There was a somber mood in Kisoga-Ntenjeru Town Council, Mukono District on Independence Day following the attempted assassination of Livingstone Mutai,48, the manager of Salama Estate under the Uganda Tea Cooperation.
Unidentified masked men riding a motorcycle reportedly intercepted Mutai who was driving a double cabin pickup registration number UAS 250D together with Bashir Kalungi,52, a security guard in the tea estate, and opened fire at them on Saturday evening.
The thugs hit Mutai, who hailed from Kenya twice in the stomach and hit Kalungi in the legs.
An eye witness told URN on condition of anonymity that after disabling their victims, the gunmen moved closer to the vehicle and shot them again before removing a bag in the back seat containing an unspecified amount of cash.
The Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson, Patrick Onyango, says that the thugs made off with Shillings 40 million Mutai had picked from the bank to pay worker’s salaries on Sunday morning.
There are more than 500 workers in Salama Estates who are paid after every 14 days.
The least-paid worker earns Shillings 6,500 daily. Other managers of the estate declined to comment about the incident or reveal the current condition of the gunshot victims.
However, Michael Kajubi, the LC I Chairperson of Mpuma-Salama where the incident occurred, says that the victims were rushed to Heron Hospital for first aid and later referred to Mulago Specialised National Referral Hospital for better management.
According to Kajubi, it is hard for the community to guard against such robbers because they are used to plain-clothed operatives carrying guns claiming to work for the fisheries protection unit and forestry.
Barbra Nakimuli, one of the workers in the Estate appeals to the management to deploy enough security whenever transporting money from the bank.
She is now worried about how she will provide the school requirements for her children after missing out on payments.
Armed robberies in Mukono district had scaled down in the recent past following heightened security operations.
