UGANDA: One held as probe into MP’s death continues

By Isaac Imaka & Solomon Arinaitwe

Police said yesterday they had taken a male adult into custody in connection with the sudden death of Butaleja MP Cerinah Nebanda, as controversy continues raging over what killed her.

Ms Nebanda was pronounced dead on Friday night after two men and a nurse delivered her at Mukwaya General Hospital in Nsambya, in Kampala.

Police spokeswoman Judith Nabakooba said the man in custody is an associate of Adam Suleiman Kalungi, the late MP’s boyfriend, who is believed to have been with her in her last moments, and who the police want to interview.

Ms Nabakooba said the man was present when the MP was rushed to hospital, and had provided the police with “important information”.

Controversy continues to rage over what killed the 24-year-old MP, an outspoken government critic described by friends as amiable and loving. Police sources earlier suggested that a drugs overdose could be to blame but the former MP’s colleagues challenged this version at a press conference at Parliament yesterday.

Dr Chris Baryomunsi, a parliamentary commissioner and medical doctor who represented Parliament at the post-mortem exercise, ruled out drug abuse and natural causes. “During the post-mortem, we were able to exclude conditions that kill you suddenly, things like heart attack, blood pressure, blood clot. We also excluded any form of injuries caused by way of using weapons, strangulation, physical struggle or rape,” he said at a press conference yesterday. 

“And we can’t say she died of drug overdose because we all know she never used drugs and she was not also a drunk.”

The official post-mortem report has not yet been made public. “Now it is premature to know what exactly killed her. We hope by the time for burial, we will have definite information,” Dr Baryomunsi said. “Let’s not start building conspiracy theories; let’s let all the experts to do their work and we will come up with a report on what killed Nebanda. We hope police will do a good job, too, in constructing the information.”

Dr Baryomunsi added that Parliament has hired an independent pathologist and will arrange for body and tissue samples to be taken to a laboratory in South Africa for more analysis.

Meanwhile, Mr Ronald Nebanda, a brother to the deceased, expressed dissatisfaction with the “manner” of the police investigation, saying the “unethical statements” made about the death of his sister had upset their family.

Source: Daily Monitor (17/12/2012): http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/One-held-as-probe-into-MP-s-death-continues/-/688334/1645448/-/lou8f0/-/index.html