After a week of media and public frenzied speculation, three people were charged in the High court for the tragic murder of Kenneth Akena, a Kasese-based social worker.
Akena was allegedly shot for scraping the car of Matthew Kanyamunyu, one of the accused, in a Lugogo car park. Now that Kanyamunyu, his brother and girlfriend have been charged with murder in the High court, chances are that we may eventually find out what exactly happened, perhaps.
It would be sad if it were true that Akena died because of such a minor incident. However, the tragedy is deeper. I imagine that the incident, if true as alleged, probably lasted no more than five minutes but just look at the mayhem that has engulfed us. Like it or not, we are a divided country and this case has exposed us!
First, it was the tribal lines that quickly came up because the victim was from northern Uganda. Then there is the poverty gap. Akena was not poor, seeing that he was holding a job located far from home, but Kanyamunyu has been portrayed as a wealthy man.
On social media, where there are no rules, it seems like an open field against Kanyamunyu! There are jokes, conspiracy theories and predicted judgements plus plenty of doubts regarding this judicial process. It is hoped the courts will prevail and justice will be served.
As all this was playing out in Uganda, I listened to a heart-breaking story on the BBC radio station told by a British woman. Mrs Nicola Benyahia from Birmingham launched Families For Life, a counselling service, to help parents cope with the challenge of radicalisation in the UK. Shrapnel from a coalition drone strike in Syria killed her son, Rasheed Benyahia!
Rasheed left a good job and disappeared to join ISIS in May 2015. He was killed in November 2015! His mother described the boy as loving and caring yet his mind had been turned and, like many others, he went to fight with ISIS. On the day he vanished, he had given his mother a pretty necklace. She thinks it was his way of saying farewell. For one year, she kept all this secret because of the ‘shame’ she felt.
Here was a good boy, a 19-years-old engineering apprentice from a stable family, who disappeared from the comfort of home and a bright future and got himself into the most dangerous land in the world right now. And there was no return for him. Nicola Benyahia admits that in the last two years prior to his disappearance, she felt him change.
At first, she and her husband thought it was about growing up but it sank in when he was gone. She narrates her anguish during the sporadic communication she had with him in the months he was in the war fields. She even detected that at some point he seemed regretful about his decision but remained resolute.
The last call came in November last year informing her that Rasheed, referred to as a number in the conversation, had been killed!
She has launched the British arm of Families for Life seeking to attract other families that have suffered from the consequences of radicalisation. She does not wish anyone else to ever go through what she and her family have experienced.
Benyahai’s harrowing story certainly touches every parent. At what point would a parent feel like they have done their job, sit back and bask in the glory of their children, their creation?
Take Kanyamunyu; it is said that he lost his mother but grew up under the care of the Byanyimas, a high-profile family. He also attended a highly-privileged secondary school from which some of today’s leaders came. So, for him to be charged in court with such a horrendous crime, together with his brother and a girlfriend, imagine the pain of his guardians and extended family!
The same applies to Akena’s family. So much promise; it is said he was about to get married! Think about his parents as well as his fiancée’s. Sadly, it was reported last week that Akena’s brother was involved in an accident that resulted in the death of a child. More misery for Akena’s parents and now another family and set of parents is joined into that misery!
osm@kigothinkers.org
The author is one of the founding Kigo Thinkers.