Head teacher arrested over disappearance of two pupils

Police are holding a primary school head teacher in Kyotera Town Council in Kyotera District over the disappearance of two pupils.
Newton Matovu, 12 and Mike Kikonyogo, 11 of Primary six and two respectively, have been missing since September 17 when they reportedly left school to fetch water from a nearby borehole.
A police search for the pupils who were in boarding section, has yielded nothing, prompting their parents to storm the school demanding for an explanation.

The rowdy parents led by Ms Deborah Namubiru, a mother to Matovu and Mr Amos Kizito, a father to Kikonyogo poured out their frustrations and threatened to vandalize school property if their children are not found.
The angry parents accused the school administrators of negligence, which led to the disappearance of their children.
“The children could not have been kidnapped at that time without the knowledge of the teachers. We should pin the teachers to produce our children,” Mr Kizito said.

There are some claims that the pupils could have been kidnapped for ritual sacrifice since Rakai and Kyotera districts harbour over 2,500 traditional doctors, according to police records. The parents also asked police to investigate the mushrooming shrines in the area, whose operators, they say could be behind the disappearance of their children.
Mr Musa Kayongo, the Kyotera District police commander said they are holding the head teacher to help in their investigations. Police are also investigating reports that the children disappeared during holidays but the school administration concealed information from parents.
He urged the parents to stay calm and wait for outcome of the Police investigations, saying they had already got leads.
“I’m sure we will have recovered those children by the end of this week because our detectives have registered some progress in their investigations,” he said.

This is the second case of a missing person(s) to be recorded in the district in a space of three months.
In June, Mr Nathan Lutaaya, a former student at Biikira Primary Teacher Training College also went missing for three days and his body was later recovered at Kasensero landing site near Mutukula border.
In 2015, police in the district arrested a woman who had reportedly sold a one- day-old baby to a traditional doctor in Tanzania after giving birth at Kalisizo hospital.