Bunyweju| HRNJ-Uganda| Juliet Kyarisiima, a freelancer working with TV West in western Uganda, was on 12th /May/2024, assaulted by a gang of mercenaries hired by Frank Benon Kamugisha to protect his family interests in a contested land between them and the Catholic Church.
The raging wrangle between Kamugisha, the heir to the late G.W Burimbale, and the Church seems to have reached a pinnacle when the church sought intervention from Buhweju MP Francis Mwejukye, who is also the chairperson of the Church Land Board of Butale parish, joined the faithful for prayers. However, mercenaries armed with sticks, stones, and pangas botched prayers when they swung into action to confront congregants in the house of God.
“I was in the field [church] and before we could finish prayers, men with pangas, sticks, and stones started chasing us. These men were brought by Kamugisha, who is chasing the church off this land, and the church is insisting that they have spent 33 years on the land and are not ready to vacate it,” Juliet told Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda in a telephone interview.
She added that after heavy slaps in the face, sustained bodily injuries, especially on the arm, which she said was still swollen, and that she lost her gadgets, namely a camera and laptop to mercenaries,s yet she derived her livelihood from these gadgets.
The police, according to Julie,t rescued her alongside other victims from the crime scene. MP Mwejukye, who was fatally injured, was rushed to the health facility for medical care before he was airlifted to Kampala, the capital city, for substantive treatment of deep wounds inflicted on his head.
Juliet argued that HRNJ-Uganda to follow up on “the case to ensure that the family which is responsible for hiring mercenaries be made to compensate her for the gadgets as soon as possible,” adding that she needed to go to the hospital to treat her eyes and general body pain.
