Human head at Parliament: Besigye says MPs, government officials captured by witchcraft

Opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye has suggested there is witchcraft practice at Uganda’s Parliament after security arrested a man with a human head wrapped as a gift to Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga.

On September 14, security officers at Parliament intercepted a man who had wrapped a human head and stuffed it into a bag.

The head had been cut off a child aged about five, according to police.

Police would later identify the man as Joseph Nuwashaba, aged 22, from Kizinda Town in Bushenyi District’s Ishaka-Bushenyi Municipality.

Nuwashaba is still under detention.

Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department (CID) spokesperson Charles Mansio Twine said the unit was probing Nuwashaba’s links to a murder reported in Masaka.

Now, according to Besigye, the interception of a human head at Parliament points to acts of witchcraft practiced by MPs.

According to Besigye, the institution of Parliament in particular, and government in general, as well as MPs and government officials are under a witchcraft spell, and this could be what is fuelling greed among legislators and public servants.

“Witchcraft at/in Parliament! A pointer to what many Ugandans believe: We have a “bewitched” Parliament, Government!” wrote Besigye.

“Nothing can explain the reckless greed, selfishness and shamelessness.”

Besigye argued that the fact that someone can cut off another’s head for witchcraft purposes, and wrap it as a gift to another was “a very sad commentary, too, on the Ugandan society” and clearly indicated that the moral decay in our society fathomless!”

Over the years, reports of ritual sacrifice have been reported, but child rights activists say such cases increase during election seasons.

Some candidates are said to seek supernatural powers to beat their opponents in electoral contests.

Years ago, a photo showing a woman believed to be Speaker Kadaga coming out of a shrine emerged online, sparking debate on the link between witchcraft and politics in Uganda.