By Eye Media Reporter | Kamuli
A dark cloud of fear and suspicion is still hovering over Kamuli District since the tragic death of their LC5 Chairman, Charles Maxwell Mugude Kuwembula, who perished in a fatal car crash on June 12, 2025. As residents continue to mourn, disturbing revelations have emerged from former district leaders, exposing the seat as one cursed by witchcraft, poison, and mysterious deaths that haunt Kamuli’s top office.
Former LC5 Chairman Thomas Kategere has lifted the veil on what many in Kamuli have whispered for decades: that the district’s top political seat is cursed—haunted by witchcraft, poison, and malevolent forces that do not spare even the most innocent.
“That seat is deadly. I wouldn’t wish it even on my worst enemy,” Kategere told mourners at the burial of Kuwembula on Sunday, June 15th in Nakyaaka, Butansi Sub-county.
Kategere, who served from 2016 to 2021 under the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), claims his decision not to seek re-election was not political—but spiritual. He recounted horrifying incidents during his time in office, including witchcraft attacks and a suspected poisoning that nearly claimed his life.
“I found a live chick sitting on my office chair one morning, yet I had locked the office myself and gone with the keys,” he said, visibly shaken. “That was no accident. That was a warning from the dark world that controls politics in Kamuli.”
According to Kategere, Kamuli has become a political graveyard. Leaders don’t finish terms. Some are removed by court, others resign mysteriously, and a few—like the late Kuwembula—die under unclear or tragic circumstances.
“Since Kamuli became a district in 1974, I remain the only LC5 chairman who completed a full term in office. All the rest either died, fled or were removed,” he said.
The former LC5 boss said he had warned Kuwembula personally:
“I told him to be careful. He was a man of faith, always with his rosary. But in Kamuli, the battle isn’t just political. It’s spiritual. People use poison, they burn powders from birds called ‘makoova,’ and they don’t want anyone to lead in peace,” he said.
The makoova—a dreaded reverend bird in local lore—is allegedly burned and its ashes laced into food or drink, creating a slow-acting poison that weakens and eventually kills without clear trace.
“Every six months, I fly to Nairobi for a medical review from poison effects. What Salaam Musumba said about poison is the plain truth. I lived it,” Kategere added.
Adding weight to these claims is former LC5 Chairperson Salaam Musumba, who recently made explosive remarks on a local Kamuli radio program, alleging that a clandestine network of herbalists and poisoners has long targeted district leaders.
“They use traditional poison or they bewitch you,” Musumba declared, noting that many leaders now avoid eating in Kamuli’s restaurants. “Personally, if I am to eat, I go direct to the kitchen and serve myself.”
She also named other alleged poisoning victims, including Nabwigulu Sub-county NRM Chairperson Charles Mugaya, Robert Namiti, and Bugabula South MP aspirant Patricia Katagwa. Musumba revealed she once lost her hair due to suspected poisoning.
Shockingly, the late Kuwembula had disclosed just days before his death that he had been battling poisoning for five months and had been receiving treatment in Germany. This revelation came during an NRM delegates’ meeting at the Civil Service College in Jinja.
In the aftermath of Kuwembula’s death, several known political figures who were expected to express interest in the LC5 seat have reportedly gone silent, with some deleting campaign posters and distancing themselves from the race.
“I had ambitions, but my family begged me not to step forward. They reminded me of what happened to Kuwembula and others before him,” said a former sub-county chairperson who preferred anonymity.
