The High Court in Kampala has sentenced two men to death for the murder of former Ndiga clan head, Engineer Daniel Bbosa Kakeedo.
Lugya Bbosa Tabula and his relative, Lugya Noah alias Fake, were sentenced to death on Thursday by High Court Judge David Matovu after they pleaded guilty to the murder and confirmed that the facts presented by the prosecution were true.
The conviction and sentence followed the prosecution’s presentation of evidence linking the two to the killing, which was carried out in February 2024 in Lungujja, Kampala.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), represented by Chief State Attorney Joseph Kyomuhendo, Senior State Attorney Marion Ben-Bella and Senior State Attorney Carol Tabaro, led the prosecution during the proceedings and allocutus before Justice Matovu.
The State had urged the court to impose the maximum penalty, describing the circumstances surrounding the murder as exceptionally grave. Chief State Attorney Kyomuhendo told court that the case was among the rarest and most serious cases warranting the death penalty.
The court subsequently sentenced Tabula and Noah to death after considering their guilty pleas and the circumstances surrounding the planned killing.
The case dates back to February 25, 2024, when Engineer Bbosa, who was then the head of the Ndiga clan in Buganda and also a businessman and director of Transa Electrical Company, was shot dead near his home in Kikandwa, Lungujja, in Lubaga Division.
According to evidence presented in court, Bbosa was returning home from Katosi in Mukono District after presiding over a clan function. He was travelling in his Toyota Prado with his wife, Gladys, and a house help when the assailants, who were travelling on a motorcycle, attacked his vehicle near his residence.
The attackers reportedly opened fire at the vehicle before fleeing on the motorcycle. Local residents and boda boda riders pursued them, leading to a confrontation in the area.
One of the alleged attackers, Enock Sserunkuma alias Munaku, was captured and killed by an angry mob, while Noah was rescued by security officers after sustaining serious injuries. He was subsequently taken to Mulago Hospital for treatment.
Police recovered an AK-47 rifle believed to have been used in the killing. Ballistic examinations later established that the firearm was functional and matched spent cartridges recovered from the crime scene, while a postmortem examination established that Bbosa died from gunshot wounds.
The prosecution’s case further showed that the murder was not a random attack but was linked to a longstanding dispute over the leadership of the Ndiga clan.
Tabula had opposed Bbosa’s leadership of the clan and reportedly maintained that the position was his ancestral birthright. Prosecutors alleged that he masterminded the assassination and supplied the firearm used in the attack.
Investigators also uncovered evidence that the killing had allegedly been planned well before the fatal attack. According to the prosecution, meetings held between November and December 2023 discussed different ways of eliminating Bbosa, including poisoning, before the conspirators eventually settled on using a firearm.
The prosecution relied on several pieces of evidence, including CCTV and surveillance footage, telephone call-data records, forensic reports, the postmortem report, statements made by the accused and ballistic evidence.
According to the prosecution, Noah told investigators that he had participated in the killing on the instructions of Tabula and identified Sserunkuma as the person who fired the shots that killed Bbosa.
Tabula, who reportedly went into hiding following the killing, was arrested on August 19, 2024, in Namulonge, Wakiso District, after months on the run.
The murder shocked Buganda and attracted significant public attention because Bbosa was a prominent traditional leader. He was serving as the Lwomwa, or head, of the Ndiga clan, one of the clans within the Buganda Kingdom.
The case also exposed a deep-running dispute over succession to the Ndiga clan leadership. Earlier investigations indicated that the disagreement had persisted for years, with Tabula challenging Bbosa’s legitimacy as clan head and asserting an ancestral claim to the position.
In October 2024, five suspects were committed to the High Court following the completion of investigations by police and the DPP. They included Tabula, Noah, Harriet Nakiguli, Joseph Nakabake and Ezra Mayanja. The DPP later withdrew charges against Milly Naluwenda, a clerk of the Buganda Kingdom’s Kisekwa Court.
While Tabula and Noah pleaded guilty to the murder charge and have now been sentenced, Nakiguli, Nakabake and Mayanja denied the allegations and remain before court. Their trial has been scheduled to commence on September 8, 2026.
The sentencing therefore does not bring the entire case to an end, as the proceedings against the three remaining accused persons will continue separately.
The murder itself unfolded in dramatic circumstances. Police said at the time that the assailants were riding a motorcycle bearing a disguised registration number, UEX 754E. The firearm and motorcycle became key pieces of evidence as investigators reconstructed the events surrounding the killing.
The circumstances of Bbosa’s death, the alleged advance planning and the dispute over the Ndiga clan leadership subsequently became central to the prosecution’s case against the suspects.
The latest sentence represents a major success for the ODPP, which has pursued the prosecution of the case from the initial investigations through the committal proceedings and eventual trial before the High Court.
The two convicts now face the death penalty following their conviction for murder. Their sentencing came only hours after the High Court convicted them on their own guilty pleas.
The case will, however, remain before the High Court as the State proceeds with the prosecution of the three remaining accused persons, whose trial will shed further light on the circumstances surrounding the assassination of one of Buganda’s prominent clan leaders.
