MUKONO: Mr Moses Kiwanuka, a farmer from Luwunga Village in Mpooma Parish, Nama Sub-county in Mukono District has revealed that his son, Geoffrey Ssali, died at the same swimming pool where Minister Ronald Kibuule’s twins drowned on Monday evening.
Mr Kibuule’s two-year-old twins Raymond Kato and Rayden Wasswa drowned in the family swimming pool on Monday.
“After the minister won the NRM primaries, there were celebrations at his home. During the celebrations, my 19-year-old son fell in the swimming pool and died,” Mr Kiwanuka narrated.
Death trap
His late son Ssali, who was an ardent supporter of Mr Kibuule, drowned on October 25, 2015 and was buried at his father’s home in Luwunga.
“Now that the swimming pool has become a death trap, I advise the minister to shift it to another place or at least have a strong fence around it so that it’s not easily accessible by children,” Mr Kiwanuka said.
He said after the tragedy, he reported to Mukono Police Station and only recorded a statement.
“I never went to police to open a case against anybody but I recorded a statement. I paid the doctor for a post-mortem but it was not given to me. What I remember is that a police patrol truck drove me straight from hospital to my home where we buried,” Mr Kiwanuka recalls.
“I was just called that my son had died in the minister’s pool and I went and found him in Lugazi mortuary. Mr Kibuule gave me money for burial expenses and that was it. I thought he would have come to visit the family but he never did,” he added.
Mr Kiwanuka expressed his condolences to Mr Kibuule but said no other life should perish in the same swimming pool.
Appeal
“I am hurt; those children were young. That swimming pool needs to be removed. I am preparing to go and condole with Kibuule. I did not know him then but when my son died, I got to know him,” he said.
Mr Kiwanuka said his late son had just sat his Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) at Nama Primary School and the results returned with a good performance to take him to secondary school.
The late Ssali lived with his mother and had not returned home from Mr Kibuule’s victory celebrations at the minister’s residence the previous evening.
Ssali left behind a one-year old baby who Kibuule had promised to educate but Mr Kiwanuka said he was not aware whether the minister lived up to his promise.
Kampala Metropolitan spokesperson Patrick Onyango could not confirm the late’s Ssali’s drowning. “The person in Mukono is a new one; he does not have such details,” Mr Onyango said.
