By Insight Post Uganda
Florence Namujju, a relative to the murdered fisherman identified as Fred Ntambi has lately come out with contradictory statements concerning the death of his brother.
Ntambi, who was a resident of Kizaala-Buganda Cell in Katosi Town Council, Mukono District, was attacked, tortured and murdered on March 23, 2023. The murder was committed at Mbeya landing site at Mpunge sub-county in Mukono District. The deceased had gone for his routine fishing duties.
Despite the family reporting the matter to the police station and as well submitting the names of suspects received from the deceased on his death bed, police relaxed in progressing the matter which compelled relatives to petition the Director of Crime Intelligence who responded by arresting seven suspects on April 18.
The suspects were kept at Jinja Road Police Station for over a month until when police finally bowed to pressure from the fishing community and arraigned two of them before court last month. The rest were released on a police bond by Justus Twongirwe, then Regional CID Kampala Metropolitan Police East.
The development offered a glimmer of justice to a case that had triggered widespread outrage and disorder within the fishing community as well as the island.
However, last week, social media was awash with surprise when one of the leading relatives who has been pursuing justice for the deceased, met a team of vloggers and told them she erroneously implicated wrong suspects.
However, this website a month ago obtained a telephone conversation where Namujju threatened to change statements once the law firm which offered provision of free legal services does not offer her some money to provide for her children after the husband abandoning her.
She started asking for money after a team led by a Senior Uganda People’s Defense Forces-UPDF Officer, Major Mark Wanyama through the police case investigating officer, Giibe Nampina sought for an audience with Namujju to deliberately frustrate the case.
We have also established that Major Wanyama came on board to save some of the suspects who are instrumental in helping him secure a piece of land under contention at Mbeya island.
Nonetheless, he succeeded securing police bond for suspects including Abdul Ssempiira, the Mbeya LCI Vice Chairperson, Yasin Kasirye, the Mbeya LCI Secretary, Richard Ngoobi, Annet Amuron, Sanyu Digonda and Abdul Mugisha despite appearing on the list Namujju earlier submitted to police.
Other two suspects, namely Jackson Sebitosi, aged 28, and Bernard Mateke, aged 36, have appeared twice before court and are further remanded.
Contradictions;
In a conversation with vloggers from Kampala, Namujju denied writing a death confession saying it was given to him by a resident at Katosi town immediately after she arrived at the clinic where the deceased had been admitted.
Though she had earlier written her names on a piece of paper; she again emphasized being illiterate. Despite making the first admission indicating that she understands writing, reading and listening to English but pretends to know nothing.
Namujju currently denies knowledge of the people who used to trail her on a bodaboda but in one of our recorded conversations, acknowledges receiving a telephone call from the investigating officer advising her to talk to them since police knew about them.
Based on the police’s recorded statements, Sebitosi and Mateke confessed to assaulting Ntambi but stated that they left him alive before departing the scene.
They assert that they have no knowledge of what occurred afterwards. Furthermore, they accuse Yasin Kasirye of masterminding their actions.
However, in his statement to the police, Kasirye refuted the allegations claiming that he was present at the crime scene to prevent the mob from lynching Ntambi.
Was Namujju Paid to Abandon Case?
This website is yet to confirm whether Namujju obtained a financial advantage from the death of his brother. In the recent conversation aired on a YouTube channel, one of the vloggers bragged for having organized a meeting between her and Major Wanyama to settle the matter.
Information from some of our trusted sources indicate that she was paid six million shillings to settle her house rental arrears at Kawempe and also pay school fees for her children.
Earlier, Namujju rejected a compensation of sh500, 000 which had been tabled through the Officer in Charge of Katosi police station to settle the matter.