BUGIRI, UGANDA: Police in Busoga East Region have arrested three individuals in connection to the kidnap and murder of Bugiri District Inspector of Schools, Mr David Tenywa Kazungu.
Mr Tenywa, 54, a brother to Dr Waiswa Kazungu of Mulago Hospital and Makerere University, and State House official Justine Kazungu reportedly went missing from his farm in Bugiri District on Saturday before his lifeless body was found dumped in an incomplete pit-latrine on Tuesday morning.
According to the Busoga East Police Spokesperson, Ms Diana Nandaula, the three suspects have so far been arrested to aid with investigations.
“The trio aren’t prime suspects, but will help us in our investigations,” Ms Nandaula said on Tuesday evening.
The trio include a sister to the two men who were workers at Kazungu’s farm in Nandereba village, Kapyanga Sub-county in Bugiri district who are suspected to have kidnapped him and ask for a sh20m ransom from the family.
A family source speaking on condition of anonymity said they started receiving phone calls from suspected kidnappers when the deceased went missing on Saturday evening, with the perpetrators initially asking for shs50m before cutting it to sh20m by Sunday evening.
“The kidnappers first rang asking for Shs50m, before reducing it to Shs20m; then by Monday evening, they were demanding Shs5m after which they asked, you mean you have no money to give us? It was at this moment that the kidnappers reportedly directed the family to the incomplete pit-latrine where his body was found,” the source said.
Throughout the ordeal, the kidnappers communicated with Ms Sheila Kazungu, the daughter of the deceased using the victim’s phone according to the source.
Mr Sam Katambala, 43, the deceased’s brother who was regularly with Ms Kazungu and occasionally eavesdropped on the conversation his niece had with the kidnappers, said the family has “positively matched” the ransom-seeking calls to two shamba boys.
“They are people we have lived with, who kept telling us stories of their school days; so there is no way we could fail to identify them from their voices,” he said, adding that Ms Kazungu was the only person speaking with the kidnappers.
“At one moment, she told the kidnappers that MTN’s network was down and they provided an Airtel line which is not registered to either of them. They initially sent Short Message Service (SMS) texts, but later resorted to calling. I kept hearing them say in Lusoga: ‘Send us the money!” Mr Katambala said.
Mr Katambala said the deceased left home on Saturday morning, saying he was going to his farm; however, it was not until people noticed his car conspicuously parked in the same spot for three days, that they realised something was not right.
The deceased, 54, has been the inspector of schools in Bugiri since 2004 and is survived by five children. His body was laid today on Wednesday afternoon at his ancestral home in Matovu Village in Bugiri District.
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