A year after losing her only child, Hawa Nambalirwa still wakes up searching for answers. Instead, she says she has encountered closed files, unanswered questions, and a justice system that has failed her. It has been more than a year since Nambalirwa, a resident of Kona Zone in Komamboga, Nakawa Division, lost her 10-year-old son, Jeremiah Ziwa Hamudan, a Primary Three pupil at Wills’ Day-Care.
Ziwa was found dead on the night of July 4, 2025, on a climbing frame at the neighboring Magie Day Care and Primary School. For Nambalirwa, the pain of losing her only child has only deepened with time. She says she is haunted not only by his death but by what she believes are unanswered questions surrounding the circumstances in which he died.
The tragedy began like any ordinary evening. At around 7:00 p.m., after supper, Ziwa left home to play with cousins and neighborhood children. As the hours passed without him returning, Nambalirwa grew anxious and sent the family housemaid to look for him. The maid searched throughout the neighborhood but returned without finding him.
Fear quickly turned into panic. Together, the two combed Kona Zone, asking shopkeepers, vendors, and residents whether anyone had seen the boy. Their search eventually led them to a chapati vendor, who recalled that Ziwa had bought chapati while accompanied by two unfamiliar children before the trio walked away together.
By dawn, Nambalirwa had reported to Komamboga Police Post that her son was missing. Before officers could formally register the case, police received information that a child’s body had been discovered on a climbing frame inside the nearby school. The news left her stunned.
According to Nambalirwa, she could not understand how her son’s body had ended up inside a school that had been closed the previous night, especially after she and other residents had searched the area without finding him. “We rushed to the school, but police had already cordoned it off as a crime scene. They told us to wait outside because officers from Kawempe were coming, but they never waited. I was taken home to change because I had collapsed several times and my clothes were covered in mud. While I was away, they took my son’s body to Mulago without allowing me to see him,” she recalled.
At the city mortuary, she says she noticed bruises around Ziwa’s neck and back. Based on what she saw, she believes her son may have been strangled before his body was placed on the climbing frame to make his death appear accidental. Police have not publicly confirmed that account.
Nambalirwa continues to question how her son entered the school compound after it had closed and why security guards on duty did not stop him if he had indeed entered alive. She also faults investigators from Kasangati Police Station for allegedly ignoring residents’ requests to deploy a police sniffer dog before the body was removed and for failing to retrieve CCTV footage from nearby cameras.
She further accuses police of mishandling the investigation and attempting to pressure her into accepting a settlement instead of pursuing criminal investigations. According to Nambalirwa, the school’s proprietors, Wicklif Kasirye and Martin Ssenjawuzi, later offered her Shs1.5 million and promised to educate another child from Primary One to Primary Seven.
She says she rejected the offer, describing it as an insult to her grief. She also says she was never allowed to see the contents of the investigation file before it was submitted to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP). She later learned that the file had reportedly been returned because of insufficient evidence, with instructions for police to conduct further investigations.
However, after months of following up on the matter, she says police informed her that the file had been closed. Investigators reportedly told her that the ODPP had found no evidence of foul play, relying on the postmortem findings and evidence that the child had allegedly entered the school through a hole in the perimeter fence.
Unwilling to let the matter rest, Nambalirwa says she has spent the past year moving from one government office to another—including the ODPP, the Ministry responsible for Children’s Affairs and police headquarters—seeking someone willing to reopen the case.
One of the school proprietors, Martin Ssenjawuzi, says police investigations concluded that the incident was an accident and cleared the school of any wrongdoing. His co-proprietor, Wicklif Kasirye, says the family remains free to pursue any other legal avenues if they are dissatisfied with the outcome of the police investigation.
Responding to the family’s concerns, Police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke says anyone dissatisfied with a police investigation can either file a complaint with the Professional Standards Unit over alleged misconduct or appeal to the Regional Criminal Investigations Commander or the Regional Police Commander to have the case reviewed.
“When the file is retrieved, the investigating officer explains how the crime scene was handled, what investigations were conducted, why arrests were or were not made, and why the DPP returned or closed the file. If there are gaps, fresh investigations can be ordered,” Kituuma said.
He advised the family to petition Kampala Metropolitan North Regional Police Commander SSP Moses Nanoka, clearly outlining their concerns and providing any additional evidence they believe could assist investigators. Despite the setbacks—and what she describes as threats intended to discourage her from pursuing the matter—Nambalirwa says she refuses to give up-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
