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One arrested after govt official murdered in Fort Portal
Police officers cordon off the scene where the body of one Paul Bahizi Rutabagisha was recovered near Kabarole main mosque in Fort Portal City on November 26, 2022. PHOTO/ ALEX ASHABA
What you need to know:
- Mr Bahizi’s slaying places at three- the number of murder victims discovered by police in metropolitan Fort Portal City within a week.
- Victims include a 23-year-old Mountains of the Moon University Student, Sarah Ahaisibwe- and another of a yet to be identified man in his 20s.
Police in Fort Portal have “arrested one suspect to aid investigations into the murder of a third person in the city in a week.”
Locals Saturday morning found Mr Paul Bahizi Rutabagisha’s body dumped near Kabarole Main Mosque in Fort Portal with new details now showing that the deceased was a Kagadi District resident and the area’s assistant environmental health officer.
Bahizi’s last moments
Neighbouring Kyegegwa District health worker Mr Timothy Mugweri disclosed that he was shocked to learn of the incident falling soon after he and the deceased had attended a November 21-25 workshop in a distant Masaka City.
“We were with him at Maria Flo hotel for a training as we were revising the school healthy policy. On Friday after the training, together with him and other colleagues- we hired a taxi heading to Mbarara City at 5:30pm because we had other colleagues from Southwestern Uganda,” he told Monitor on November 26.
In Mbarara, Mr Mugweri explains that they parted ways with their fellows as they were destined for Fort Portal where they arrived towards midnight by taxi on Friday.
The taxi parked the Fort Portal team at Total fuel station near Voice of Tooro FM with the deaceased stepping out of the vehivle first and paying his fare to the driver, according to Mr Mugweri’s account.
“We had another colleague from Ntoroko District, ADHO Mustafa Bagonza. After paying, we left him at Total as we wanted where to sleep because I had to prepare for lecturers on Saturday at Mountains of the Moon University,” he narrated.
He added: “At around 3pm after lecturing on Saturday, I received a call from the Kabale District Health Officer that Mr Bahizi was murdered. I didn’t know.”
By Saturday evening, police in Fort Portal were probing how the deceased government official was found with a Shs750, 000 Total fuel receipt while his fuel card was also discovered by authorities at the same fueling station.
Meanwhile, Mr Mugweri further described the deceased as his “mentor and a well-known man in the environmental health department.”
Monitor has established that Mr Bahizi previously worked in Ibanda and Kyegegwa districts before he was transferred to Kagadi recently.
Mr Bahizi’s slaying places at three- the number of murder victims discovered by police in metropolitan Fort Portal City within a week.
Victims include a 23-year-old Mountains of the Moon University Student, Sarah Ahaisibwe- and another of a yet to be identified man in his 20s.
“We have insecurity. It's like police abandoned its work and joined politics instead,” Fort Portal City resident Mr Thomas Kakuru observed on Saturday.
The Rwenzori West Region police spokesperson, Vincent Twesige, told Monitor that Mr Bahizi’s remains had been conveyed to Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital mortuary for postmortem pending burial.
