By VOM News Team
The fate of a senior three student from Muhabura Shine Secondary School in Kisoro Municipality, hangs in the balance, after he was wrongfully accused of homosexual acts that led to his arrest for three days and three nights.
The minor aged 16, whose identity has been concealed for his own protection was taken to Kisoro Police Station for safe keeping by one of the school directors, after some of students with whom he shares a dormitory, wanted to physically harm him over the alleged homosexual acts.
The minor has since been released from Police Custody after being found innocent of the allegations.
Darkness, however, still hangs over the boy and his future after Muhabura Shine decided to send him back home indefinitely.
Senior administrators at the school who spoke to Voice of Muhabura say the student is free to return to school however the psychological trauma the minor experienced while being attacked by fellow students and being taken to the Police station, might be too much for him to concentrate on his studies.
The school administrators say, the power lies in the hands of the caregivers of the minor to choose whether to return or change him to another school, for his own safety.
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni signed into law, the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 to fortify the Uganda penal code that already punishes same-sex conduct with life imprisonment.
Family Demands Justice.
Mrs. Musabayi is a peasant and a widow from Nyarusiza Sub County whose survival is hinged on subsistence farming.
Musabayi says her son was privileged to get sponsors from within the community who agreed to pay his school fees after noticing his interest in learning.
The minor is said to be good at chemistry among other subjects.
“My son worked for this kind family as a causal laborer and when they noticed that he was well disciplined and had a desire to study, they took him up and began paying his school fees”, Musabayi explained.
Mrs. Musabayi says she was overwhelmed with mixed emotions when she learnt that her son had been arrested and the charges against him were related to ‘ungodly’ acts.
She is now calling for Justice for her son whose future now hangs in the balance and yet he is innocent of any wrongdoing.
One of the caregivers to the minor, during a phone conversation with www.vomuhabura.com said they are still gathering all the facts before taking a decision.
How it all started
Director of Studies who only identified himself as Elijah says, the minor and others had returned from class (night preps), commonly known as WINTER.
The accused boy slept on the bed with another boy, just like he had always done.
The minor suggests that the two boys had been sleeping on the same bed since first term.
Voice of Muhabura was not able to independently verify the claim.
According to the director, the boy’s luck ran out that night when he allegedly touched his bedmate’s private parts.
The startled bedmate woke in fear and panic, making an alarm to be rescued from a suspected Homosexual.
“The two boys were both fully clothed when they went to sleep therefore such claims are not fully reliable”, Elijah said.
The Director’s account goes further to explain that other boys attempted to beat up the said culprit after discovering that he had ejaculated on himself.
“We quickly called on the Police to come and save the young man from being beaten because the entire dormitory was angry and charged”, Elijah explained.
The accused minor spent three days and three nights at Kisoro Police Station.
Mrs. Musabayi, mother of the accused claims that, while at Police, the minor was cleared of any wrongdoing.
The investigating officer further advised that the minor be taken out of the said school ‘for peace of mind‘, a line of thought that was adopted by the head teacher and other administrators at the school.
Musabayi further revealed that a total of 200,000 Ugandan Shillings (un-receipted money) was asked from her by the said Police officer in order for her innocent son to be set free.
These claims were not independently verified by Voice of Muhabura.
The tale of the young man further exposes a bigger problem in private Primary and Secondary Schools in Kisoro district where many pupils and Students are sharing beds.
This was confirmed by the Municipal Inspector of Schools Assumpta Mukankusi who said, many private schools continue to admit pupils and students beyond their capacity.
This results in poor sanitation of the school latrines and dormitories.
She says the second term alone has since a spike of learners reporting for medical treatment at Kisoro Hospital for skin diseases, common colds and ulcers.
Augustin Mbonigaba, the chairperson of Private Primary Schools says it is unfortunate that many private schools are taking accommodation of learners for granted.
Mbonigaba said schools need to be more vigilant because the threat of homosexuality is real and the safety of learners in the district lies in a joint collaboration between educators, parents and the Police.
Muhabura Shine Speaks Out.
Senior administrators at Muhabura Shine said, the minor’s incident was a false allegation but next time it might be true for someone else.
The issue of students sharing beds is strongly discouraged and those who choose to do are aware of its illegality, but they still do it anyway.
The Administration says, they have gone an extra mile to sensitize the learners about the dangers of drugs, alcohol and now, homosexuality so they are much aware and are quick to report such matters through the established leadership structures at the school.
Muhabura Shine Secondary School is one of the leading secondary Schools in the district, performing well in sciences.
The school also boasts of several incomplete structures meant to serve as dormitories and staff housing that have never been completed since 2017 due to financial constraints that were exacerbated by the Covid -19 pandemic.
The school administration says education and security of the learners are the topmost priorities and that will not change anytime soon.
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