Fruit seller was hit while entering store

By GILLIAN NANTUME

TWAHIR NDUGWA  He was a passion fruit seller outside St Balikuddembe market. He rented a small part of the pavement outside the market, on Kafumbe Mukasa Road, where he shared the space with his mother, an avocado seller.His mother, Aisha Nantume, says he was 21-years- old and lived in Kakajjo Zone, Kisenyi Parish, with his wife. On the first day of the riots, at about 10am, mother and son were sitting on their section of the pavement when they noticed a long line of Military Police and anti-riot police coming down Kafumbe Mukasa Road.“I told him I was scared, but he laughed at me, saying I had grown old if soldiers walking in a line of soldiers could scare me. I insisted that we should park our merchandise and take it to the store. I had a bad feeling. At 10.30 am, I boarded a taxi to return to my home in Ggaba, while he crossed the road to enter Kiganda Zone in Kisenyi, on his way to Kakajjo.As Ndugwa turned into Kakajjo zone, soldiers opened fire and people scampered for safety. Ndugwa ran towards a produce store at the entrance of Kakajjo zone. The store owner says he was hit as he was entering the store. Bullets were fired into the neighbouring store, injuring two people.“I was told Ndugwa died on the spot. When his wife came running out, she fell on his body, wailing. She asked the soldiers why they had killed him instead of beating him with a stick. She told me, one of them cocked his gun and told his colleague he was going to shoot her as well. His colleague pulled him away,” Ms Nantume narrates. Advertisement

Ndugwa was buried in Kabale Muguluka, Masaka District. Nantume says no government official has approached her to help her find justice.