Africa-Press – Uganda. Mr Hakimu Kasibante, 27, a boda boda rider based in Kisaasi, Kampala District began his Tuesday morning as usual. He left his home in Kasangati, Wakiso District and headed towards his stage on Kisota Road near Acorns International School.
As he approached his work station at around 8.40am, he heard gunshots a few metres away and immediately dived into a nearby banana plantation for shelter. “When the shooting stopped, I ran to where it came from hoping to help the victims,” he says in an interview on Wednesday.
Like him, many people were gathering at the scene of the shooting. Mr Kasibante says he did not realise that one of the victims of the shootout was the outgoing minister of Works and Transport, Gen Katumba Wamala, until an onlooker pointed him out.
He says at that point Gen Katumba looked shaken and was drenched in blood. The cyclist says the General tried to make a phone call, but the handset slid out of his bleeding and weakening right arm.Gen Katumba was also hesitant to accept assistance from cyclists to rush him to a medical facility having just survived an assassination by people travelling on motorcycles, Mr Kasibante said.
Mr Kasibante added that those with cars were just passing by the scene without offering any kind of help. “We faced a tough challenge convincing Gen Katumba to sit on the motorcycle because he did not know us. He kept asking us where we were taking him,” Mr Kasibante said.The General only gave in after assurances that his bodyguard, Sgt Khalid Koboyoit, holding a cocked pistol aloft, would sandwich him on the pillion.Sgt Koboyoit was in the car with Gen Katumba when the attack happened but did not get any injuries.
A boda boda cyclist only identified as Andrew first volunteered to rush the General to hospital but got a flat tyre and that was when Mr Kasibante raced for his motorcycle and offered to take the General to a clinic.A column of cyclists also volunteered to ride on the sides as human shields, just in case the assailants came back.The evacuation provided a sharp contrast between the haves and have-nots, when much maligned boda bodas turned saviours while the suited and high-heeled upper class glanced at the bloody scene and accelerated their air-conditioned cars away.
Mr Kasibante said he did not care about Gen Katumaba’s blood soaking his jacket because he knew the most important call was to save his life by reaching Malcolm Clinic as fast and safe as possible.“If we had not rushed him to the hospital, he would have lost a lot more blood,” he said.Throughout the trip, Gen Katumba repeatedly called out “My daughter, my daughter … Lwaki (why) General” in reference to Brenda Nantogo, his 32-year-old daughter with whom he had been travelling.
Brenda died instantly when a bullet struck her on the neck. Haruna Kayondo, the General’s driver was also killed in the attack.When they reached the hospital, Mr Kasibante did not bill the General for the trip which would have cost Shs2,000. “If he had given me money, I would not have taken it because I just did it to save a life. Even if it was another person, I would have done the same.”
After the sacrifice, Mr Kasibante almost ran into trouble when curious onlookers at a washing bay questioned why his motorcycle and jacket were bloodied.They only backed off when he explained that he had evacuated Gen Katumba from the scene of the attempted assassination.Mr Kasibante, who was exalted at the funeral of Nantogo, online and by the police for his bravery and compassion, said he spoke to Gen Katumba by telephone on Wednesday through a journalist.
