistic missiles per month. This was the production rate and they were increasing it. Their aim was to have 7,000 or 8,000 ballistic missiles by 2027. And they were developing intercontinental ballistic missiles. And then you have to ask yourself why the Iranian regime needs intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Iran is saying if Israel has a right to formulate its defence, Tehran also has the right to do the same.

I think the comparison you are trying to make isn’t in place. Israel has no intention to destroy Iran. […] Iran [is] saying that let us erase Israel from the map. We don’t seek regional hegemony; Iran is seeking regional hegemony. And you see how they are attacking all the countries in the region. Why would they attack all the Arabic countries in the region? […] If Iran acquires atomic bombs, intercontinental ballistic missiles, they will take the whole world hostage.

This is what is happening today with the Strait of Hormuz. They have blocked it. They didn’t consider how it will affect Uganda, how it will affect Asia […] Once they have these weapons, believe me, they are planning dominance and Islamic revolution style. Remember, the regime is interested in exporting the Shia revolution of Iran.

But the Strait of Hormuz was open before you attacked Iran. Did you, as antagonists, cause this problem?

I don’t think so. They are not reacting. They are acting because they decided to block the Strait of Hormuz to create international pressure without considering how it will affect the world. The fertilisers, the energy supply, et cetera. Today, look at how they have asked for it in the negotiations. Do you know what they want? They want full control of the Strait of Hormuz. Now I want to remind you that the Strait of Hormuz is an international maritime area of passage. According to international maritime law, all passage of ships and maritime vessels should be free. Now, Iran is changing international law to say we control it. They are not the only country there. You have the Gulf States there.

Israel has been accused of carrying out a genocide in Gaza. How do you respond?

What I can tell you is that we fully support the peace plans of [US] President Trump to end the war in the Gaza Strip. It is very important that Hamas disarms. Hamas can’t remain an armed force in [the] Gaza Strip. Hamas must disarm, and they haven’t done it. If we want to have lasting peace and stability in that region, Hamas must be disarmed. As long as Hamas possesses heavy weapons, as long as it keeps weapons underground, they are a threat to peace and security. They have taken the population hostage. They want to remain in power at any cost.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says Israel is now the leading killer of journalists in modern times. Around 260 journalists have been killed by Israel, following the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas…

I can tell you that you should be asking yourself who is behind these committees, and most likely, you will find out their supporters. Secondly, I want to bring to your attention the atrocities committed by Hamas. There is a report about the sex atrocities that Hamas committed. There is an English version. There is a whole report documenting the things that Hamas did, how they raped women and children.

The sexual atrocities they committed in a systematic way. I think it is very important for you to read this report and also report on that. Israel doesn’t target civilians. It is a waste of our energy [to attack civilians]. We are after our enemies and terrorists. The problem is that Hamas has created a system in which they use civilians as human shields. They have built military bases inside hospitals. They were shooting rockets and missiles from residential areas. For instance, they would take rockets and put it on rooftops of houses and shoot from there. They know if we try to stop it, we shall kill the civilians, and they will come say we targeted civilians. We have tried our best to prevent the death of civilians, and we are sorry for the civilians who were killed.

A police officer attached to Nebbi Central Police Station on Saturday evening shot dead a colleague and injured four others in an attempt to quell an angry mob in Nebbi Municipality, Nebbi District.

The victim, PC Joseph Olupot, attached to the same station, died shortly on arrival at Nebbi General Hospital, while the injured civilians include Charles Okecha, 44, Irene Pimar, 32, Joy Epifania, and Charles Oroch, 52.

Police Spokesperson for West Nile Region, SSP Josephine Angucia, identified the suspect as PC Sam Okello, force number 78710, who had gone to arrest a suspect identified as Robert Ocircan from Kasuku Cell, Nyacara Ward, Abindu Division, Nebbi District.

According to police, the suspect opened fire at a group of people who were pelting stones at them, protesting the arrest of the suspect, accused of assaulting his girlfriend.

SSP Angucia explained that the two police officers booked out to arrest Ocircan, whose girlfriend, Praise Atuhaire, 25, a businesswoman and resident of Mutungo Zone 3, Nakawa Division, had travelled to visit his boyfriend.

The two had reportedly spent the night together, before a misunderstanding ensued, prompting her to seek help from the police at Nebbi CPS.

“The officers later booked out for arrest at 6:10 pm, and upon arresting him, the community members started throwing stones at the officers.”

Adding that: ”PC Okello responded by shooting and in the process, he shot at his colleague PC Olupot Joseph and four other civilians.”

She said the victims were rushed to Nebbi General Hospital for medical attention, but PC Olupot Joseph was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

SSP Angucia said Police opened a General Enquiry, adding that statements were recorded from witnesses, the gun in question was recovered and exhibited.

The suspect is detained at Nebbi CPS pending investigations.

“The scene was visited and examined to recover more evidence; the postmortem report is being retrieved from the hospital. Exhibits are being submitted for forensic examination,” SSP Angucia explained.

What happened?

Mr Charles Orochi, one of the victims, said he was shot on his thigh and was quelling the crowds from attacking the officers.”

‘I thank God that children and other community members didn’t die because people heard gunshots and were running towards the direction of the bullets,’ Orochi said.

Ms Moureen Afoyorwoth, an eyewitness and brother to Robert Ocirchan, told this publication that the lovebirds were planning on a marriage, a reason why Ms Atuhaire travelled from Kampala District.

She narrated that tension between the two was triggered after Ms Atuhaire learnt that her boyfriend wanted to rent a grass-thatched house to accommodate them.

‘On Saturday morning, the disagreement started when Ocirchan welcomed her girlfriend, whom he brought home from Kampala, to get accommodated in the grass-thatched house.” She said.

But upon her refusing to enter the house, the woman communicated to her boyfriend, who’s alleged to be one of the police officers, who later instructed the woman to leave and go to the police, Afoyochan added.

Mr Patrick Ogenrwoth, uncle to Robert Ocirchan, said: ‘The two started their love affair in Kampala, and we all don’t know; why should their love affair involve police, later killing and injuring innocent civilians?’

Christopher Okello Onyum raised the defence of insanity when he was indicted for the murder of four infants, whom he hacked to death on April 2, at the Ggaba Early Childhood Development Centre. During the trial, Okello did not deny killing the children, but stated that he did not act intentionally or deliberately. He stated that although he had been examined and declared mentally sane, he had an undetected mental illness which caused him to kill.

During the trial, Okello stated that he was under the control of some people whom he occasionally called friends and that between January and March, he entered an especially distressing period because he was being watched by some people who were watching him, making many demands of him, and threatening to kill him, and they were following him closely. They began demanding money from him, and he noticed that they were capable of doing harm to him. As a result, he left the Bunga neighbourhood where he was staying and started sleeping on the streets.

He added that he tried several things to end the challenges he was facing, including fleeing the country, attempting to rob a bank and attempting to kill his brother’s family. He invited the court not to honour the murder charges against him because there were circumstances that forced him to kill the children. He further told the court that the people who were carrying out surveillance on him influenced his actions on April 2. Okello, in a nutshell, raised the defence of insanity.

A psychiatrist who examined Okello on April 7 noted that he had a history of past mental illness and was treated between 2016 and 2025 for schizophrenia associated with both auditory and visual hallucinations. He killed his two to three-year-old in 2016 or 2017, reportedly to save him from the troubles of this world. He also attempted suicide in 2023. The doctor noted that Okello was a sickle cell patient on treatment. To the doctor, the findings were suggestive of a mental condition with psychotic episodes.

The murders that Okello committed had the hallmarks of crimes of insanity. The killings were senseless, bizarre, ghostly and

gruesome; he slaughtered four infants for no apparent reason. Neither the children nor their parents were known to him. He killed the children in broad daylight for all to see, and made no attempt to hide the evidence. He acted alone and had no accomplices. He showed no remorse at the time of his arrest and at his trial. In fact, he was often seen chuckling during the trial.

Psychopathy or psychopathic personality is a recently recognised mental disorder and is characterised by impaired empathy and remorse, persistent antisocial behaviour, along with bold, disinhibited and egocentric traits. The psychopath has an inclination to violence and psychological manipulation, impulsivity and narcissism. These traits are often masked by superficial charm and immunity to stress, which create an outward appearance of normality.

The law states that a person is not criminally responsible for an act or omission if, at the time of doing the act or making the omission, the person, through any disease affecting his or her mind, is incapable of understanding what he or she is doing or of knowing that he or she ought not to do the act or omission. A person is not criminally responsible for an act or omission if at the time of doing the act or making the omission, he or she, as a result of any disease, was incapacitated to understand what he or she was doing or omitted to do. However, on the other hand, one will be held liable if that disease does not, in fact, incapacitate the person from understanding what they are doing. It is a rule of universal application that a man cannot be condemned if it is proved that at the time of the offence, he was not a master of the offence.

For the defence of insanity to stand, the defence must show that the accused person did not really understand his or her actions or know that his or her actions were wrong. The defence of insanity is twofold. First, an insane person does not have control over his or her conduct. This is similar to a person who is hypnotised or sleepwalking. Secondly, an insane person does not have the ability to form a criminal intent. Without the ability to control conduct or the understanding that conduct is evil or wrong by society’s standards, an insane person presumably will commit crimes again and again.

The test of insanity in law is the McNaughten Rule, which requires that the following three tests be proved: that an individual suffers from a defect of reason, that the defect was caused by a disease of the mind, and that, as a result, the person does not know the nature and quality of the act or that it is wrong. The unsoundness of mind must relate to the time of the offence, and the inquiry must be in relation to the mental state of the accused person at the time of the alleged offence as distinct from his mental condition at the time of trial.

The defence of insanity seeks to do away with an essential requirement of malice aforethought, which is an ingredient of murder that must be proved beyond reasonable doubt. It seeks to prove that the accused person did not have the intention to cause death or did not have the knowledge that such an act or omission would cause death.

In law, however, every person is presumed to be of sound mind, and to have been of sound mind at any time which comes in question, until the contrary is proved. The presumption of sanity, therefore, puts the burden on anyone who claims insanity as a defence. The person must prove that he or she was not in the right mental state at the time of the act or omission. When insanity is advanced by the defence, the burden of proof is on the defence, although it is not a heavy one. It is not required that this must be proved beyond reasonable doubt, but must satisfy the preponderance of the probabilities; it must establish the probability of what is sought to be proved.

The onus was on the court to establish whether Okello was suffering from the disease of the mind at the time he hacked the children to death, and whether the disease of the mind rendered him incapable of knowing the nature and quality of his actions and whether he knew or did not know that what he was doing was wrong by reason of that disease of the mind.

REASONING

The defence of insanity seeks to do away with an essential requirement of malice aforethought, which is an ingredient of murder that must be proved beyond reasonable doubt.