KAMPALA: Police in Wakiso have started investigations into the cause of death of a secondary school teacher who set himself ablaze with an unknown substance.
The deceased has been identified as Noah Buyinza a Geography teacher at Dar-Es-Salaam Secondary School in Matugga town.
Eyewitnesses say that Buyinza doused himself in an odourless liquid and lit himself into a fireball and he ran towards the roadside screaming and trying to put off the fire.
The late Buyinza whose cause of setting himself ablaze is yet established by the local police was rushed to a nearby health facility where he later succumbed to third-degree burns.
Close friends say the deceased could have decided to commit suicide due to financial hardships brought about by the #Coronavirus lockdown.
“He called me last week and told me he had food at home but did not have charcoal. He wanted me to get him Ugx 20,000 to buy charcoal. That was the last time we had a chat,” Mutekanga told the press.
The late Buyinza is an Education graduate from Kyambogo University. The terrifying scene is one of the many incidents that have rocked the country.
Last month, a 29-year-old Boda Boda man died after setting fire to himself inside a police station.
Hussein Walugembe's bike was seized in the south-western district of Masaka, about 135km (85 miles) from the capital, Kampala, on Monday.
Boda Boda guys on his stage alleged those police officers had demanded 150,000 Uganda Shillings to release his motorcycle.
A police spokesman later said the entire traffic department being investigated for bribery.
Boda Bodas had been banned from carrying passengers as part of efforts to control the spread of coronavirus.
Boda Boda riders were only able to operate between 06:30 and 17:00 local time and can only transport cargo.
Mr Walugembe’s bike was confiscated for flouting COVID-19 guidelines set by the government.
Mr Walugembe reportedly became frustrated with the police after visiting the station several times to demand they release his bike.
On a Thursday, he locked himself into a room at the station and set himself alight using petrol concealed in a water bottle.
Officers at the station ferried water in jerry cans to put out the fire. An officer who was with him at the time suffered minor injuries and several files and computers were destroyed.
Private teachers in Uganda have turned into pottery and bricklaying as the coronavirus lockdown continued to hold. Many of the teachers who had no alternative jobs in towns have been forced to go back to their villages.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had adverse effects on the finances of most teachers. Now they are compelled them to take on numerous informal jobs on construction sites, washing cars, laying bricks among others.
Commentaires