Archival Sense
JF-Expert Member
- Dec 16, 2025
- 576
- 252
Public Service Minister Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala on Monday relived the terrifying moments of the June 2021 assassination attempt that claimed the lives of his daughter and driver, telling the International Crimes Division of the High Court how he watched his daughter die in his lap as bullets ripped through his vehicle before he crawled to safety believing he would not survive.
Katumba's emotional testimony was heard before a four member panel comprising Justices Susan Okalany, Richard Wejuli Wabwire, Dr Winifred Nabisinde and Vincent Wagona as the prosecution nears the close of its case against six men accused of carrying out the attack.
The accused, Muhammad Kagugube, Sirimani Kisambira, Abdullah Aziz Ramadhan, Dunka, Kamada Walusimbi, Habib Ramadhan Marjan and Huzaifah Wamp, face charges including terrorism, financing terrorism, murder, attempted murder and aggravated robbery.
The charges arise from the June 1, 2021 ambush on Katumba's convoy along Kisota Road in Kampala, which left his daughter, Brenda Nantongo Wamala, and his driver, Sgt Haruna Kayondo, dead. Katumba and his bodyguard, then Sgt Khalid Kuboit, survived with multiple gunshot wounds.
Katumba told court that the day had begun like any other.
He left his home in Bulabira accompanied by his daughter, driver and bodyguard, heading to Najjanankumbi to prepare for the burial of his mother in law. Their convoy briefly stopped at Kulambiro to buy newspapers before his head of security branched off onto the Northern Bypass to replace worn out tyres on the escort vehicle.As the minister's Land Cruiser turned onto Kisota Road, a loud bang shattered the calm.
At first, Katumba thought a boda boda had crashed into the vehicle.
"The noise continued, and then I realised we were under attack," he testified.
Within seconds, gunfire erupted from three directions.
Bullets tore into the vehicle from the left, the right and directly ahead, trapping its occupants inside as the attackers unleashed a barrage of automatic gunfire.
Katumba, seated behind his bodyguard, said the attack unfolded so quickly that no one had time to react.
Then came the moment that has remained etched in his memory.
"She fell onto my lap crying out, 'Jesus,'" he told the silent courtroom, recalling how his daughter Brenda was struck by the first bullets."
Looking through the windscreen, Katumba said he saw one of the gunmen standing in the middle of the road, calmly firing an AK-47 directly at the vehicle.
By then, a bullet had already ripped through his right shoulder.
As he instinctively tried to lift his left arm and force his way out of the vehicle, another round smashed into his left shoulder, shattering the bone.
Bleeding heavily and barely able to move, Katumba said he somehow forced himself out of the vehicle through the left door.
He dropped onto the road and crawled behind the rear wheel of the Land Cruiser, using it as his only shield from the relentless gunfire.
Moments later, his bodyguard joined him.
Even then, the attack had not stopped.
Katumba testified that one of the gunmen advanced towards their position, firing continuously as if determined to finish the job.
Pinned down and unable to fight, Katumba instructed Kuboit to return fire, though he acknowledged the bodyguard's position offered little chance of hitting the attackers.
After several tense moments, the gunfire suddenly ceased.
The attackers mounted waiting motorcycles and sped off through Kisota-Kisaasi Road towards Bukoto.
Unable to stand because of his injuries, Katumba said Kuboit dragged him into a nearby poultry house, where they took cover.
Blood continued pouring from his wounds.
"I thought I was going to die," he told court.
When the shooting stopped, the minister staggered back towards the road, where residents and boda boda riders had begun gathering around the bullet riddled vehicle.
He remembered hearing one rider exclaim in Luganda: "I know this Afande."
Although they urged him to seek medical treatment immediately, Katumba initially hesitated.
His attackers, after all, had escaped on motorcycles.
It took repeated assurances from one boda boda rider, later identified as William Kawuki, before he agreed to climb onto the motorcycle.
Together with Kuboit, he was rushed to Malcolm Medical Centre in Kisaasi for emergency treatment before being transferred to Medipal International Hospital.
Doctors removed a bullet lodged in his right shoulder and inserted metal implants to rebuild his shattered left arm.
He later underwent further surgeries at Ruby Hospital and Emory Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, and told court he still undergoes medical reviews every six months to monitor the implants.
Asked whether he recognised any of the attackers, Katumba said the assault happened too quickly for him to identify most of them.
He said he clearly saw only one short gunman positioned in front of the vehicle firing relentlessly, while his bodyguard had a better view of the other assailants.The minister told court the attack fundamentally changed his life.
He said that although he once freely interacted with members of the public, he now lives under heightened security and remains constantly aware of the risks around him.
Even so, he added, he still believes that "good people outnumber bad people."
Kuboit also testified, saying he returned fire after spotting two motorcycles and a maroon Toyota Harrier during the ambush.
He said he spent three days recovering at Medipal Hospital and could not identify the attackers because their faces were concealed.
The six accused remain on trial for terrorism, financing terrorism, belonging to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), murder, attempted murder and aggravated robbery. Prosecutors allege they were behind the Katumba attack and a series of other deadly attacks across Uganda, with forensic evidence linking some recovered firearms to the assassinations of Maj Muhammad Kiggundu in 2016 and former AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi in 2017.
Source: The Independent reports