On the morning of November 28, Meshach Okello, 33, woke up in his home in Buseyi Village in Nakalama, Kigulu County, Iganga District, without the slightest sense that this day would become the last of his life.
To his family, the conversations they had with him that morning were not unusual. To them, it was simply another workday for a man whose life was grounded in routine, responsibility, and love for those who depended on him. His elder wife, Ms Elizabeth Takwemazayo, remembers the moment with painful memories.
“He left early, like he always did,’ she says softly, her voice wavering as she recalls watching him walk away from their home. Ms Takwemazayo didn’t seem worried, not even a little, but he didn’t mention the rally, and nothing felt different.
To her, his gentle departure remains a haunting memory because nothing in that morning hinted at suspicion that would later turn to his life. Okello’s journey to manhood was shaped largely by his maternal uncle, Mr Dan Kifuuse, a man he had lived with since Primary Two. ‘I picked him from the village because I saw something in him. I knew the boy had a bright future,’ he recalled.
Together, the two formed a bond that blended fatherhood and mentorship. Mr Kifuuse guided him through school, supporting him jointly with Okello’s father, and he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management from Kampala University. After graduation, Okello’s uncle welcomed him into his timber business, handing him administrative duties and trusting him without hesitation. His uncle said Okello reported for work that morning, like he normally did.
The two worked together from morning until lunchtime, and after having lunch together at the workplace, he later on asked the uncle to allow him attend a campaign rally in Iganga Town. ‘I never knew that the simple conversation we shared would become the final memory for all of us who spent that day with him,”Mr Kifuuse said slowly, as if tasting the memory. He added: ‘We ate together. After lunch, he looked at me and said, ‘Uncle, allow me to go to the rally.’ I didn’t think much of it. I told him to ‘go.”
The rally in Iganga Town drew large crowds. Supporters danced, sang, chanted, and followed the motorcade of National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine. Okello, usually reserved and soft-spoken, went for the rally. But between 5pm and 6pm, the uncle said as Okello walked back from the rally with a neighbour, who worked near their timber stall, he saw Okello falling down. He had been shot. The neighbour told Okello’s uncle: ‘We were walking together holding hands,’ he said. ‘Then suddenly, Okello fell. I thought he had fainted. When I bent to lift him, he wasn’t breathing. People around us began shouting that he had been shot.’
Eyewitnesses later said one of the occupants of a tinted vehicle without number plates, that was moving around the rally venue, allegedly shot Okello. NUP’s Iganga Municipality flag bearer, Mr Abedi Nasser Mudiobole, who says he also witnessed the shooting, described Okello as a calm and non-violent man. ‘A car without number plates drove in, its windows were lowered and its occupants started shooting [at people at the rally]. Okello was not among those pelting stones,’ he added. Sources said the driver of the alleged vehicle sped off after Okello’s shooting.
Okello’s father, Mr Willison Magoola, 86, said witnesses later told him that the shooters appeared to be security personnel. ‘They followed him. When they came close, one of them shot him in the face,’ he recounted. Busoga East Police spokesperson Michael Kasadha maintains that the shooting occurred after some NUP supporters allegedly attacked police officers, stoning them and damaging police vehicles, an incident that left several officers injured. He, however, said police are investigating the matter.