Election violence claimed his life

Sep 11, 2012

As he sat at a nearby restaurant waiting for the election results to trickle in, Livingstone Ntale did not know that danger was lurking. He was later attacked and beaten by goons. He died a few days later.

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Crime, Suspense, Intrigue


As he sat at a nearby restaurant waiting for the election results to trickle in, Livingstone Ntale did not know that danger was lurking. He was later attacked and beaten by goons. He died a few days later. Charles Etukuri and Charles Okalebo bring you the mystery surrounding his death 

Ntale telephoned his wife Damali Mirembe at around 7:00pm on February 18, 2011, telling her he was on his way home. 
“It was common for him to call and ask how I was doing before he could come home. In case he was staying out late, he would inform me,” says Mirembe.

It had been a hectic day for the 53-year-old, and when he arrived at home at around 8:45pm, he was a tired man. 
Ntale was the LC1 chairperson of Magamaga trading centre in Wairasa sub-county, Mayuge district. On the fateful day, the country was holding its presidential and parliamentary elections. And being a man who loved politics and supported his favourite candidate Yoweri Museveni, he was appointed a polling agent.

“He left home so early because polling agents were expected to be at the polling station early enough to witness the opening of the ballot boxes, so that there was no rigging,” says his wife. Ntale remained at the polling station the whole day, witnessing the voting exercise. When the voting ended in the evening, he remained behind, together with the others, to witness the vote counting.

At around 8:00pm, the returning officer announced the results and after brief celebrations at the polling station where his candidate had won, he decided to retire home.

“He came back tired,” recalls his widow.
Just as he was settling down, he received a call from one of his friends and the then Gombolola Internal Security Officer (GISO) of Baitambogwe/ Wairasa sub-counties, Sam Mugabi, asking him to take declaration forms to a nearby pub at the trading centre. The GISO was compiling data for his bosses and urgently wanted information from Ntale.

“I begged him to at least first take a shower or eat something because supper was ready, but he told me he was not going to take long,” Mirembe recalls. 

Ntale left his home as it approached 9:00pm. After handing over the forms, he (Ntale) requested to leave, but Mugabi asked him to hold on. Mugabi insisted that he keeps around as Museveni’s results were being gathered from different parts of the sub-county.

Plotting the attack
Unknown to the two, as they settled down for some drinks, somebody from their opponent’s camp had been trailing them.
Apart from the heated presidential race, Ntale was also a returning officer of one of the parliamentary candidates in the race for Bunya West constituency. The race attracted two candidates; Vincent Bagiire Waiswa, also popularly known as Obama, and the then incumbent MP Aggrey Bagiire.

Sources in the Police who handled the case believe that it was when the two were in the restaurant that the person trailing them made a call informing his camp that the two were in a bar trying to doctor poll results. Whereas the Police have to date failed to trace the person who made the call, at around 9:30pm, a double cabin pick-up known to belong to one of the parliamentary aspirants arrived carrying hooligans and parked outside the restaurant. The men linked to the aspirant jumped out of the car. They immediately asked what the two were doing in the bar at that time.  

“I had just finished serving them drinks and I was seated in the bar when about eight men entered with sticks and knives and quickly surrounded the duo,” recalls a waiter.

“At first, the two did not reply. It was until the ringleader threatened to smash them that Ntale said they were gathering President Museveni’s results,” he adds.

“You are rigging,” another one shouted back. “Let us teach them a lesson,” another added. Within a short time, the goons pounced on Ntale and started beating him. They dragged him out as another group ransacked through the declaration forms.
They then forced him to drink molasses and also made him take a concoction they had carried. Convinced they had taught him a lesson, they pounced on the GISO, threw him onto the car and drove him to the Police station on accusations that he had been caught rigging. “They left Ntale groaning in pain,” the waiter says.

Ntale managed to crawl to a nearby bush on Magamaga hill from where his rescuers — his Secretary Meddie Kigenyi and Patrick Mukova, the LC2 chairperson — picked him. 

“We were at the trading centre when someone came running and told us that Ntale was being beaten to death. We rushed to the scene, but it was too late. The assailants had driven off,” says Kigenyi.

“It was dark. We located him by calling his number, and when the phone rang, there he was by the roadside, lying in a pool of blood,” he adds. They first rushed him to a nearby clinic, where he was admitted. But the injuries that his assailants had inflicted on him were grievous. As his condition worsened, the family hired a car and took him to Jinja Hospital. 

Mirembe later received a shocking call from her co-wife Robinah Ntale that their husband had been severely beaten and was in critical condition.

“His eyes and other body parts were injured and he was forced to drink molasses (Salaala), which could have harmed his internal organs, leading to his eventual death,” Mirembe says.

“When they called me that night telling me that my father had been beaten, I dashed home the next morning only to find him in critical condition,” says his daughter Sylvia Sanyu, who stays in Bweyogerere.

At the hospital
Doctors recommended a scan to ascertain the cause of the stomach pain that the deceased kept on complaining about. The results did not reveal anything and his condition did not improve. The family then decided to transfer Ntale to Mengo Hospital for specialised treatment, but eight days later, he died.

The family disputes the post-mortem that claims the deceased died of natural causes. Mirembe contends that her husband had not complained of any ailment until the election day when he was beaten in election-related violence. 
She adds that the beating and concoctions he was forced to drink could have compromised his health, leading to his death.
 

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