CCTV camera footages and witnesses have revealed the key suspects in the stabbing of a Uganda Christian University (UCU) law student Bewotti Betunguura,
Betunguura, 27, died on July 14 following clashes between rival camps in the 88th Makerere University guild presidential elections. He had come to support his Mbarara High School OB Justus Tukamushaba, one of the front runners in the guild race that had attracted over 10 candidates.
According to Uganda Police Force (UPF) spokesperson Fred Enanga, a joint team, involving officers from CID, Kampala Metropolitan Police (KMP), Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), and the Internal Security Organization (ISO) have continued to “actively investigate the murder” of Betunguura.
Enanga announced the official police report on Betunguura’s cause of death. “The facts gathered indicate that the victim was fatally wounded by a blow from a broken glass bottle, which caused the sharp force injury, on the right side of the neck, after he was attacked near Nsibirwa Hall junction. The victim rushed to the washrooms at Nsibirwa Hall, where his colleagues picked and transported him to the University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The cause of death was hemorrhagic shock following sharp force trauma,” he said on July 18 at Police Headquarters in Naguru, Kampala.
Following the incident, three people — Kassanda South MP Frank Kabuye, Allan Ssekiddde and MuzafaruKabuurwa — were arrested and face charges of incitement to violence.
Enanga also noted that investigators were examining evidence linking both internal and external forces to the violence at Makerere. He added: “The incident remains under investigation by our Joint Specialist teams, part of which is to examine the possible linkages to aggressive behavior of both external groups ferried into the campaigns and the student brigades created from within the University. Further efforts are in place to trace for all the other external perpetrators of violence, who are still at large.”
ISO and CMI are some of the security agencies that are expected to deeply investigate and crack down on student gangs at Makerere.
“We are also interesting ourselves in the student brigades of North coat Revolutionary Army (NRA), RAT Guard Brigade (RGB) and Oxegeble Guard Brigade (OGB), who are hired during political and social activities at the University. The victim who had come to rally support for his former high school friend, Tukamushaba Justus, the Guild Presidential Candidate on FDC ticket was part of the North Court Revolutionary Army, that was guarding the FDC candidate,” claimed Enanga.
“While the NUP candidate, was being guarded by the RAT Guard Brigade. It is this group that allegedly sparked violence as they were leaving the venue for the incoming FDC group. The NRM candidate was being guarded by the Oxegeble Guard Brigade. The CCTV footages, other video footages and accounts from witnesses have enabled us to generate lists of perpetrators to the violence.”
Following Betunguura’s murder last Thursday, Makerere University Council fired all student guild leaders and postponed the 88th guild elections. (Read Story Here).
The murdered UCU student was buried at the weekend, with his father asking President Museveni’s government to compensate him for his loss and to ban political parties at universities and in secondary schools. (Read Story Here).
