The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | URN | The General Court Martial in Makindye has convicted two former security informers, Hamza Lyavaala and Walusansa Adiil, after they pleaded guilty to two counts of murder arising from bomb incidents at Munyonyo and Kalerwe in June 2025.
The two were convicted on Monday by the court, presided over by its chairman, Brigadier Richard Tukacungurwa. The court heard that Lyavaala and Walusansa, who were working as state informers on activities of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) at the time, admitted the prosecution’s account of how the two operations were planned and executed.
Prosecution, led by Lieutenant Regina Nanzala, told the court that contrary to the intelligence they were passing to security agencies, the two were themselves involved in facilitating the operations that resulted in the deaths of two people — Sumaya Byaruhanga at Munyonyo on June 3, 2025, and Azatu Sawiya at Kalerwe Market on June 21, 2025.
The two are jointly charged with Lieutenant Colonel Ephraim Byaruhanga, who has maintained his innocence and is due to stand trial next week over the same charges.
Lt Nanzala read to the General Court Martial the brief facts detailing how the prosecution alleges the crimes were committed. Lyavaala and Walusansa accepted the facts and confirmed to the court that they were true.
According to the prosecution, about three weeks before Martyrs Day, Lieutenant Colonel Byaruhanga, who was allegedly dissatisfied with his superiors — then Deputy Chief of Intelligence and Security Brigadier General Rugumayo and Director of Intelligence and Security Major General Otto — convened a meeting at Goers Hotel in Namulanda along Entebbe Road.
The Army prosecution said Byaruhanga met Lyavaala and Walusansa, who were then working as state informers on ADF activities, and allegedly briefed them about a suicide mission that was being planned. According to the facts admitted in court, Lyavaala promised to find a woman to execute the mission.
The prosecution said Byaruhanga gave Walusansa money to rent a house, which he did at Kinawa in Natete, Kampala. Byaruhanga allegedly also gave Lyavaala money to travel to Busoga to find a woman for the mission. Lyavaala allegedly contacted a person identified as Kassim, who brought Sumaya to him.
Lyavaala was then allegedly instructed to link up with Walusansa, who knew the location of the rented house, and Anthony Sekalala, who the prosecution said had made the bombs for the mission with the knowledge of Lieutenant Colonel Byaruhanga. The prosecution said the accused persons were briefed that the first operation would take place in Munyonyo on Martyrs Day and that Lieutenant Colonel Byaruhanga would inform Major General Otto about the operation.
On June 3, 2025, the prosecution said Byaruhanga drove Lyavaala and Walusansa to Munyonyo and informed them that he had requested officers from the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force (JATT), who allegedly knew that the operation was genuine and were expected to counter it.
The prosecution further said Sumaya subsequently left the rented house carrying a bomb. When she reached the agreed target area near Kagwa Bridge, close to Munyonyo Catholic Shrine, the bomb exploded, killing her at the scene.
Lieutenant Colonel Byaruhanga then allegedly invited police officers, who took over the crime scene. The prosecution said that about a week later, Byaruhanga again contacted Lyavaala and Walusansa and asked them to contact Kassim for another suicide bomber.
Kassim allegedly brought another woman, identified as Azatu Sawiya, who was taken for reconnaissance around Kalerwe, where the second operation was allegedly planned. On June 21, 2025, the prosecution said Lyavaala was in possession of two bombs with the knowledge of Lieutenant Colonel Byaruhanga. He was instructed to give one of the bombs to Sawiya and the other to Kassim, which he allegedly did.
Lyavaala allegedly instructed Sawiya that upon reaching Busega, she would board another motorcycle. The prosecution said the accused persons were at the Kalerwe scene together with JATT officers, waiting for Sawiya to arrive.
When Sawiya reached Busega, Lyavaala allegedly alerted the JATT officers, who followed her. The prosecution said Sawiya was shot when she arrived at Kalerwe Market and died at the scene. The bomb she was carrying was subsequently detonated, after which police took over the crime scene.
The two men were later arrested and arraigned before the General Court Martial, where they were charged with two counts of murder under Sections 171 and 172 of the Penal Code Act. The first count concerns the death of Sumaya Byaruhanga, which the charge sheet states occurred on or about June 3, 2025, at Kagwa Bridge near Munyonyo Catholic Shrine in Makindye-Ssabagabo Municipality, Wakiso District.
The second count concerns the death of Azatu Sawiya, which the charge sheet states occurred on or about June 21, 2025, at Kalerwe Market in Kawempe Division, Kampala. The prosecution alleges that both deaths were caused with malice aforethought.
After the prosecution read the facts and the two accused confirmed them, Lt Nanzala asked the court to impose the death penalty. She argued that the deceased were innocent people who did not know what they were carrying and had been lured into the operations by the convicts.
Defence counsel Major Simon Busagwa Nsubuga, however, asked the court to be lenient with his clients, arguing that they are family men capable of reforming. Major Busagwa told the court that one of the convicts has six children and four wives, while one of the children has a heart-related condition requiring regular care from the parent.
The convictions and the facts admitted in court have introduced a new dimension into the wider security case involving Major General James Birungi, who was arrested in August 2025 on several charges, including treachery and offences related to security.
Following Birungi’s arrest, information circulated indicating that he was also connected to the bomb incidents at Munyonyo and Kalerwe in which people were killed.
However, the facts presented and admitted in court on Monday identify Lieutenant Colonel Ephraim Byaruhanga as the officer who allegedly organised the operations.
The prosecution’s account states that Byaruhanga recruited Lyavaala and Walusansa, arranged for a woman to be brought from Busoga and allegedly facilitated the acquisition and use of explosives. The admitted facts further state that the alleged purpose of the operations was to attract the attention of Byaruhanga’s superiors, Brigadier General Rugumayo and Major General Otto, and make them believe in his intelligence information and work with him.
The prosecution account also places Major General Birungi outside the intelligence and security structure in which Byaruhanga was allegedly operating at the time of the bomb incidents, stating that Birungi had already been transferred to Mountain Division. Meanwhile, Birungi appeared in person before the General Court Martial on Monday in the case in which he is charged with treachery and offences related to security.
The case was adjourned to October 12, 2026, after the state said it was not ready to proceed because its witness is out of the country on official duties. The same date has been set for the sentencing of Lyavaala and Walusansa, who have been convicted on their own pleas of guilt.
