Blind peace legend Kangweteke robbed of guitar at own award gala
However, on New Year's Day, in a cruel twist of irony, the very community he comforted watched helplessly as that legendary instrument was snatched from his side, just moments after he was honoured for a lifetime of service.
Tonny Opiyo’s guitar was the sound of hope in Northern Uganda’s darkest hours a healing therapy that mended hearts in the heat of the LRA insurgency. (Photo by Claude Omona)
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For over two decades, Tonny Opiyo’s guitar was the sound of hope during the darkest hours in northern Uganda, a "healing therapy" that mended hearts in the heat of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency.
However, on New Year's Day, in a cruel twist of irony, the very community he comforted watched helplessly as that legendary instrument was snatched from his side, just moments after he was honoured for a lifetime of service.
Opiyo, the visually impaired maestro popularly known as "Kangweteke," was the star of the WALK Creative Arts Foundation awards at Kaunda Grounds in Gulu city.
He had just walked off the stage, decorated with a medal and a lifetime achievement accolade for his advocacy for peace and reconciliation within Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps.
The "invisible" theft
The celebration turned to ash when Opiyo returned to his seat. Being unable to see his surroundings, the artist placed his acoustic guitar and his newly won accolade on the table beside him.
"A woman seated nearby later told me she saw a man in a black jacket pick up the guitar," a distraught Opiyo recounted.
"She didn't raise an alarm because she assumed I had instructed him to carry it for me."
The theft occurred under the noses of hundreds of attendees. Despite frantic, repeated pleas from the Masters of Ceremonies that brought the gala to a standstill, the instrument—Opiyo’s constant companion since 2001—had vanished into the night.
A silent future
For the man behind hits like "No Discrimination" and "War is Bad for the Children of the World," the loss is not merely sentimental—it is a financial death sentence.
"Until I find that guitar, my livelihood and that of my family is doomed," Opiyo told New Vision Online on January 2, 2026.
The veteran artiste, who relies on the guitar for street performances and new compositions, revealed that a replacement acoustic guitar costs between shillings 450,000 and 500,000 in Kampala, a fortune he currently does not have.
While the WALK Foundation gala celebrated the launch of a shillings one billion Savings and Credit Co-operative Organisation to support regional artistes, Opiyo now finds himself at the mercy of the public.
By press time, he was yet to formally report the matter to the Police, choosing instead to issue a desperate appeal for the return of the only tool he has for survival.