A clan to compensate seven cows for murder of Uganda minister

KAMPALA, Uganda

Representatives of the Otikokin clan in Lango sub-region have said they are pursuing payment of compensation for the killing of their son, Col (rtd) Charles Patrick Okello Engola, the former State minister for Labour. 

Clan leaders say plans are underway to approach the clan to which army Private Wilson Sabiiti belonged in Tooro Sub-region from whom they intend to ask for blood money.

But their efforts may run into difficulties even before first contact is made. A senior member of Tooro’s cultural institution yesterday pointed out that Sabiiti did not act on behalf of Tooro when he took the Junior minister’s life on the morning of Tuesday, May 2. 

Tooro Kingdom Prime Minister, Mr Steven Kiyinji, told Daily Monitor that since Sabiti was on official duty at the time of the tragic shooting, the responsibility for the killing cannot be tribalised.

“Don’t tribalise this issue, it’s a national issue. It was a national failure on the part of the soldier. If there is any compensation to be paid, it’s UPDF to whom Sabiiti belonged to pay and Lango people should talk to UPDF,” Mr Kiyinji said.

Pte Sabiiti was one of the retired colonel’s bodyguards, who instead shot the minister dead at his home in Kyanja, Kampala before also taking his own life. 

Among the Lango peoples, a traditional, restorative justice mechanism known as kayo cuk is one of the reconciliatory processes practised in cases of a grievous nature, such as killings.

Similar to mato oput which is practised in the neighbouring Acholi Sub-region, kayo cuk is an ancient, time honoured practice for accountability and reconciliation between communities in conflict. 

Its use has, however, been diminished with the passing of time, and also partly because of poverty. 

Mr Robert Ajal, the prime minister of Lango Cultural Foundation, said yesterday that a committee will nonetheless be set up and journey to Tooro in the coming days to meet the leadership of Pte Sabiiti’s clan and family.  

The purpose of visiting the family, Mr Ajal said, would be “to discuss the way forward so as to maintain good relationship between the two friendly tribes”.

“The good relations between the Luo and Tooro community should be maintained because when King Kabalega was cornered by British colonial forces, he took refuge in Lango,” he explained.

Kabalega was Omukama (king) of Bunyoro, a kingdom which borders Tooro. The Banyoro share cultural, linguistic and historical ties with the people of Tooro although, strictly speaking, the two are different ethnic groupings.

According to Mr Ajal, blood compensation is mandatory and any tribe or clan that commits such crime must pay it.

“We are also agreeing that it is mandatory that the Tooro clan pays blood compensation because issues of blood are only handled that way,” he added. 

Separately, Dr Christopher Oleke, the deputy clan chief of the Otikokin, said they also want to hear a clear commitment from the Uganda government regarding compensation.

“The gun that killed him is a government gun and the person who killed him is a government employee. And we want this commitment also to be stated clearly during the burial ceremony so that every Lango goes back home knowing that this is the commitment from the government,” he said.

Blood compensation or kayo cuk as a reconciliation ritual is ideally performed between clans and tribes in place of formal judicial mechanisms.

Sessions are held outdoors and are open to anyone willing to testify about crimes committed. A committee of locally elected officials oversees the process. 

In this case, both Sabiiti’s and the Engola family would be expected to each bring one sheep. The sheep would be placed facing each other and then simultaneously slaughtered. Each clan then shares the mutton from the animal brought by the other as a sign of forgiveness.

After this ritual, Sabiiti’s family would be expected to pay seven cows to make amends for the crime of their son.

 The traditional ritual, which is performed by elders, also serves as a truth telling and confessional forum.

 But whether the people of Tooro will welcome this form of justice is another matter altogether with two opposing views already emerging.

 On the one hand, Mr Stephen Katenta Apuuli Kapimpina, a cultural leader, has welcomed the idea. Mr Katenta Apuuli, a former Ugandan ambassador who is now Omugizi wa Rukirabasaija Omukama (advisor to the king of Tooro), says he has written to Tooro’s prime minister to help kick-start resource mobilisation towards the kayo cuk process.

 “Before taking his own life, he (Sabiti) accepted responsibility for assassinating the minister. So, we don’t need a police investigation to prove who killed the Honourable minister,” Mr Katenta said in a WhatsApp message last week.

 He also reminded the Tooro premier that his counterpart in the Lango Cultural Foundation had addressed “you on the matter of blood money (blood compensation), a tradition among the Luo to settle disputes and maintain good relationships between friendly tribes.”

 “I am appealing to you to positively respond to paying blood money so that the cordial relationship between Lango and Tooro can endure for a long time to come,” Mr Katenta Apuuli said.

 He recalled: “Our good relationships between the Banyakitara and Luo people date back to the time when the Bacwezi abandoned management of our kingdom and went into self-exile (Kwegoromora). By mutual agreement, the Luo accepted to take over the role of kings in our region starting with Labongo (Nyabongo) of the Jobito clan. Empaako (praise/pet names used by the Batooro and Banyoro peoples) are Luo names which we adopted in acceptance of the arrangements made between Bacwezi and Luo regarding kings in our region. Many words in Runyakitara have Luo origins.”

 Mr Katenta Apuuli noted that it is out of character for a Mutooro to carry out a terrible assassination as “our son Sabiiti has done”.

 “He is no longer here to defend himself, so I am one of those who don’t rush to judge. However, we as his parents, are under obligation to account for his misdeeds,” he explained.

 “It is for this reason that I am calling upon you as the Omuhikirwa of Tooro Kingdom to mobilise us in an effort to pay the minimum seven cattle to the elders of the late Okello Engola as blood money in accordance with their tribal/ cultural traditional practice.”

But as noted earlier, Tooro Prime Minister Kiyinji said: “Tooro Kingdom is not going to mobilise money towards blood compensation because Sabiiti was not pursuing any cultural matter nor pursuing any matter related to his tribe or clan.” Mr Kiyinji also pointed out that the Sabiiti family is too poor to pay blood compensation.