‘I saw Sabuni and Amin loot’
Aug 14, 2009
Though the government had fallen on April 11, 1979, few people could confirm it due to the conflicting broadcasts on the national radio.
Though the government had fallen on April 11, 1979, few people could confirm it due to the conflicting broadcasts on the national radio.
Radio Uganda broadcast that the liberators had taken over the government while President Idi Amin on the Soroti-based Radio Uganda External Service, Dakabela, urged people to be calm.
He said he was in control and his troops were repulsing the enemy. Amin was encouraging his troops to press on and win the war.
Uncertainty hung in the air. People did not know whether to celebrate or cow away in the quiet confines of their homes.
They chose the latter. That was until the floodgates of looting opened, unleashing an orgy of plunder, led by demoralised soldiers.
It is against this background that the next case that came to the High Court in 1980 was set. The suspect was Amin’s industry and tourism minister, Brig. Dusman Sabuni. He was arrested in Kenya and deported to Uganda for trial over alleged robbery.
Uganda had been to war since 1977 when they invaded Tanzania. The latter retaliated by attacking Mutukula.
The government troops fought back and repulsed them to as far as Kagera inside Tanzania, destroying a sugar plantation and a sugar factory there.
The Tanzanian troops drove Amin’s soldiers back.They never stopped until the Kampala government fell.
Unsure of what was happening, Paddy Kabagambe, the General Manager of the government owned African Textile Mills (ATM) in Mbale decided the factory would not open until the situation normalised.
testimonies
The next day, however, he got a telephone call from the chief askari (guard), one Magolo, that the factory had been broken into and plundered by soldiers.
According to Magolo, he saw Brig. Sabuni, the factory’s former general manager Sebbi and President Idi Amin himself.
Another guard, John Odongo, who was manning the gate, said he saw many vehicles, including army Jeeps from the direction of Tirinyi, screeching to a halt at the factory between 9:00 and 0:00am.
In one of the vehicles, a Benz, smeared with mud, Odongo narrated, was Sabuni and Sebbi who called him and told him to open the gate.
He said he had no key and Sabuni ordered the soldiers to shoot the gate locks open, which they did. Several vehicles entered while others encircled the factory.
The soldiers also shot the locks to the factory doors, entered and started carrying out textiles, filling their vehicles.
According to Magolo, as he was checking on the guards on duty, he heard gunshots.
Frightened, he tried to escape through the workers’ gate but as he reached the factory shop, he saw many vehicles which included Pick-ups, Land Rovers and Jeeps.
In a panic, he turned around and moved alongside the factory in search of an escape, but again saw many soldiers, some of whom were jumping over the fence. He tried to hide and then saw Olam, one of the guards who was supposed to be at the main gate, also taking cover.
That was when Olam pointed out several people standing in commando fatigues outside the fence by the road.
They were Sabuni, Sebbi and the other was Amin who donned head gear. There were vehicles parked behind them.
Sabuni and Amin had guns and repeatedly fired in the air, Magolo testified.
Amin then waved to the soldiers and told them he had given them guns and they should not treat them like their mothers because he had no money to give them. Magolo turned and ran towards the garage.
The soldiers jumped over the fence and started loading goods on vehicles both inside and outside the compound.
sabuni defence
In his defence, Sabuni presented an alibi (evidence proving that he was elsewhere). The war was approaching the city and he fled Kampala on April 8, 1979 to join his family at a friend’s home in Mbale on April 9, 1979.
On April 10, he left with his family, bodyguard, a friend and his maid, Stella and proceeded to Kenya through Karamoja.
By April 11, he was in Kenya at a friend’s home in Mollo and that was where he learnt that the government had fallen.
Friends helped him meet Kenya’s director of Special Branch in Nakuru and later on April 12, to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees where he registered as a refugee.
He also gave names of the people he met and the offices he went to in the days that followed.
Five days later, when he and his wife returned to the director of immigrations, there were two gentlemen from the Kenyan Special Branch who asked them to go to their office.
There, Sabuni and his wife were arrested. On April 18, they were taken to Kakamega refugee camp, where the wife was released, but Sabuni was retained and taken to the General Service Unit cells.
He spent one and a half months there, before being taken to the Magistrate’s Court and charged with murder. He was thereafter sent back to Uganda.
Sabuni denied seeing Amin since March 1979, though they had spoken on phone on April 1, 1979, and that he last saw Sebbi in August 1978.
Sabuni’s maid, Stella, affirmed in her testimony that they travelled to Kenya on the said dates, but mixed up some dates and issues.
Judge rules
Justice B.B. Athana, who conducted the trial, dismissed the maid’s story saying most likely she did not travel with her bosses.
The judge, however, believed Sabuni’s testimony, calling it a tale of a perfectly coordinated exit from Uganda and eventual return to Uganda.
Sabuni’s friend from Kenya, Manyara, also testified that he took him to the different relevant offices there.
The judge dismissed the ATM guards’ testimonies, saying there were contradictions. Odongo had said Sabuni and Sebbi entered the factory with the soldiers, but in his statement to the Police, he said they remained in the vehicle.
He noted that according to Odongo, when the soldiers shot open the gate, Sabuni and Sebbi entered the Mill with the soldiers, which means when Magolo heard the gunshots, Sabuni was inside the compound.
But then Magolo testified that when he ran to the gate near the garage, he saw Sabuni, Sebbi and Amin standing outside by the roadside.
“Magolo could not have seen the accused and Sebbi at the gate when they were already inside the compound of the mill with Sebbi’s car.
If I believe Magolo, then it is impossible to believe Odongo and vice-versa… the inconsistency in Magolo and Odongo’s evidence is grave.â€
“The prosecution has not negated the alibi. In my judgment, prosecution has not proved their case beyond reasonable doubt. No doubt the robbery took place at ATM. It is doubtful if the accused did it,†he added.
And on, December 17, 1981, two years and eight months after his arrest in Kenya, Sabuni who joined the Uganda Army in 1968 as a cadet officer, walked away a free man.
Radio Uganda broadcast that the liberators had taken over the government while President Idi Amin on the Soroti-based Radio Uganda External Service, Dakabela, urged people to be calm.
He said he was in control and his troops were repulsing the enemy. Amin was encouraging his troops to press on and win the war.
Uncertainty hung in the air. People did not know whether to celebrate or cow away in the quiet confines of their homes.
They chose the latter. That was until the floodgates of looting opened, unleashing an orgy of plunder, led by demoralised soldiers.
It is against this background that the next case that came to the High Court in 1980 was set. The suspect was Amin’s industry and tourism minister, Brig. Dusman Sabuni. He was arrested in Kenya and deported to Uganda for trial over alleged robbery.
Uganda had been to war since 1977 when they invaded Tanzania. The latter retaliated by attacking Mutukula.
The government troops fought back and repulsed them to as far as Kagera inside Tanzania, destroying a sugar plantation and a sugar factory there.
The Tanzanian troops drove Amin’s soldiers back.They never stopped until the Kampala government fell.
Unsure of what was happening, Paddy Kabagambe, the General Manager of the government owned African Textile Mills (ATM) in Mbale decided the factory would not open until the situation normalised.
testimonies
The next day, however, he got a telephone call from the chief askari (guard), one Magolo, that the factory had been broken into and plundered by soldiers.
According to Magolo, he saw Brig. Sabuni, the factory’s former general manager Sebbi and President Idi Amin himself.
Another guard, John Odongo, who was manning the gate, said he saw many vehicles, including army Jeeps from the direction of Tirinyi, screeching to a halt at the factory between 9:00 and 0:00am.
In one of the vehicles, a Benz, smeared with mud, Odongo narrated, was Sabuni and Sebbi who called him and told him to open the gate.
He said he had no key and Sabuni ordered the soldiers to shoot the gate locks open, which they did. Several vehicles entered while others encircled the factory.
The soldiers also shot the locks to the factory doors, entered and started carrying out textiles, filling their vehicles.
According to Magolo, as he was checking on the guards on duty, he heard gunshots.
Frightened, he tried to escape through the workers’ gate but as he reached the factory shop, he saw many vehicles which included Pick-ups, Land Rovers and Jeeps.
In a panic, he turned around and moved alongside the factory in search of an escape, but again saw many soldiers, some of whom were jumping over the fence. He tried to hide and then saw Olam, one of the guards who was supposed to be at the main gate, also taking cover.
That was when Olam pointed out several people standing in commando fatigues outside the fence by the road.
They were Sabuni, Sebbi and the other was Amin who donned head gear. There were vehicles parked behind them.
Sabuni and Amin had guns and repeatedly fired in the air, Magolo testified.
Amin then waved to the soldiers and told them he had given them guns and they should not treat them like their mothers because he had no money to give them. Magolo turned and ran towards the garage.
The soldiers jumped over the fence and started loading goods on vehicles both inside and outside the compound.
sabuni defence
In his defence, Sabuni presented an alibi (evidence proving that he was elsewhere). The war was approaching the city and he fled Kampala on April 8, 1979 to join his family at a friend’s home in Mbale on April 9, 1979.
On April 10, he left with his family, bodyguard, a friend and his maid, Stella and proceeded to Kenya through Karamoja.
By April 11, he was in Kenya at a friend’s home in Mollo and that was where he learnt that the government had fallen.
Friends helped him meet Kenya’s director of Special Branch in Nakuru and later on April 12, to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees where he registered as a refugee.
He also gave names of the people he met and the offices he went to in the days that followed.
Five days later, when he and his wife returned to the director of immigrations, there were two gentlemen from the Kenyan Special Branch who asked them to go to their office.
There, Sabuni and his wife were arrested. On April 18, they were taken to Kakamega refugee camp, where the wife was released, but Sabuni was retained and taken to the General Service Unit cells.
He spent one and a half months there, before being taken to the Magistrate’s Court and charged with murder. He was thereafter sent back to Uganda.
Sabuni denied seeing Amin since March 1979, though they had spoken on phone on April 1, 1979, and that he last saw Sebbi in August 1978.
Sabuni’s maid, Stella, affirmed in her testimony that they travelled to Kenya on the said dates, but mixed up some dates and issues.
Judge rules
Justice B.B. Athana, who conducted the trial, dismissed the maid’s story saying most likely she did not travel with her bosses.
The judge, however, believed Sabuni’s testimony, calling it a tale of a perfectly coordinated exit from Uganda and eventual return to Uganda.
Sabuni’s friend from Kenya, Manyara, also testified that he took him to the different relevant offices there.
The judge dismissed the ATM guards’ testimonies, saying there were contradictions. Odongo had said Sabuni and Sebbi entered the factory with the soldiers, but in his statement to the Police, he said they remained in the vehicle.
He noted that according to Odongo, when the soldiers shot open the gate, Sabuni and Sebbi entered the Mill with the soldiers, which means when Magolo heard the gunshots, Sabuni was inside the compound.
But then Magolo testified that when he ran to the gate near the garage, he saw Sabuni, Sebbi and Amin standing outside by the roadside.
“Magolo could not have seen the accused and Sebbi at the gate when they were already inside the compound of the mill with Sebbi’s car.
If I believe Magolo, then it is impossible to believe Odongo and vice-versa… the inconsistency in Magolo and Odongo’s evidence is grave.â€
“The prosecution has not negated the alibi. In my judgment, prosecution has not proved their case beyond reasonable doubt. No doubt the robbery took place at ATM. It is doubtful if the accused did it,†he added.
And on, December 17, 1981, two years and eight months after his arrest in Kenya, Sabuni who joined the Uganda Army in 1968 as a cadet officer, walked away a free man.