Man who caused police boss'' suspension lynched

By Moses Lemisa and Job Nantakiika

A man who accused former Nansana Police boss Muhammad Kirumira of soliciting a bribe from him was lynched by residents who cornered him as police exchanged gunfire with a gang of thieves.

Majwega Henry Ssenkayi was the driver of a taxi registration number UAU 105S in which thieves were travelling when police cornered them in Kiteetika on Gayaza road.

The events

An armed gang believed to comprise of eight thieves, including three women, on Friday is reported to have been driving along different roads, picking passengers and robbing them before hounding them out of the taxi.

Their luck however would run out when they picked a passenger, Henry Okoth, from Makerere Kavule and was heading to the ‘small gate’ near University Hall at the eastern end of Makerere University campus.

Okoth, who was seated at the front, said all the while the driver (Majwega) kept telling him to close the door firmly. He said when the taxi reached ‘Ku Bbiri’ stage the driver instead took the route to Mulago yet he was headed to Wandegeya. That is when he asked to alight the taxi.

When he touched his satchel where he was carrying a laptop he noticed it was empty, and raised an alarm that alerted nearby bodaboda riders who in turn gave chase to the taxi.

The chase got intense but the relentless bodaboda riders kept up as the taxi weaved in and out of different roads in Kamwokya, Mawanda Road, Kaleerwe and Kasangati to throw them off.

In Kasangati, the taxi driver unknowingly took a wrong turn only to end up at a dead end.

The taxi occupants jumped out of the taxi and entered a bush as now frantic residents called the Police that gave chase.

A gun battle ensued as police exchanged gunfire with the thugs.

For Majwega, however, it was the end of the road. He fled towards the company premises of Agro VmaxX where the bodaboda riders cornered him and lynched him.

Police deployed sniffer dogs to give chase to the others but the place was already chaotic as residents had already contaminated the scene.

A Suzuki with women dressed in Muslim garb had come to the scene to rescue the robbers but police also failed to trace it as it vanished shortly after.

The Kasangati police boss James Kawalya who commanded the operation said the taxi was towed to the station but residents had already vandalized it.

About Kirumira

Muhammad Kirumira made headlines in April this year when he was summoned by the Professional Standards Unit of police and put in custody at Nsambya barracks.

Kampala Metropolitan police commander Andrew Felix Kaweesi however ordered his release basing on his impeccable performance record in wiping out crime in his area of operation pending conclusive investigation of the allegations.

Kirumira rattled feathers among police bosses when he revealed to the media on television that some of his superiors connived with the thugs he was fighting and were therefore determined to bring him down.

However shortly after his reinstatement the Standards Unit asked that he leaves office because he could interfere with his investigations.

Kirumira left and said he was resigning from the Force, but not before revealing that he had proof that some of the officers in the Unit investigating him were communicating with the very thungs he was fighting.

Majwega’s crime profile

Muhammad Kirumira having operated in the area for long knows the workings of Majwega.

Kirumira enlightened that Majwega led a gang that was renowned for robbing passengers in Kampala during the day then along the Northern By-pass from Busega all the way to Bweyogerere in the night.

Majwega headed a gang of thugs that carried out a mission in Ntinda where three of his colleagues were shot dead; another was taken to Mulago hospital.

Last year he was arrested by Wandegeya police with a gun when a robbery was foiled. He was in the company of Muliika, Sseeru, Ken, Waiswa, Asse and three women in a taxi.

He was part of the gang that robbed a German national of sh3.5m at Jeju Bar and Restaurant in Nansana last year. They were arrested by Nansana police but somehow were transferred to Gganda police.

He was also among the thugs that carried out a robbery at a refilling station in Bweyogerere; one of his accomplices, Pius Kato, was killed.

Kirumira also revealed that he had gotten wind of the robbery mission in which Majwega was killed. He said their preparations started on Thursday and they hired the taxi from Kaleerwe whose owner, Semeo, was once a robber but reformed.

He also listed 9 accomplices of Majwega whom he has been commandeering. They are; Asse, Muliika, Ken, Wasswa, Macupa, Sseeru, Sanon and Kabenge.