Uganda: Police Shoot Makobore High School Student Dead
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Rukungiri/Mbarara — A demonstration by students of Makobore High School in Rukungiri District over food rations took a tragic twist on Sunday after police shot dead 18-year-old Mark Mugyenyi, a Senior Four candidate.
Police said Mugyenyi sustained injuries in his abdomen as a result of bullets fired at him by two Special Police Constables (SPCs); Warren Butusi and Bernard Banyenzaki. Mugyenyi was rushed to the nearby Nyakibare Hospital, where he later died yesterday morning.
According to the headmaster, Mr Sephats Turyabahika, the two SPCs, had deployed at the school to guard the home of a teacher, Mr Geoffrey Mugisha, who also doubles as the Mess Master. Separate accounts indicate that Mr Mugisha’s troubles with the Senior Four students started when he caned their classmate who attempted to get double his daily lunch ration.
Refusing to take beating on the chin, the student mobilised his colleagues who ganged around their teacher, asking him to apologise to them for the humiliation and also tell the cooks to give them more food.
The Senior Four class at Makobore has 80 students.
Mr Turyabahika said Mr Mugisha declined to apologise or issue the order to the cooks, prompting the students to try and attack him. “When we realised danger, we asked for Police protection and withdrew our usual guards,” he said. But even the presence of the SPCs did not, according to Mr Turyabahika, stop the angry students from raiding their teacher’s home, saying they wanted to discipline him.
Students who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being reprimanded by the school authorities, said the Police fired several bullets, some of which caught Mugyenyi in the abdomen. Mr Turyabahika quoted the guards saying the students were trying to disarm them. He added that after the first shots, the students continued to descend on the two Policemen shouting, “their bullets are about to get finished”.
Daily Monitor was unable to get comprehensive, independent accounts from Senior Four students who participated in the riot but one of the students, who said he witnessed the fracas, said some aspects of the headmaster’s account were false.
The Police spokesperson for western region, Ms Polly Namaye, apologised for the shooting and said the two SPCs had already been arrested. She said investigations were ongoing to get the true account of what happened but warned students against acts of hooliganism.
