For two long days, I have actively tried to process the attempted assassination of House of Prayer Ministry boss, Pastor Aloysious Bugingo but I have still failed to find reasons to accommodate the narrative.
The celebrated man of God was “allegedly” waylaid on his way from his Lungujja-based Salt Media workplace where he had recorded his weekly bible teaching program ” Emisingi” and his Toyota Prado registration number “PRAIZ GOD” was allegedly sprayed with nearly twenty live bullets, leaving his bodyguard Richard Muhumuza gravely injured and later pronounced dead.
Police investigators have already sent the public a highly pessimistic message to the effect that the crime scene had already been tampered with by the time they arrived to secure it, implying that there exists little to no hope at all of gaining valuable leads to apprehending the culprits.
The whole situation, however, remains highly suspicious but above all, how the man of God managed to chauffeur his damaged vehicle from the crime scene to Mulago Hospital, almost ten kilometres away, beats every sane mind’s understanding.
The DailyMonitor, in a detailed analysis of the saga, raised Eight pertinent questions in regard to Bugingo’s attempted murder which I will gladly re-echo here.
- Why did Bugingo not drive to Nansana Police Station but Mulago?
- Why was he discharged at night from Mulago Hospital?
- Why did the police take so long to record his statement?
- What could have been the motive of the assailants?
- How did the pastor leave the hospital at night after his vehicle had been towed by police?
- How many were the attackers, one or two?
- How long did it take for the police to secure the scene of the crime?
- Was it a religious or political hit?
Unless the pastor was immediately possessed by the Holy Spirit after the incident, and a short-sighted holy spirit, I won’t still comprehend how, in that shock, with blood from his guard spilled over the car, managed to drive uninterrupted all the way to Mulago hospital. Most probably, Bugingo should have cried out to onlookers to provide assistance or at most, drive a few meters to any nearby clinic to find first aid for his bleeding companion.
At most, with the courage we saw, the pastor should have driven to the nearby police station in Nansana, Kasubi or Nakulabye. But even then, how a vehicle which pelted with almost twenty bullets remained soundly performing so the injured man of God would drive it to the National Referral needs an intensive probe.
That notwithstanding, I am baffled that the alleged attacker aimed all the 13 bullets that hit a human body at one target- Cpl Muhumuza, precisely escaping the intended target as if by design. There have been assumptions that the man behind the pulling of the trigger might have wrongly suspected that the man in the driver’s seat was Pastor Bugingo- the intended victim. It may, however, take me ages to absorb that explanation given the prominence of Pastor Bugingo who no adult, let alone the one contracted to put him out of action can fail to identify.
Besides, common sense tells me that whoever might have intended to harm Bugingo must have trailed him for more than at least a week, and on that particular day of Tuesday, January 2, the whole day from his home, to the church and to Lungujja to be able to exactly tell which clothes he was donning on the fateful day, and whether he was driving or being driven. That the shooter erroneously aimed at Muhumuza instead, makes little if any sense unless one will tell me Muhumuza was the target.
By the way, how come Muhumuza took all the bullets, even if they were intended for him, with none straying to enter the man of God’s not-bulletproofed body save for a few bruises at the back and the arm! Could the attacker have been so close that he knew exactly who and where to aim without missing?
This murder attempt defies all the precedents we have witnessed in the past. Late AIGP Andrew Felix Kawesi was assassinated along with all who were in his vehicle in March 2017 and his car was never read-worthy again. The bullets aiming for Minister Engola took him along with his driver with whom he was seated in the same vehicle.
General Katumba Wamala (July, 1st, 2021), the only incident slightly identical to Bugingo’s was partly injured and although the bullets took his driver and daughter, he was distressed and visibly cried out to the bystanders who rushed him to a nearby clinic from where he was taken to a better facility.
Without wanting to risk the wreaths of Canan fanatics, without sounding as though I am insinuating anything peculiar, this particular attempt needs to be investigated by the most efficient committed detectives if at all the motive is to establish the real truth behind it.
In the meantime, I wish a peaceful rest to Cpl Muhumuza, hoping his family will find d solace in the report investigations will release.
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