Police probe source of Aine-like photo

The Police have launched investigations into the source of a picture of a body resembling presidential candidate Amama Mbabazi's head of private guards, Christopher Aine, which went viral on social media on Thursday.

Aine went missing after the December 13, 2015 scuffle in Ntungamo, where Mbabazi's supporters allegedly beat up a rival group of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party supporters.

The Police chief, Gen. Kale Kayihura, said Aine was a wanted man and put a sh20m bounty for his arrest.

"Some suspects have been apprehended, charged in court and remanded in prison. Other key suspects are still on the run. In particular, Aine, who is the ringleader of the so-called Mbabazi's ‘security detail', is still on the run or in hiding," Kayihura told journalists on the New Year's eve.

Yesterday, social media was awash with a picture of a body alleged to be of Aine's that appeared in a local tabloid allegedly taken from Mulago Hospital Mortuary.

"A team of detectives attached to the Special Investigations Division have begun investigating the source of the picture have started," Police spokesperson Fred Enanga said.

Enanga was responding to Aine's relatives and friends who had earlier spent over 30 minutes trying to ascertain whether the body of their missing relative was at the hospital mortuary, in vain.

"We waited for close to 30 minutes before they allowed us in the mortuary. Security asked us to wait for government forensic analysts before we could access the mortuary," Ritah Aine Babirye, Aine's twin sister, said.

"This is worrying and indeed the Police should be able to find him alive or dead. Uganda is a small country," she said.

The family argued that the picture of the body on social media bore resemblance to Aine's.
"The scars on the forehead and chin are marks Aine sustained after he survived an accident in Kashaka years ago," Michael Mubiru, Aine's brother, said.

Another family member Moses Musasize, also shared the same view, arguing: "The gap between the teeth resembled that of Aine." However, the Police's head of surgeons, Dr. Moses Byaruhanga, told the press that they were neither in possession of Aine, nor aware of the whereabouts of the alleged body that appeared in the media.

Who is Aine?
According to Babirye, Aine was born in the family of six to the late Lt. Col. Julius Aine and Jennipher Namuleme in Kashaka, Mbarara district.

Aine went to Bat Valley, Molly and Paul, Jinja Army and Nganwa Junior in Bushenyi for his primary school education.

He attended his secondary school at Lake Mburo Academy in Mbarara district before joining Makerere University, where he is said to have dropped out in 2003 and joined the Uganda People's Defence Forces. It is not clear when he left the army.

In September last year, Aine was charged before Jinja Grade 1 magistrate, Immaculate Nyamwenge, with assault, resisting arrest, obstructing Police officers on duty and escaping from safe custody.

This followed a scuffle in which he allegedly assaulted Edgar Nyabongo and James Katushabe as they tried to block Mbabazi's rally in Jinja town.

At least 26 of Mbabazi's private guards and supporters were arrested from various places across the country, following the Ntungamo scuffle.

Last week, Mbabazi demanded that all those arrested be produced in court "to face charges if they have cases to answer".

Yesterday, human rights activists called for state intervention in the alleged disappearance of Aine.

Speaking at a press briefing, John Mary Odoi, the board chairman of Human Rights Network Uganda, said investigations into the matter should be made public.