Police in Sembabule District are looking into a tragic incident where a man is accused of killing two village leaders during an argument about land. This happened on Saturday at around 4 p.m. in Kigando B Village, Mijwala Sub-county. The victims were Kafuma Mbazira, the village chairperson, and his deputy, Steven Sunday.
People in the village say the suspect, Michael Ssenyondo, had sold pieces of his land to different buyers. Trouble started when he kept picking coffee from a piece of land he had sold to John Mawanda. Mawanda was upset and told the village leaders about it. They decided to hold a meeting with Ssenyondo to sort things out.
The meeting took place at Mawanda’s house, but it quickly turned violent. A person who was there but didn’t want to give their name said Ssenyondo got angry, picked up a hand hoe, and attacked the two leaders. Steven Sunday died right away, and Kafuma Mbazira was badly hurt. Mbazira was taken to Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala, but he passed away later because of his injuries.
After the attack, Ssenyondo ran away from the village and hid. Angry villagers went to his house, broke things inside, and damaged part of his banana plantation. Darausi Maalo, a security officer for Lyabaana Parish, said Ssenyondo used to take drugs and had been acting strangely for months. Maalo believes the drugs might have made him act so violently.
Twaha Kasirye, the police spokesperson for the Southern Region, said the police found and arrested Ssenyondo in Kyanamukkaka Sub-county, Masaka District. Kasirye mentioned that they had to save Ssenyondo from a crowd that wanted to harm him. He also said the police are upset about the villagers who destroyed Ssenyondo’s property and are now looking for those people.
The police plan to charge Ssenyondo with murder once they finish their investigation. They are working to understand exactly what happened and why. For now, the community in Kigando B Village is grieving the loss of their leaders and hoping for justice.
