The Tragic Day 37 Years Ago When the Uganda State Army Baked Its Own People Alive
On 11 July 1989, at Okungulo Railway Station in Mukura, Kumi District, eastern Uganda, a horrific atrocity was committed against local civilians.
The victims were farmers, teachers, sons and fathers from the surrounding Teso villages, rounded up by the National Resistance Army’s (NRA) 106th Battalion on suspicion of being rebel collaborators. More than a hundred of these local men were driven into a single, unventilated steel goods wagon and locked inside.
The afternoon heat at Okungulo Railway Station was already suffocating when the heavy iron door was slammed shut and the bolts slid into place, sealing them inside the metal box.
Within minutes, the air vanished. Inside, it became a pitch-black furnace. Men stripped off their clothes, drenched in their own sweat and the sweat of those pressed tightly against them. They began to gasp, their chests heaving in vain for oxygen.
Desperate, they hammered their fists against the corrugated steel walls, screaming for water, for air, for mercy.
Outside, the response to their cries was a strike of a match. Soldiers gathered brushwood and lit a fire directly beneath the wagon.
The steel floor turned into a scorching hot pan, and the wagon became an oven. The rising heat and smoke consumed the last remaining pockets of oxygen. Inside the belly of the iron beast, the frantic thumping slowly faded, replaced by the sound of men choking and collapsing onto one another.
When the doors were finally opened hours later, the silence was absolute. Sixty-nine bodies lay contorted in the dark, piled in a desperate, final scramble towards the cracks in the door.
A concrete monument was eventually built to mark the mass grave of those who perished that day. Yet the nation has never truly come to terms with the horror of what happened.
Because this dark chapter remained unaddressed in the national conscience for so long, their restless ghosts continue to haunt the country’s memory.
The Clerk to Parliament is the Accounting Officer of Parliament. Arresting the junior officers while leaving the person ultimately responsible in office completely unbothered, is like washing your clothes and then throwing them back into the mud.
Let all corrupt officials be arrested without turning a blind eye to anyone. This anti-corruption operation must be conducted with complete fairness and equality. Whether someone supports the NRM, PLU, or any other political affiliation, no one involved in corruption should be spared. Accountability must apply to everyone equally.
Congratulations to all the men and women who have caught the eye of the Appointing Authority for service in the Cabinet. My sincere appreciation goes to all the outgoing Ministers for their dedicated service to our motherland. I wish you success in your future endeavours.
Lawrence Muganga, the Vice Chancellor of Victoria University, was arrested in 2021 over allegations of spying on Uganda on Rwanda’s behalf.
Just got appointed Minister of Internal Affairs of the same country he was apparently spying on. 🤐🤔
RE: SPEAKERSHIP RACE
I wish to draw the attention of the public to the matters regarding the Speakership race.
After wide consultations and deep introspection, and to maintain harmony and clarity in my beloved party, the @NRMOnline, I wish to categorically and unequivocally state that I will not be offering myself for the Speakership race of the 12th Parliament.
I am greatly indebted to H.E @KagutaMuseveni, my party, the @NRMOnline, and members of the 11th Parliament for giving me the opportunity to serve as Deputy Speaker and Speaker.
I am equally indebted to my family and friends for the solidarity and support they have extended to me over the last five years.
I pledge my total support to the candidates who will be endorsed by the President and the Party, and Implore all colleague MPs of the 12th Parliament to do the same.
I shall remain available to the service of my country as the party and the President may assign me.
In the meantime, I pledge to continue cooperating with all ongoing investigations as initiated by the relevant organs of the state to get to the root of all the allegations raised.
FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY.
ANITA ANNET AMONG
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With the fall of Assad.
I hope we can see an end to murders, poverty and a wide gap between the haves and the have not, that have always been attributed to his regime.
I have lived and worked in this country as a foreign for 5 years and have a lot to say.