Missing toddler found crossing road by himself

A four-year-old boy who went missing last Wednesday (March 2) in Katuuso zone, Buziga Parish in Makindye, Kampala, has been rescued exactly two days after his mother told of his disappearance in the newspapers.

Elijah Bbosa was saved by a ‘Good Samaritan' (only identified as Sam) crossing the road near Kansanga, Kampala, by himself on the day he went missing.

The ‘Good Samaritan' said he took the baby to Kansanga Police, but officers asked him to keep custody of the toddler until its parents were located.

How the toddler managed to scale the trek from his home in Buziga to Kansanga is baffling.

"We got a phone call from Bukedde Newspaper (New Vision's Luganda sister paper), saying someone had called in with information about my baby," the boy's mother Irene Nakawesi said on phone.

"When we came to Bukedde, they (Bukedde) gave us the contact of the individual who had called in. We found the man at Kansanga, near a market. I was so happy and relieved I cannot explain it," said the mother of four.

The toddler was allegedly rescued crossing the road by himself

"The man said he had taken the boy to (Kansanga) police. But, that the police had asked him to keep ‘custody' of the boy after writing his statement. So, when he saw the story in the papers, he called the (media house). It (his explanation) wasn't convincing. But I was relieved I had got my baby back. I didn't care about the rest."

The boy's stepfather, Moses Kibuuka, said the baby had "some scars" on his wrists when he was rescued (from the Good Samaritan).

"We took him to a clinic (in Buziga). But medical reports show he is okay. He wasn't hurt," he said.     

Irene Nakawesi was shocked when she left her four year old baby Elijah Bbosa with a house help at their home in Katuuso zone, Buziga Parish in Makindye to go vote in the mayoral elections, but returned when the baby was missing.

He had left in the morning, about 9:00 am. But when she returned, about 3:00pm), there was a group of people gathered at her compound, she narrated.

Then, a woman (only identified as Florence), who had introduced to her the house help (named Rose), came to her and told her that her son was missing.

"I was confused. I didn't know where to start. I had just left him (at home). How could he be missing?" she reminisced. "I got nervous. How would I tell his people that their son was missing; that I had lost him?"

Any frantic calls and search around the neighborhood to possibly get the boy back didn't yield any ray of hope. They still hadn't, for about a week, until the mother of four narrated her story to New Vision and Bukedde and then there was that call (from the ‘Good Samaritan').

"I am so relieved. I thank the New Vision and Bukedde (for publishing the story and helping me to get my boy back). I thank God. And, my husband, who has been next to me in all this."