FORT PORTAL: Police in Kagadi together with detectives in Fort Portal City have arrested one suspect to aid in investigations of the brutal murder of Kagadi assistant district health officer Dr Paul Bahizi.
Dr Bahizi’s body was Saturday morning found dumped near Kabarole Main Mosque in Fort Portal, police said in a statement.
‘’We received information on Saturday, November 26, 2022, morning that Bahizi, who has also been district disease surveillance officer, was murdered by unknown thugs and his body dumped near Ghaddafi Mosque in Fort-Portal city,” said Kagadi acting district Police commander Kenneth Bakashaba.
Kagadi DHO Dr Theodore Kajumba said his assistant Dr Bahizi, 50, was murdered after fueling his vehicle in Fort-portal at midnight on Saturday as he was returning from the workshop in Masaka district.
“The body was taken to Fort-Portal mortuary for a post-mortem and later brought to his home in Burora where he will be buried,” Kajumba said.
Rwenzori West region Police spokesperson Vincent Twesigye said the body of the deceased was found lying in a pool of blood with bruises on the face and other body parts.
‘’It seems the deceased was hit by hard sharp materials. We are still investigating the matter, but the thugs could have targeted the deceased for his money as he fueled his vehicle. All his belongings were stolen,” Twesigye said.
Dr 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,” Mr Mugweri said on Saturday.
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 deceased 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.”
Brief Profile
Bahizi, born in Nyamigisa village, Burora sub-county in Kagadi, has been working in the district for over 10 years and has been at the helm of successfully fighting COVID-19 and the Ebola outbreak in Kagadi.
Mr Bahizi previously worked in Ibanda and Kyegegwa districts before he was transferred to Kagadi recently.
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