UGANDA; Ms Hajara Nakitto, the mother of a 15-year-old student who was shot dead during the November 2020 protests has stormed the country’s Parliament demanding to meet the Speaker, Rebecca Kadaga.
Amos Ssegawa, a senior two student at Lubiri High School is one of the 54 people who were killed in the protests which erupted in capital, Kampala and other parts of the country following the arrest of presidential candidate, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine in Luuka District on November 18.
Armed with placards with writings ‘We need justice. Police killed him. Rest in peace Ssegawa Amos,’ a distressed Nakitto and her surviving 12-year-old daughter said police have failed to help her get justice.
“My son was shot dead as I walked with him home on the second day of the protests (November 19, 2020). I have not never received justice because police failed to help me. I have spent everything I had to try and get justice. I’ll sit at Parliament until I see the Speaker said,” Ms Nakitto said on Monday.
Ssegawa was his mother’s first child. Due to the closure of schools, Ssegawa was free and because the festive season was approaching. Two weeks before the protests, Nakitto began taking him to her shop in Kisenyi, a Kampala suburb.
Ms Nakitto in an earlier interview with Daily Monitor said since she was 15 years older than her son, they understood each other well. They discussed business plans and he was obedient and also God-fearing.
“I had anticipated that the Christmas season would be busy so I needed help. I sell clothes in Kisenyi and his main job was to dress the mannequins in the morning. However, when the customers were many, he would help me to serve them. He had just begun to understand how the business is run.”
Nakitto said at about 11 am – on the second day when the riots seemed to intensify, she decided to close the shop and take her son home.
“We walked towards Usafi Taxi Park with our arms held up. Although our arms were up, my hand was on one of his arms. At Cornerstone Plaza, we saw a military pick up speeding towards us from Mengo. Their guns were pointed at us, but we kept on walking with our arms up. When the soldiers shot, Ssegawa fell down. I also fell away from him – in the middle of the road,” she said.
The bullet hit Ssegawa in the mouth and exited through the right side of his neck. He died shortly afterwards. Well-wishers, including a Spark TV journalist Joselyn Nakibuule, took him to Doctor’s Clinic in Mengo, but he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The family lodged a complaint with Uganda Human Rights Commission but she says she’s yet to get justice. Nakitto now has only one child, a 12-year-old girl.
