EDRINE BENESA: Engola, Jaja Ichuli, Bhandari Murders Through The Lenses of an Ordinary Ugandan 

The grisly murder by shooting of former Junior Labour Minister, Col (rtd) Charles Macodwogo Engola on May, 2, unsurprisingly shook the nations, especially owing to the manner of it’s occurrence. Engola, a veteran UPDF fighter and a hero in the fight to defeat the deadly Joseph Kony’s life-threatening hold onto Northern Uganda in the 1990s into the early 2000s. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni rightly described his slain Minister as “a lion” and described his murder as a crime against the country’s patriotism.

Engola’s life was cut short by his bodyguard Pte. Wilson Sabiiti, a soldier attached to the country’s Armed Forces-UPDF. It was alleged that the friction that resulted in the infamous murder emanated from a delay in disbursing the emolument to the cash-strained serviceman that he opted to pull the trigger at his boss when he could hold on no longer.

Just four days later, famous cantankerous Vlogger, Isima Olaxess, alias Jajja Iculi was trailed by unknown assailants and showered with bullets that killed him instantly. Just like the earlier victim, Isma lived in the same in Kyanja, on the outskirts of Kampala City.

Coincidentally, Iculi had been one of the loudest voices that hailed the heinous act of Engola’s killer, Sabiiti, crucifying the slain minister as deserving the nature of death that befell him for failing to meet the needs of his bodyguards.

Less than a week later, another murder-by-shooting incident identical to the one in my minister’s case was registered in the city centre, this time by a police officer. Ivan Wabwiire, an officer attached to Kampala Central Police Station shot city businessman Bhandari multiple times after an argument on the progress of the repayment of a loan he had borrowed from his firm.

In a statement issued by President Museveni about the incident, he said that “all these mistakes are easily traceable. In this case,” and went on to advance some pertinent questions regarding how it happened. These, are;

1. How did off-duty duty Policeman, access a gun?
2. Did he walk away from his guard post without permission with a gun to commit crime?
3. How are the guns stored in the Police?
4. Is there no security at the site where the victim was?
5. Why did that local security allow an armed person into the building who had no guard business there? Then, there is the question of the mental state of this Policeman.
6. Did he have a history of mental instability? If he had, why hadn’t the Police leadership noticed and acted appropriately?
Answers to the questions above, the president said would ” help us to plug the gaps in the security system.”
The above murders, as expected have attracted carried reactions. Alarmists have been at the top of their game trying to paint an imaginary picture that the country is under some sort of a security crisis which I doubt could be the case.
A critical analysis of the trial of the murders will help us understand why it’s misguided to tag them as a national crisis rather than just pockets of isolated criminal activities.
In the case of Minister Engola,  the army, through deputy spokesman, Deo Akiiki Sabiiti was owed no money by the UPDF at the time of his death. It was also established that the disgraced officer had been with the victim minister for just a little over one month. It was therefore illogical that Sabiiti had deep grievances against his new master over unpaid allowances. If so, then why him and not the others on the minister’s security detail, many of whom had been with him longer?
Answers to this particular case were issued by Capt. Mike Mukula- the NRM National Vice Chairman for Eastern Uganda. Mukulu, who once had Sabiiti as part of his security team revealed that the soldier had often struggled with his poor management of his finances. He used to get loans more often than not and ended up having most of his money going towards clearing loans. He also had a history of indiscipline for which he had at one time been sent to the training school in Jinja to re-capitalise him. This all thus indicates that his action against the minister could entirely be more of a psychological one than a mistake on the part of the army.
For Mr Tusuubira, aka Jajja Iculi, the fact that not even the driver with whom the Vloger was at the time of the murder was injured shows that the intent of the shooter, or shooters was explicitly targeting him. By the nature of the work he did, Isma could have earned himself many enemies which leaves little wonder that he was targetted.

When it comes to Mr Bhandari, unlike the other incidents where the findings of the investigators are all we have to rely on, Wabwiire, who is already in the custody of the policy has already owned up to the murder, besides the viral CCTV footage as she shot at the Indian businessman. It has also been proved that the officer has a history of mental lapses having been admitted to Butabika Phychastric Hospital at one time. This revelation has also been collaborated by the family of the officer who even displayed medical reports to the same effect.
In all the above situations, we can all see that these crimes are not connected in any way. Security is handling them individually and the public should retain their faith in men in uniform to get to the root of each one of them. Sadists will without any doubt continue making it appear as though there is a crisis, which has always been the case but our able security apparatus has always been on top of the game.

The writer is the Deputy RCC for Soroti East Division