Religious leaders condemn Kasese Students’ Killers

By Charles Katabalwa

18^th June 2023

The Religious leaders have condemned the brutal attack against the innocent lives where close to 40 people both students and their caretakers were killed by allegedly Allied Democratic Forces in Kasese- Mpondwe Town Council.

Rev. Fr. Vincent Kafuuma a missionary priest of the Spiritan Congregation from Mulago Parish has prayed for the deceased and those still under critical condition but also called on the attackers to repent for their sins.

He says this barbaric act doesn’t show bravery by the perpetrators but sinning before God.

The Archbishop of the Church of Uganda His Grace Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu has also condemned the attack on a Secondary School in Kasese District during his three day pastoral visit to West Ankole Diocese described the act as evil and barbaric.

He urged government to increase security along the boarder area in southwestern Uganda.

The army has put the death toll to 37. The male students were struck by a petrol bomb when they refused to open the door, while the girls were brutally hacked with machetes when the ADF attacked Mpondwe-Lhubiriha Secondary School at around 10.30pm on Friday 16^th June 2023, according to the school administration.

Information from the education ministry shows Lhubiriha Secondary School is a privately-owned educational institution ran by an NGO led by Peter Hunter, a Canadian individual who works in both the Democratic Republic of the Congo and another undisclosed location.

The rebels attacked the school at around 10:30 pm on Friday shortly after the students returned from the evening preps. They were brutally cut with machetes and later set the dormitory ablaze. Several others students were left with injuries and are now admitted at Bwera government Hospital.

However in her message on Saturday night Janet Kataha Museveni, the Minister of Education and Sports, said the Friday’s attack on a school in Kasese may be linked to a dispute over ownership although she did not divulge so much into details.

Government promised to give five million Shillings to each of the families of students who were killed during the attack on Mpondwe -Lhubiriha Secondary School in Kasese District preps, according to the State Minister for Higher Education John Chrysostom Muyingo who visited the school late on Saturday.

He added that the government will discuss how to support the school so that it can resume teaching as soon as possible.

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