Pastor''s wife banished over witchcraft

By Nelson Kiva

KIBOGA - A pastor’s wife in Kiboga district has been banished by residents on allegations of witchcraft.

Robinah Namara, 55, wife of Topher Namara, a re-known pastor in Bukomero town council and her three children are now in the hands of the authorities.

The Kiboga district police commander, Francis Manana, on Monday said that Namara and her three children have been under the protection of police since Friday.

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DPC Manana addressing the meeting. Photos/Nelson Kiva

On Friday over 2000 residents of Bukomero town council convened a meeting at the town council headquarters from where they banished and handed over to police Namara and her children.

The meeting was attended by Kiboga resident district commissioner Josephat Tumwesigye, LCV chairperson, Israel Yiga, LC3 chairperson Bukomero, Charles Katongole among others.

Residents in their written petition addressed to the RDC and signed by over 240 of them, purported that Namara bewitched and killed one of the residents identified as Joseph Magala, 20.

Magala reportedly died mysteriously on July, 4, 2014 after Namara had reportedly threatened to deal with him.

This was after Magala allegedly took away the dry grass Namara used to cover her freshly manufactured bricks.

The heavily deployed police was forced to fire teargas and live bullets to disperse raging residents who wanted to lynch Namara and her children during the meeting.

The situation was further monitored by police foot patrols to keep the situation normal.

Joseph Kavuma, who lives in Kikuubo Bukomero town council, said that they decided to banish Namara and her children because they were a threat to the community.

Namara, with a bible in her hands at Kiboga central police station, told journalists that she has never been a witch and that she has never threatened anybody with death, adding that she accepted Jesus Christ as her personal saviour.

“The only thing I did was to tell Sunday Moses Masaji, the father to the deceased, to tell his son to bring back my grass or he apologizes, but there was nothing I did beyond that. Surely this is the work of the devil I believe,” she said.

Manana added that police have failed to prefer charges against Namara since residents have failed to avail sufficient evidence to support their accusations.

“Some of them claim that at the time of death the boy severally screamed the grass, while others reveal that he vomited the grass, the allegations police couldn’t verify”, he said. Manana said that police was handing over Namara to her relatives who had come to receive her from police.

But Namara’s children have been charged with assaulting the town council engineers who were trying to stop them from constructing a building without the town council approval.

The RDC, Josephat Tumwesigye, commended residents for not taking the law into their hands but instead informed the Police and the local authorities.

The LCV chairperson, Israel Yiga, condemned the barbaric practices of witchcraft in the district and called on the religious leaders to play their role. He called on residents to respect the laws of the land as a remedy to mob justice.

The officer of criminal investigations Kiboga, Stephen Ssemanda, reveals that once in the while cases involving witchcraft are registered by police.