Katanga death: Why it has gripped nation

It all started during the morning of November 2 when a single gunshot rang out, ending what was reportedly a heated dispute between Henry and his wife of 30 years—Molly Katanga. 

Conspiracy theories were in overdrive when Brig Freddie Karara Machwa and Barnabas Taremwa Bwaniaga, who claim to be close relatives of Henry, asked the High Court to inquire into the fatal November 2 shooting. Henry was said to have wide-ranging acquaintances and influence in both business and security circles.  

The ODPP in a statement this week revealed that it “has sanctioned the charge of murder against Molly Katanga in respect to the death of Henry Katanga, her husband.” Ms Jacquelyn Okui, the ODPP publicist, also revealed in the aforesaid statement that the state has sanctioned the charge of destroying evidence against Molly’s daughters, Patricia Kakwanza and Martha Nkwazi Katanga. 

Ditto George Amanyire, domestic help at the palatial house in Mbuya where the shooting took place, and Charles Otai, a 31-year-old nursing officer. The duo is accused of trying to aid the key suspects to escape charges. 

Veil of secrecy
Barnabas Bwaniaga Taremwa, who says he was a brother-in-law of Henry, swore an affidavit that spotlights the contradictory versions of the November 2 fatal shooting. One push by those close to Molly, Taremwa said, was that Henry had committed suicide. Conversely, those who were close to Henry concluded that he had been murdered in cold blood.

In the application which was drawn by lawyers Frank Kanduho and Paul Kuteesa, Taremwa said they broke the silence because of the opaqueness that shrouded the investigations in the murder. Taremwa describes Henry as a calm, cool, collected, and composed person who couldn’t engage in domestic brawls with his wife or any member of his family. 

“Henry loved peace and tranquillity all the years of his life: he was thus not the type that is a subject of such a gruesome death; moreover, from within the confines of his marital home,” Taremwa said.  

Considering that Henry lived with Siima Katanga, his 12-year-old son, Taremwa said, it would be natural that he should give an eyewitness account of what transpired on the morning of November 2. Strangely, Taremwa added, Siima’s whereabouts weren’t known.  

“More strangely, the said Siima Katanga was never to stay at the vigil of his late father’s home in Mbuya and neither was he made available to attend the burial of his later father,”  Taremwa said. 

In rebuttal, Arthur Katanga, the couple’s son, filed an affidavit that was drawn by one of the biggest law firms in the country, Kampala  Associated Advocates (KAA). Arthur, who described the application as one full of innuendos, falsehoods, and misstatements, proceeded to note that Taremwa’s claims that he was a close relative of Henry were exaggerated.  

Taremwa, according to Arthur, has spearheaded a smear campaign against his family in the media as well as directly interfered with the investigations into his father’s death.   

“My father’s tragic and painful death is currently the subject of a police investigation and the police have even taken over the premises of my parents and have the keys to the house from where they remove items that they deem relevant to the investigation,” Arthur disclosed.

Money withdrawn  
On his part, Taremwa says there are a lot of unexplained issues. He specifically cites the presence of Otai in Mbuya on November 2. The nursing officer’s presence at what was essentially a crime scene is described as being “inexcusable and unexplainable.” 

“The persons responsible for the decision to abandon the body of the late  Henry Katanga lying on the floor of his bedroom and instead prioritise the whisking away of his wife into an intensive care  unit ( ICU) at International Hospital Kampala (IHK) – Muyenga under the constant guardianship of  Geoffrey Kamuntu [President Museveni’s former son-in-law] is a matter of great concern,” Taremwa notes in the application, adding that the decision by Nkwazi to first withdraw money, in the aftermath of her father’s death, from Stanbic Bank’s Forest Mall branch merited an investigation as it “far outweighed her duty of care to father thereby calling for an inquest.” 

In his affidavit, Arthur says on November 2, his mother was admitted to IHK where she underwent emergency surgery to save her life. The affidavit further offers that Molly had three surgeries and has since been examined by the police surgeon himself as part of a police investigation. The allegations by Taremwa that Molly was whisked away to be booked into a hospital and did it by jumping over her husband’s dead body, Arthur says, “are false, painful and seek to make light of our sad situation.”

On November 16, Arthur said they requested and obtained from IHK hospital reports of Molly’s condition. Per Arthur, X-rays from the hospital “show the state that [Molly’s] head was in when she was taken to the hospital completely smashed up. They show the state of her head after the stitches were put on. They show the X-rays of her hands. They show the transition of her finger and how they tried to save it by holding it with metals and they finally show its amputation.”  

Arthur says attaching photos adding that on November 2, the police pathologist carried out a post-mortem of his father and assured “our family that we were entitled to a copy of the same but despite our requests for a copy of the post-mortem report, we were informed by the pathologist that we couldn’t get a copy of the report.”  

Suicide narrative   
In another twist, though, Taremwa dragged in Col Naboth Mwesigwa. The man, who is known by the alias Naboth Rwabwera, is accused of propagating the narrative that Henry had committed suicide. 

“He emphatically absolved Ms Katanga from any incident of adverse conduct notwithstanding that no preliminary findings had come into his possession on the basis of which he could exonerate one party and or implicate another,” he said.  

Other people who propagated the narrative of suicide, according to Taremwa, are President Museveni’s former son-in-law Geoffrey Kamuntu and his sister Harriet Mucunguzi. Per Taremwa, neither of them were eyewitnesses of the events of November 2.  

“In particular, Geoffrey Kamuntu has been the gateman to the ICU facility where Molly Katanga lodges to date,” Taremwa disclosed, adding that the “suspicious power blackout” the day Henry met his death yet his neighbours had stable power that day ought to be investigated.    

Taremwa also wants “the true identity of the weevil that ate into the CCTV cameras in and around late Henry Katanga’s home/house the night he died” probed. Ditto “the identity of the person(s) behind the decision to hurriedly bury late Katanga without care to await the wellness of his spouse, Molly Katanga, and or the presence of his last-born son, Siima Katanga, moreover in utter contravention of an order of court attracts an inquiry.” 

Taremwa also wanted to know the personal identity of the person who first made it known to the public that Henry was dead and the identity of the persons who made telephone calls to Tricia and Rwabwera, as the first persons to appear at the scene of the crime. 

“… when Molly Katanga  was allegedly in a comatose state as well as the true identity of the persons  who erased every trace of blood off every corner of late Henry Katanga’s bedroom and what motivated such action  do call for an inquest,” he said.       

He said, she said
In his affidavit,  Arthur says Taremwa and Karara could have corrupted the police since they not only state the cause of death and the position of the bullet but also specifically list the doctors who carried out the post-mortem.  This, Arthur reasons, clearly shows that Taremwa procured a copy of his father’s post-mortem report from certain criminal elements in the police force. 

“I know that Mr Taremwa through proxies, including his daughter, purportedly acting on behalf of my grandmother and through other lawyers he instructed and hired caused to be published pictures of my father’s dead body first in court documents in the family division,” Arthur says, adding that the pictures could only have been taken by a police scene of crime officers (SOCO) and handed over to Taremwa by the same elements of the Uganda Police Force.  

Arthur proceeded to note that the contents in Taremwa’s application could only have been procured contrary to the law. He said thus: “I have now seen in his affidavit Mr Taremwa talks about matters that can only be in police forensics reports. I have no knowledge as to the truth or accuracy of his averments except that I know he is not a police officer assigned to CID [Criminal Investigations Directorate] with rights to the house where the death occurred.” 

When the ODPP prosecution preferred charges on Tuesday, Kanduho told Saturday Monitor that he would withdraw the civil case that sought an inquest into Henry’s murder. 

“We shall withdraw the case because we have got what we wanted and you can’t proceed with the inquest when the DPP has instituted charges,” Kanduho said.   

Shades of Nsenga murder?
Observers say the case will be a stress test for state actors in more ways than one. It also draws parallels with a similar case. In 2013, Richard Buteera, then the Director of Public Prosecution, rejected advice from the police to charge Jaqueline Uwera Nsenga with rash and negligent act after she knocked dead Juvenal Nsenga, her husband, at their home in Bugoloobi. 

Buteera, a relative of Juvenal, charged Uwera, a relative of Gen Kale Kayihura, then the Inspector General of Police, with murder—a charge which was upheld by the High Court and Court of Appeal.  

During the court proceedings, things got bizarre when Geoffrey Musana, then deputy director of Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Directorate (CIID), set a precedent and testified against the state that pays him. 

“We wanted to charge the accused with causing the death by a rash and negligent act because she acted carelessly and negligently but when we forwarded the file for legal advice, he said we charge with murder,” Musana told court presided over by Justice Duncan Gaswaga. 

Sub Editor: Eva Kyomugisha