NUP Blues! More Bad News as another MP Follows Incarcerated Ssegirinya, Ssewanyana to Prison Over Murder

At the time Uganda’s freshest, but leading opposition party, is struggling to win freedom from the close to a year incarceration for two of its Members of Parliament (MPs), it would come as a big headache for its leadership, to learn that yet another MP is slated for the same fate.

The two MPs under prolonged incarceration are Mohammed Ssegirinya aka Mr. Update and Allan Ssewanyana aka Musajja wa Bwiino (Man of Data). The duo joined parliament on the ticket of the National Unity Party (NUP). The two posted one of the biggest electoral results against their opponents in the race to the national assembly. This is stark evidence in regard to their popularity among their constituents.

Hardly six months after securing parliamentary slots, and before they could settle in well to serve their people, they were rounded up and hurled into prison. They were being accused of paying people to hack dead, locals in Masaka with pangas in the aftermath of the general elections. But how and why? NUP had overwhelmingly swept Masaka and the entire Buganda region during that election.

So, why was the same party again revenging for, in killing the people, who had overwhelmingly voted for it immediately after the fact? For the record, a leading ruling party stalwart, Gen Severino Kahinda-Otafiire, had made light fun of the serious case of the machete killings in Masaka. President Yoweri Museveni`s fond bush-war associate, Otafiire is on record stating that the people in Masaka were being hacked because they had voted for NUP’s Principal, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu and his party, against the ruling NRM party.

President Museveni himself had expressed extreme anguish and shock over Buganda’s region shunning of him and his NRM party. In fact, Museveni is on record stating that, he was going to wipe out NUP, from the face of Uganda. Just as he has been wiping out the rest of the opposition parties.

Under pressure to explain the cause for the arrest of the two legislators, security unleashed a young man. Ssenyonga was his name. Ssenyonga confessed being a machete killer. He mentioned Ssegirinya and Ssewanyana as the sponsors of the murders. He stated that the two MPs were paying him and other killers, as little as UGX100,000, per person hacked. We would later learn from the former Chief of the Internal Security Organization (ISO), Col Kaka Bagyenda, how Ssenyonga was a police agent.

Kaka revealed how the former police chief, Gen Kale Kayihura covertly recruited Ssenyonga into the force. Upon such recruitment, Kaka stated, Kayihura attached Ssenyonga to the Flying Squad unit of the police, as an undercover agent. He stated how he had managed to arrest and had Ssenyonga remanded in prison. Kaka divulged that he had arrested Ssenyonga on charges of hacking people in Masaka, during and after the 2016 general elections.

But that his colleagues in Flying Squad, kidnapped him, on one of the court appearances in Masaka, and disappeared with him. Kaka revealed how Kayihura plotted to use Ssenyonga to implicate him as one who was leading the machete killer squads. He added that, now that he is out of ISO, the State was contemplating dusting off the said allegations and put them onto his head.

While Ssenyonga was initially arraigned in court together with the two MPs, the State has since, shockingly revealed to Court, how he has since escaped from the prison. Analysts call the escape a stunt. On the contrary, they offer, Ssenyonga is being coached, following which, he is going to be unleashed as a star witness, for purposes of pinning Ssegirinya and Ssewanyana. Well, time will tell.

Going back to the fresh MP to be arrested, his name is Frank Kabuye. We have stated already, that the suspect, subscribes to NUP. He is being held at Wandegeya Police Station on charges of murdering, or abetting the murdering of a Law Student, attached to Uganda Christian University in Mukono. The name of the deceased was Batungura Bewotti. The Law Student was killed at Makerere University. The murder transpired during the students` guild campaigns.

Kabuye is alleged to have been part and parcel of an angry NUP mob who kicked off a fight with their FDC counterparts. It is amidst that melee, that Batungura ended up being stabbed and lost his life. Two other people are being held at separate police stations around Kampala over the same murder. Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, ASP Luke Oweyesigire has affixed a stamp of credence on this story. “Investigations are on-ongoing. Thank you.”

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Stephen Kasozi Muwambi: Mr. Stephen Kasozi Muwambi is a seasoned crime investigative writer, majoring in judicial-based stories. His two decades’ experience as a senior investigative journalist has made him one of the best to reckon on in Uganda. He can also be reached via [email protected]