Police hunt woman implicated in the sale of young girls as sex slaves

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | After being held in police cells for more than a week, 60 year old Baguma Rajab, the LC1 chairman Nyakabaale village in Fort Portal city has had his fate change after a 14 year old girl who had accused him of defiling her suddenly changed her story.

Jackline Natulinda says she was coached to pin Baguma by her guardian Pelusi Kobusinge, who had earlier identified herself to the police as her biological mother in a bid to extract money out of him.

The story all changed when the girl’s real mother, Muhairwe Sophia showed up after watching the story on TV on December 31 when Baguma was being arrested. Muhairwe says her daughter had disappeared from home in Rwehaimba two years ago and efforts to find her had been futile.

Now the girl says Kobusinge lured her into leaving home saying she had got her a well paying job in Fort Portal town only to start selling her into prostitution. She says her and her colleague who Kobusinge claimed to have had with her, Natulinda, as twins Nyakato and Nyangoma have had to accept to have sex with men in order for the guardian to give them food and shelter.

That day three men had been sent to her by Kobusinge for sex, the girl says they always paid her Shs 5,000.

Kobusinge who had on Thursday visited police to establish the progress of her case disappeared when she saw the girl’s real mother. URN tried calling her on Friday morning but she couldn’t be reached.

Aloysius Akora who heads the Professional Standards Unit of Police at Fort Portal police station says Kobusinge will not only be charged for misinformation but also for selling underage girls into prostitution.

When asked about the way forward for Baguma who was still in custody by press time, Shaphurah Natuhwera the police officer who was in charge of the file says the developments came in when the file had been forwarded to the state attorney and they couldn’t take any additional statements.

However on her part, Sarah Kabahuma, Baguma’s daughter says her father’s arrest could have been politically motivated. She claims the police aided Kobusinge to not only disappear but refused to take additional statements even as the witnesses came before the file could be sanctioned. Earlier, she says while at the hospital, the girl was given emergency pills but the mother stopped her from taking them.

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URN