On the fateful day, Ssegawa and his mother decided to close the shop and return home in Masajja Kikajjo because of the protests that erupted following the arrest of the National Unity Platform, presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu.
Wednesday, November 18th, 2020 started as a normal day for 15-year-old
Amos Ssegawa who had started working at his mother’s shop in Kisenyi, a Kampala
suburb a fortnight ago.
Ssegawa’s mother, Hajara Nakitto had asked him to work
with her at the shop because of the prolonged lockdown resulting from the
COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the government to close schools in March 2020.
Only
candidate classes have since resumed. On the fateful day, Ssegawa and
his mother decided to close the shop and return home in Masajja Kikajjo because
of the protests that erupted following the arrest of the National Unity
Platform-NUP, presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu.
The two escaped the chaotic scenes in Kisenyi and walked to
the Kafumbe Mukasa Road about. At Eso Corner towards Usafi Park where they were
headed to board a taxi, a UPDF truck with army officers came from Mengo Hill
road, recollects Nakitto.
Some of the officers had guns pointed at protestors, but Nakitto says she didn’t
realize the officers were shooting until one of the bullets hit her son. The
bullet, she says, went through Ssegawa’s mouth penetrating through a vein
connecting to the brain.
//Cue in: “Nali nva naye…
Cue out: …emimpi bwegyiti”//
She says that amidst the confusion, she managed to lift her
son to the nearby clinic with the help of Good Samaritans where he was immediately
pronounced dead. His body was laid to rest in Kinoni in Masaka district.
Ssegawa was a form two student of Lubigi High School Buloba Campus. His father
Meddie Ssemugenyi remembers him as a brilliant child with a visionary future.
He loved computers and phones and learnt to fix minor glitches reported to him,
said his father. He was the mechanic of the home.
Ssegawa loved and played soccer as well as swimming. Ssemugenyi
and his wife now remain with one child, a 12-year-old. He says the people who
snatched Ssegawa from them should be brought to book.
He wishes that security
stops using excessive force while quelling protests. He thinks security reacted with a lot of force to put down a
protest by unarmed Ugandans.
//Cue in: “Naye nze nga…
Cue out: …kirala nnyo nnyo”//
Juliet Logose, a Human Rights Officer at the Uganda Human Rights
Commission Central Region office, says they have taken up the case for
investigations and action.
