By Francis Kagolo & Juliet Lukwago

THE wife of a man who told the Police he set ablaze the Kasubi tombs has doubted his statements. Harriet, the wife of Joseph Musoke, yesterday said although they had separated about four months ago, Musoke had been visiting her at home every evening, even on the fateful day the tombs were burnt.

Speaking to The New Vision at her home in Makindye-Ssabaagabo, Wakiso district, Harriet said she was suspicious of her husband’s claims.

“He brings his children milk, money and other necessities daily. Even the day the tombs were torched, he came at around 7:30pm. We spent about 20 minutes together and he left,” the woman said.

She added that when she met him the day after the fire, Musoke was equally surprised over the burning of the tombs. Besides, the woman says, he developed a mental problem more than five years ago and had escaped from Butabika mental hospital thrice. “Whenever he ran mad, he turned violent and became inconsistent in his words. He attempted to lynch me one time when we still lived together.”

She said he had been in and out of the Police stations of Kajjansi, Lubowa, Kibuye, Katwe, and Kampala Central over offences he committed when he ran berserk.

Musoke and Harriet were married for almost 19 years until they separated recently. They have five children. Musoke’s sister, Nalongo Namiiro, who stays with him, also dismissed his claim. According to her, Musoke always returned home before her, between 8:00pm and 9:00pm.

“Even the day the tombs were burnt, he passed by my stall at around 8:30pm when it was beginning to drizzle. After a few minutes, I found him in the house,” she said.

Namiiro operates a charcoal stall metres from their home in Lufuka. She described Musoke as a calm man who quickly turned violent whenever he got a fit. “Last month, he smashed the window of our brother’s home. But when he returned to his senses a few days later, he apologised and replaced the window.”

Musoke, she said, would wake up daily at 3:00am to pray and recite the rosary, after which he would take a shower and leave for work. He has a truck which he hires out.

Before he went to the Central Police Station to ‘confess’, he first fought with his driver and then parked his truck at the Police post in Lubowa, claiming it had “committed many offences and should stay there”.

Musoke’s wife urged the Police to first take him to Butabika Hospital for medication and re-interrogate him after he had “recovered”.

Musoke, a witchdoctor-turned-Catholic, claimed he committed the offence after having a vision in which the Holy Spirit told him that the items in the Masiro were satanic and the cause of Uganda’s problems.

Musoke stated that he told the Katikkiro about his vision but got angered when Walusimbi paid him a deaf ear. “When the Katikkiro did not bother, I got a box of matches and set the place on fire,” he told the Police on Tuesday.

The Katikkiro yesterday dismissed Musoke’s claims. “I have never seen that man. We have never heard about his coming to Bulange,” he said, adding that it was up to the Police to investigate.

However, Police chief Kale Kayihura yesterday said he talked to the suspect personally and his statement should not be dismissed.

“He sounds consistent and is logical. We are obviously taking his confession seriously. It should not be dismissed. Our task now is to verify whatever he told us.”

(Additional reporting by Herbert Ssempogo
and Conan Businge)