“Your attackers did not only want to kill you, but they also wanted to hurt me,” these were the words that the First Son Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba told House of Prayers Ministries International (HPMI) Pastor Aloysious Bujjingo in a private conversation where he was consoling him for surviving gunmen yesterday when he was attacked.
The gunmen killed Mr. Richard Muhumuza, one of his close associates and church elders.
Later in his strong worded statement, the Senior Presidential Advisor on Special Operations and also the Supreme leader of the MK Movement put the country’s law enforcement agencies to task quickly investigate the attack on his political pressure group staunch supporter and mobiliser Bujjingo.
According to police statement signed by Luke Owoyesigyire the Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, the brutal attack happened on Tuesday (2nd January 2024 ) evening at around 9pm when unidentified assailants opened fire on pastor Bujjingo’s Toyota Land Cruiser motor vehicle registration number PRAIZ GOD, along Namungoona , Zone 2 , Kasubi Rubaga Division Kampala at Bwalakata Junction along National Housing Road.
Police statement further states that the assassin was moving on a motorcycle and after committing the crime, he swiftly escaped the scene.
However, despite sustaining injuries during the attack, Bujjingo managed to drive the car at breath neck speed to Mulago Hospital hoping to save the life of Muhumuza, a father of Five (four girls and a young baby boy of 3 months).
“It was all by the Grace of the Most High God that the attackers did not deflate the tires. When the bullets stopped, in my mind, I only had one thing, to rush him to hospital so that his life is saved. When we reached Mulago, they quickly attended to us. Unfortunately, as they were attending to me, they broke to me the bad news that Richard had died,” Bujjingo who we found at his home in Namayumba told theGrapevine.
Bujjingo is currently undergoing medical treatment after sustaining bullet wounds at the back, on his right scapula hand shoulder. Police today went to his home and he recounted what he saw in a statement that they later took to proceed with investigations.
Police promised to investigate the incident to its conclusion even though the scene of crime was tampered with.
Statements were recorded from eye witnesses who were present when the attack happened.
Police also disclosed that the CCTV footage of the cameras around the area will help to identify the assailants.
Highly placed security forces confirmed to theGrapevine that Brig. Gen. Christopher Sserunjogi Ddamulira the commandant of the police’s Directorate of Crime Intelligence together with Dr. Maj. Tom Magamba the police’s Director Criminal Investigation Department (CID) are leading the investigations together with operatives from Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) and Special Forces Command (SFC) who are all briefing Gen. Muhoozi on every stage of investigation they reach.
Brig. Gen. Ddamulira inspected the Crime Scene and interacted with the local area leadership including Charles Ssemakalu the chairperson of Namungoona Zone 2.
In his statement, Gen Muhoozi asked,” Who are these criminals? Is it ADF or some other shadowy group? We need answers to these questions. This is the second attack on our supporters in the last 8 months and no offender has been brought to book yet. The case of the cold blooded murder of Isma Olaxess is still unresolved.”
According to security sources, one person has been arrested to help with the ongoing investigations.
theGrapevine has been told that the suspect operates a chapati kiosk at Namungoona.
According to other sources, Bujjingo was attacked when he was from his church where he was recording Emisingi program, a bible teaching session that airs every day from Monday to Friday at 8:00pm on his Salt TV and Radio.
Family insiders told theGrapevine that Bujjingo and Muhumuza had a habit of always driving the car in turns when they are going back to his Namayumba Home or coming to town, a claim that was confirmed by the man of God himself.
“Sometimes Musumba gets very tired so because of the long journey from Kampala to Namayumba, they always drive the car in turns since Muhumuza has also being staying at Namayumba,” family insiders divulged.
At the time of the attack, it was Bujjingo who was driving while Muhumuza was in the co-driver’s seat.
“The assailants thought that he was being driven because many have the assumption that Muhumuza was his driver which is wrong. He was a church Elder who he treated as a relative. Maybe that is why they put a lot of effort on showering the co-driver’s side with bullets thinking they were shooting at Bujjingo,” this family source said.
Unlike many pastors in town, Bujjingo doesn’t move with guards with guns. Even Muhumuza never moved with any weapon.
Charles Rwomushana a security expert rubbished allegations from a section of the public who are questioning how Bujjingo survived without blood on his clothes and even got the guts to drive the car to Mulago hospital.
Rwomushana explained, “Once you survive a fatal hit, you surely can drive yourself and the victim to a hospital. Others tie their intestines and fight on. Others carry their own comrades under heavy fire while providing covering fire. Remember this was an ambush.”
Rwomushana warned the public that the political situation in the country is approaching a deadly stage and a number of people are going to be murdered as all parties sharpen their swords.
Highly placed sources in security circles told theGrapevine that there are a lot of guns in the hands of gangs which are being used to fight for political change in the country.
“We are in a situation similar to the one that South Africa was in during the fight against Apartheid, ANC had both the political wing and the military wing which was comprised of gangs who were fighting the whites. And here, it is going to get worse because we have gullible intelligence and security agencies who are taken by social media propaganda and make conclusions that whatever posted on social media is the truth,” a security source told this website.
He added that gangs which are connected to different politicians who are in the succession battle to replace President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni as presidents of Uganda are receiving guns which are smuggled from South Sudan, Democratic Republic Of Congo (DRC) and those stolen from security organization.
A security source told theGrapevine that the gun which was used to kill Isma was not registered insisting that such guns are many in the hands of gangs and wrong people.
Sources narrated that some members of these political gangs have connections to personnel in SFC and members of other security organisations, deserters and veterans whose target is to soil President Museveni’s government and want to force it out at all costs that’s why during their missions, they rarely miss their targets.
Senior Presidential Advisor on media Joseph Tamale Mirundi who is also the MK Movement spokesperson for Buganda, supported Rwomushana’s narrative that Bujjingo’s attack has some element of being politically motivated and many people might die during President Museveni’s succession battle.
Mirundi explained that Bujjingo was listed among the unwanted people the day he met Museveni and started working with Gen. Muhoozi who also declared interest in the presidency.
He said that when he was still President Museveni’s spokesperson, his boss was one evening watching different TV stations to know what was happening in the country from the media perspective when he landed on Salt television where Bujjingo was preaching.
Museveni was struck by the way Bujjingo preached especially his youth empowerment sermons.
According to Mirundi, the President realized that Bujjingo’s preaching was different from other local born again pastors and he directed his handlers to arrange a meeting with him.
Mirundi claims that during the duo’s meeting, Bujjingo further surprised Museveni when he asked him how he could help boost his government could help his ministry.
Mirundi narrated that Bujjingo told the president that he doesn’t need any monetary support from Museveni but explained to him that he started preaching and has built a congregation because of the peace brought by his government that was enough for him. The president promised to visit his church.
He added that Museveni promised to visit Bujjingo’s church which he did a few months later.
He added that before Gen. Muhoozi invited Bujjingo to lead prayers at his birthday in 2019, he first consulted his parents who gave him the green light. Since then, men of God who frequented State House private activities started a silent war to fight Bujjingo because he had now become a threat.
Since 2019, Pastor Bujjingo has been enmeshed in a nasty divorce with former wife Teddy Naluswa. The battle is currently still at the constitutional court pending hearing.
In November, when organised a fundraising drive for his church building ‘the Pentagon’, unknown people tried to sabotage the event.
Church insiders told theGrapevine that a week to the event, Bujjingo hired a prominent events planner in town to put up tents, screens and the sound system at his Canaan Church because unlike his usual services, he wanted this event to be different with everyone seated comfortably and not be inconvenienced by the rain.
He paid this events person all his money on time before he started doing the ground work.
Surprisingly, 3 days to the event, the events person called him and told him that he cannot work for him.
He promised to refund his money not in cash (even though he paid him cash) but through a cheque which had to take some time.
“He panicked because he now had only two days to look for a new person and also look for money to pay this person in advance. We had spent months advertising the event and couldn’t postpone it. We later learnt that one of the prominent people in this country talked to the events promoter, gave him money and told him to cancel Bujjingo’s gig,” a church insider told theGrapevine.
Mirundi claimed that Bujjingo’s enemies were very happy when he developed a marriage misunderstanding with his former wife Naluswa and many fueled the fight.
“Bujjingo made a wise decision to leave Naluswa’s home. I know those people. They fight until they reach your bed, they tried the plan on me many times but I’m much cleverer than them,” Mirundi said.
Another narrative Mirundi has is that Gen. Muhoozi’s enemies want to create fear among those supporting him and make it hard for others to come out publicly to support him.
He added that the attack on Bujjingo has the hallmarks of putting fear among anyone who comes out to support the First son publicly that they will be insecure and the only way to guarantee their security is to be heavily guarded.
As a celebrated veteran journalist, Mirundi insisted that the best way to establish Bujjingo’s attackers is to ask the million dollar question of who is benefiting most from the attack.
In 2019, Bujjingo said that his life was in danger claiming that there are people who are trailing him. The following year he said that he survived assassination.
Bujjingo claimed that the assassin who wanted to finish him at his church in Makerere Kikoni, a Kampala suburb wanted to shot at him while he was going out of his car to step on the pulpit.
