According to family members, Kibande’s influence extended beyond his relatives to the entire sub-county and Luuka district. Led by family spokesperson David Iroobe, the family described him as a selfless role model and a pillar of support.
The family of 65-year-old George Kibande, who was shot dead on Saturday, is demanding justice. Kibande, a prominent businessman and sugarcane farmer, was gunned down inside his home in Buyunze village, Bulongo sub-county, Luuka district.
According to family members, Kibande’s influence extended beyond his relatives to the entire sub-county and Luuka district. Led by family spokesperson David Iroobe, the family described him as a selfless role model and a pillar of support.
Iroobe said Kibande, the eldest of eight siblings, sacrificed his youth to work on farms to pay tuition fees for his siblings after their father's death, and later extended the same generosity to extended family members and underprivileged children in the village.
“Our father died when all of us were still in primary school, but Kibande resorted to working on other people’s farms as a means of raising enough tuition fees for us to study,” Iroobe said.
Over the years, Kibande accumulated wealth from sugarcane, poultry, and other agricultural enterprises, reportedly employing around 300 youth. To support unemployed youth under his scholarship scheme, he invested in mobile money shops, salons, kiosks, food stalls, and sugarcane trucks.
Iroobe described Kibande as a generous and hardworking man with no known enemies.
However, he revealed a longstanding land wrangle in Kamuli district, where Kibande had purchased 10 acres of land from a widow and her three sons — a move that sparked outrage among clan leaders.
The clan leaders filed a case against the widow and Kibande, but the court ruled in their favour, stating that in the absence of a written will, the widow and her children had the legal right to dispose of the property.
Despite the ruling, Iroobe said clan leaders continued issuing death threats to Kibande, with some cases registered at Kamuli police. Tensions escalated when a clan leader died and his family accused Kibande of witchcraft, later attempting to bury the deceased on the disputed land, which Kibande resisted.
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Police intervened at the time, using court rulings and land agreements to stop the burial. Iroobe suspects this unresolved tension may have culminated in Kibande’s murder.
Henry Nampala, who operates one of Kibande’s mobile money shops in Buyunze trading centre, recounted seeing Kibande around 7:00 p.m. on the night of the murder. He said that a suspicious-looking man appeared and asked for airtime, but refused to provide his phone number.
Nampala said the man later disappeared and was last seen moving towards Kibande’s home.
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Nampala suspects that Kibande was being trailed from Kamuli district and called on police to expedite investigations to deliver justice to the family.
Meanwhile, Samuel Mutekanga, the LCII chairperson of Nakabugu parish, criticised the police for their delayed response.
He noted that the crime scene is just two kilometres from the sub-county police station, which houses 18 standby officers.
Mutekanga said the suspects, believed to be three men, were seen jumping into a black salon car after hiding in a nearby sugarcane plantation for 15 minutes.
Residents tried to pursue the vehicle, which sped towards the Bulopa-Kamuli road, but their efforts were hampered by the lack of police backup.
//Cue in: "Abasirikale batuuka wano...
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However, Busoga North police spokesperson Michael Kasadha earlier told journalists that investigations are ongoing, and a detailed report will be released upon completion.
