News Analysis by Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City.
 
POLICE in Uganda have given a detailed list of people it believes have died as a result of human sacrifice or ritual killings.
 
The force says that the number of people suspected to have been killed in human sacrifice is on the rise, and increased from 3 in 2007 to 25 in 2008 and 29 in 2009.
 
In addition to this, a total of 123 people country wide were still missing without a trace and suspected to have died in either human sacrifice or ritual killings by the end of 2009. The majority of them (90) were children.
 
In a report, widely covered by the state owned SUNDAY VISION, a total of125 suspects have been arrested and arraigned in courts and charged with criminal  offences ranging from murder, abduction, kidnapping, causing bodily harm, and attempting to sell small children. However, nobody has been convicted so far.
 
Altogether 1,213 people were reported missing during the year under review {2009}, but some of them were later traced.
 
Kampala, the Ugandan capital city, emerged as the most dangerous place in the country, with 951 people recorded as having gone missing in the last ten days of the year 2009. Thiswas followed by Wakiso district, with 98 people, Mitytana with 19, and Kayunga with 16 missing people.
 
The districts of Masaka, Mukono and Jinja, each had 14 cases of the 29 confirmed ritual murders last year. Three were in Kampala, while Jinja, Mukono and Mityana districts each had two.
 
Other districts that recorded ritual murder were Kabaale, Kamuli, Soroti, Ntungamo, Bushenyi, Pader, Kaliro, Kiboga, Gulu, Jinja, Masaka, Mbale,{Kabarole{Port Portal}. Kitgum, Oyamo, Apac, Ibanda and Nakasongola.
 
The report indicated that most tribes in Uganda traditionally preferred sacrificing livestock for good luck or good omen. However, only in recent years have Ugandans started sacrificing human beings, and it is a new, but very dangerous culture.
 
According to the police report, most of the bodies of sacrificed victims were recovered with missing body parts; the majority of them young children.
 
The report listed a large number of cases of human sacrificing between 2007 and 2009, when the practices began surging. Some of the most grisly incidents recorded by police so far are listed below;
In Bulolo village, Iganga district, on August 12, 2007, Mackline Namukose, aged two and half years, was murdered and her body recovered in a nearby maize farm, with her private parts, tongue, liver and kidney missing.
 
In Kayugi village, Masaka district, on October 28, 2008, Joseph Kasirye, aged 12 years mysteriously disappeared from his grand father’s home. But later, his grand father Mr.Umar Katerega, and his wife, were arrested after behaving in a suspicious manner. Upon interrogation, they confessed that they had been paid Ushs 360,000, as part payment by a Kampala business tycoon, Mr. Godfrey Kato Kajubi, to get him a head of a human being for rituals.
 
The Kampala business magnate is currently standing trial before the High Court in Kampala for this murder case. The case has been going for the best part of last year.
 
In Koma village, Oyam district in Northern Uganda, on December 15,2008, the decomposing body of one Christopher Okello, aged 3 years, and the son of one Peter Odongo, was recovered in a thicket near his parents home with liver, head and pancreas missing.
 
Within Mbale Municipality in Eastern Uganda, on April 25, 2008, Joseph Nasima, a 19 year old student at Mbale Senior Secondary School went missing, and has never been seen again. He is suspected to have been sacrificed by one of his relatives.
 
In Kosalosalo village, Kawempe Division in Kampala, on December 28, 2009, one Shadiq Mugombe was kidnapped on a motorbike and taken to the shrine of Semisambwa in Buyogerere, in Mukono district. The boy was, however, rejected by the Semisambwa wife, Harriet on the ground that he was circumcised.
 
In Bundolo village in Iganga district, on August 12,2007, Mackline Namukose, aged two and half years, was murdered and her body found in a nearby maize farm, with her private parts, tongue,  kidney missing.
 
In Bulenya, in Wakiso district, on January 26, 2009, Mohamed Kayanja, the 3 weeks old son of Nasime Kagwasigye, was kidnapped by some people, including  a Fondha in a suspicious ritual sacrifice case.
 
In Kidenga sub-county in Mubende district, on January 26, 2009, Florence Nyamwiza, 23 year old Rwandan woman was arrested on a tip of information to the police that she was looking for a buyer for her six months old baby Kyasimire. She was later taken to court.
 
In Nsambya suburb of Kampala, on January 27, 2009, the head of an unidentified man was recovered in dustbin pit near AVIS Industries in Bukise, a Kampala suburb.
 
In Kayoza Sub-County, Ntungamo district, on February 5, 2009, the headless body of a 30 year old casual worker, Benard Byamuhanga, was recovered. Bu the head was found two weeks later from a vegetable garden near the scene.
 
In Nsambya suburb, again, on January 27, 2009, Kisakye, aged six years was abducted by her house maid, Babra Nakisude.
 
And in Kawempe, another Kampala suburb, on February 9, 2009, human body parts including two legs and a trunk, were recovered from a pit latrine in a bush. According to the Government Chemist, part of the body recovered in a bush and the legs were of the same person.
 
The list is too long, and covers almost every district within Uganda, a clear indication that ritual killings and human sacrifices are on the increase, something which is causing great panicking within the various communities.
 
Ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com