Family of missing fisherman tasks army to produce him

A fisherman’s wife in Malembo, Kyesiiga Sub County in Masaka District is demanding that the army produce her husband Julius Bukenya alias Nyerere, 30, who was allegedly abducted from their home by men wearing army uniform on September 5 this year. 
Ms Sulaina Natukunda says her husband was kidnapped in the evening upon his return from a fishing trip. 

“I had just given birth and my husband had returned from the landing site to check on me, when a drone came, picked him and whisked him away,” Ms Natukunda said.

Ms Natukunda says that the kidnappers left her a number to call, promising that it would lead her to her husband but the number was fake. 

She says she reported the matter at Kyesiiga Police post but the officers told her they could not help her since the kidnappers were in army uniform.

Natukunda adds that the officers told her to “Just go and sit at home because the matter is now in the hands of the government.” 

Natukunda insists that her husband who has lived at Malembo landing site since childhood is in no way connected to bomb making.  

She is now appealing to the security operatives to return her husband because she has three children and he is the family’s breadwinner. 

Ms Reginah Nakaggwa, a neighbour to the missing fisherman disputes the kidnappers’ claim that they tracked his phone yet she gifted him the phone from her brother’s shop in Kyesiiga.

Eyewitnesses say that they tried to run after the alleged abductors’ vehicle in vain.
According to Emmanuel Nsamba, the defence secretary for Malembo village, Bukenya has been a model resident who never left the landing site, thus he wonders where the bomb making allegations are coming from.

Mr Jamil Kivumbi, a human rights activist in Bukoto Central, Masaka says that a campaign has kicked off to find Bukenya.

“We ask the security agencies that abducted Bukenya to arraign him before the courts of law [so that he can] be charged with the offences levelled against him other than hiding him from his family members,” Mr Kivumbi said. 

The Greater Masaka regional police spokesperson Twaha Kasirye declined to comment on the matter and referred this reporter to his superiors in Kampala.

However, when contacted the army spokesperson Brig. General Felix Kulayigye, said that he was not aware of the abduction claims and blamed the delay by the family  to report the matter to Police.

“As the army, we are not aware of what happened, let them check with other security agencies but he is not in our custody,” Kulayigye said.