Kampala, Uganda | URN | Fresh details emerging from the scene where assassins sprayed the vehicle of General Katumba Wamala with bullets on Tuesday 1, June 2021 morning show that the gunmen also shot an unidentified person in a nearby storied building.
Isaac Kawonawo, the Wakiso Deputy Resident District Commissioner (DPC) in Charge of Kiira Municipality told this publication at the scene that the assailants shot the unidentified man in the leg and he was rushed to hospital.
Although there is scanty information about the victim, Scene Of Crime Officers (SOCO), say that this person could have witnessed the shooting prompting one of the assailants to shoot him.
Moments after the shooting, several videos recordings from the nearby buildings went viral on social media, indicating that some residents could have recorded what transpired using their smartphones.
During the attack that occurred along Kisaasi-Kisota road, General Katumba’s daughter, Brenda Wamala Nantongo and driver, Haruna Kayondo were killed on the spot.
General Katumba sustained two gunshots in the shoulders and was rushed on Boda boda to Malcolm Clinic in Kisaasi for treatment before being transferred to Medipal International Hospital on John Babiiha Avenue near the Golf Course.
The trio was driving in the general’s UPDF vehicle registration number H4DF 2138 when they were intercepted by the gunmen riding on motorcycles.
Police have cordoned off most of the neighbouring buildings to gather information on the attackers.
General Katumba Wamala is not the first high-profile Ugandan official to be attacked by armed gunmen riding on motorcycles.
On March 17, 2017, in a successful assassination attempt unknown gunmen trailed and shot dead the former police spokesperson, Andrew Felix Kaweesi, his bodyguard, Kenneth Erau and driver, Godfrey Mambewa.
The trio was gunned down, a few meters from Kaweesi’s home in Kulambiro in Kisaasi, a Kampala suburb. Kaweesi’s assassination followed the nearly a carbon copy murder of former state prosecutor, Joan Kagezi in 2015 and Major Muhammad Kiggundu in 2016.
In June 2018, unidentified assailants also in another successful assassination gunned down Arua Municipality Member of Parliament, Ibrahim Abiriga in a similar manner.
Who is Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala
Gen Katumba has been serving as Minister of Works and Transport in the Ugandan cabinet, since 14 December 2019.
He previously served as the Chief of Defence Forces of Uganda, the highest military rank in the Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF), from 2013 until 2017.
He was the commander of land forces in the UPDF from 2005 to 2013. He also served as the Inspector General of Police (IGP) of the Uganda Police Force (UPF), the highest rank in that branch of Uganda’s government, from 2001 until 2005.
Gen. Katumba Wamala was the first active UPDF soldier to serve as the head of the UPF.
