Police officers gather at the cave-like hole at Kabanga Village, Mpigi District where four metallic suitcases full of human skulls were recovered by police on July 28, 2024. PHOTO | BRIAN A KESIIME
The discovery of huge number of human skulls in shrines across the country shows how widespread the use of the body part is in ritualistic practices.
Surprisingly, no one admits to using the craniums in their rituals.
Even the traditional healers or their clients found with them disown the grim body parts.
To check this, a tough new law on Prevention and Prohibition of Human Sacrifice Act, 2021, was enacted.
The law seeks to curb the rise of ritual killings and related crimes in the country and metes out harsh penalties, including life imprisonment, to offenders.
Despite the robust law against human sacrifice and illegal possession of human parts, the crimes continue to grow.
John Magombe, 50, was among the first offenders to be found in possession of human body parts and convicted under the new law.
On February 3, 2023, the police crime intelligence officers raided a shrine owned by Magombe at Kazinga, Masajja-Kibira B Village in Makindye-Ssabagabo Division, Wakiso District.
What the operatives’ suspected in the shrine is what they found; three human skulls, human remains and suspected human blood in bottles.
Magombe was immediately arrested and quickly produced in court and was charged with being in possession of human body parts, contrary to the Prevention and Prohibition of Human Sacrifice Act, 2021.
Seeing no room for escaping justice due to the overwhelming evidence, Magombe pleaded guilty as charged.
On June 10, he was sentenced to seven years in jail.
Magombe is among the first offenders to be found in possession of human body parts and convicted under the new law of Prevention and Prohibition of Human Sacrifice Act, 2021.
More shrines, more skulls
Barely two months after Magombe’s conviction and sentencing, police discovered 17 human skulls in another shrine in Mpigi Township, Mpigi District.
Tabula Lujja, who is accused of having a hand in the killing of a Buganda clan leader, Daniel Bbosa, early this year, is claimed to own the shrine.
Another search by a security agency of a shrine owned by another healer in Kampala City unearthed more 25 skulls and other human bones.
Mr John Walyabira, the leader of the National Traditional Healers and Herbalist Association, says use of human parts by people he describes as fake traditional healers is now rampant.
“The situation isn’t good at all across different parts of the country. Many fake traditional healers have invaded our profession. And are the ones behind this unprofessional practice of using human body parts,” Mr Walyabira said.
Spike in ritual sacrifice
Police statistics also show a spike in cases related to ritual sacrifices despite the new law.
The police 2023 crime report show that ritual killings nearly doubled from 46 cases in 2021 to 84 cases in 2023 and increased at around 17 percent per year.
In many of the ritual killings, the suspects are often interested in the head, human blood and the private parts of their victims.
The skulls are often buried below the shrine's floor, while the human blood is kept in bottles or pots and other human bones stored in traditional baskets.
Case of Muhamad Wamala
These practices are secretly passed onto inductees like in the 2017 murder case, in which a skull of a child and five bodies, including one of a police Corporal Harriet Nabitaka, were found in a shrine in Kisoga village, Kayunga District.
Employees of Muhamad Wamala, who claimed to be a traditional healer behind the ritual murders, narrated in Mukono High Court how he trained them and others in carrying out human sacrifices to appease the spirits.
According to court papers, Wamala was an expert and teacher in human sacrifice. Some of Wamala’s employees were convicted alongside him in the murder of Zalaika Nansamba by ritual sacrifice.
Mr Muwanga Mutyaba, the head of traditional healers in Luweero District where such crimes are high, said in their traditional healing practice, sacrifice of human beings isn’t allowed and those who do it are fake.
“In our culture, a traditional healer isn’t supposed to view a dead body and graveyards because we consider burial places sacred to the spirits,” Mr Mutyaba told this publication.
However, Mr Mutyaba said through his interaction with people arrested for practicing witchcraft, they tell him of their beliefs that human sacrifice is the means of appeasing the spirits.
“When we arrest those using human body parts in healing, they tell us that they want to get wealth, blessings and good luck,” he said.
Case of Charles Kato
On September 4, 2017, Charles Kato, a mechanic in Matugga, allegedly strangulated Maria Nabilanda and dumped her body near a swamp in Nyanama off Entebbe Road in Rubaga Division, Kampala City.
Kato dashed to a shrine in Ssakabusolo, Nakaseke District to be cleansed of the spirit of the dead and also stop the police from pursuing the case.
Mr Frank Mwesigwa, the then Kampala Metropolitan Police commander, and now the Director of Police Operations, said Kato told Biiso Bisaso, a traditional healer, he needed him to use his spirits to knock the police off the case.
“When Kato told him that he had killed his girlfriend and needed herbs to stop the police from tracking him, Kato didn’t know that he had landed on one who didn’t believe in helping criminals,” Mr Mwesigwa said.
Bisaso alerted the police who went to the shrine and arrested Kato.
Case of Kato Kajubi
The alleged killers of Senior State Attorney Joan Kagezi also visited the shrine with the belief the spirits would cleanse their sins and hold back the authorities from tracking them down. Unfortunately, they were unable to save themselves.
Even businessman, Kato Kajubi, who was convicted of the murder of Joseph Kasirye, a 12-year-old boy, and mutilating his head and private parts for ritual practices on October 27, 2008, was re-arrested in a shrine in Lweza, Entebbe Road in December 2011.
He had visited the shrine for spiritual healing after his disappearance before his retrial in the murder case. He was later convicted of murder but has since declined to reveal where he hid Kasirye’s head.
The Kasirye murder and the trial was one that jolted the country to legislate against human sacrifice in 2021.
The police reports show that crimes committed against people suspected to be in possession of witchcraft are among the major causes of mob action, murders and destruction of property in Uganda.
In 2023, police investigated 18 cases of murder by mob action against people suspected of having used witchcraft.
Counter measures by govt
With crime related to traditional healing practitioners and their clients on the rise, the government has turned to their leaders for help.
Security agencies created an anti-Human sacrifice committee led by leaders of formal traditional healers’ associations. The committee, which is well funded by the government, hunts those dealing in use of human skulls and body parts in their treatment practices.
Mr Walyabira said they have arrested several people carrying out unprofessional practices including Godfrey Ddamulira, who allegedly had 25 human skulls in his shrine at Kitaka Zone, Busega Parish, Rubaga Division in Kampala City last month.
Several suspects claim that they buy the skulls from people and can’t tell the source.
Although the police couldn’t readily share data of all cases, they suspect that many of the skulls recovered could be victims of human sacrifice or ritual murders.
Leaders of traditional healers also don’t rule out that many human skulls and parts were stolen from graveyards and traded with those who want to use them.
Cases of desecration of burial grounds are widespread in the districts in Buganda, Bunyoro and Busoga, where such practices are pronounced.
