Former candidate for the Agago District Woman Parliamentary seat Lillian Abalo is in more tears after a magistrate convicted her and sentenced her to eight months in prison after she was caught trespassing on the house of Chief Justice and Judiciary boss Alfonse Chigamoy Owiny Dollo.
According to a video recording circulating on social media, a woman believed to be Abalo is heard pleading with people who had reportedly caught her red handed at Chief Justice Owiny Dollo’s home not to kill her for planting witchcraft potions contained in a bottle at the house of the head of the country’s judicial arm of government.
The woman in the video is also heard being ordered by some people to quickly locate the spot where she had planted the bottle with alleged witchcraft potions. One of the men even threatens to teach her a lesson she will never forget if she does not quickly find the bottle.
She is also heard admitting that she indeed had planted the bottle in the compound belonging to Owiny-Dollo but insists that a boy had given her the bottle. Asked where the boy in question was, Abalo started ‘speaking in tongues’ uncertain his whereabouts.
She also claimed to have received instructions via a phone call from Kampala, a conversation she says she must have recorded. But she had reportedly left the phone at home as she embarked on her mission at the CJ’s home located in Agago District’s Patongo Town Council.
Abalo was later arrested and dragged to the Agago Central Police Station from where she was produced before a grade one magistrate’s court in Patongo. Here, she was charged with criminal trespass, an offence she pleaded guilty to committing. It was not readily clear if she would appeal the eight-month jail sentence but court informed her of her right to appeal.
Abalo, an independent, was one of the four politicians that vied for the Agago District Woman MP seat in the 2021 parliamentary elections. She garnered 3,819 and lost the election to Beatrice Akori Akello of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party who secured 31,621 votes, followed by Judith Franca Akello of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) who got 26,840 votes.
Coming third in the race, Abalo beat independent candidate Lilly Gorretti Aber who got 1,911 votes and Winnie Okidi, also an independent, who managed 1,180 votes.
Witchcraft remains an issue of concern in Uganda. Months ago, Ugandans were left in shock after a video showing a witch doctor bewitching Link Buses surfaced online. (Read Story Here).
Also, months ago, President Museveni advised Speaker Anita Annet Among and his deputy Thomas Tayebwa not to hold victory parties after the death of Jacob Oulanyah so that people do not think they are witches. (Read Story Here).
There are also allegations that some people use witchcraft to get jobs or regain them after being fired. For example, Charles Rwomushana was on record as suggesting that Chris Obore had used witchcraft to plot Kadaga’s downfall from the Speaker job so that he, Obore, who had been sent on forced leave, could return to his job. (Read Story Here).
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