Dickens Agumeneitwe, the main suspect in the murder of Makerere University student, Jackline Nakabembe, has asked for a pardon, saying that he never intended to kill her.

Nakabembe was reported missing for several weeks in October until her body was found in a trench in Naguru, a suburb of Kampala. In the aftermath, police tracked one of her mobile phones which was found with a one Rasta, a resident of Naguru Go-Down.

Upon interrogation, Rasta said he got the phone from Agumeneitwe and led police to his home where police also found her passport-size photos. However, even with the findings, Agumeneitwe told the police at the time that he did not know the person they were looking for. He was subsequently detained at Kira Road police division and later transferred to flying squad headquarters at Kampala central police station (CPS).

Upon further interrogation, Agumeneitwe explained that he suspected that Nakabembe was cheating on him, and decided to trick her using a phone that was unknown to her pretending to be another person. To his surprise, he says, the girl did not stop the 'strangers' advances and kept leading him on until they agreed to meet.

He explained that when she eventually showed up for the meeting and noticed that her partner had disguised himself as a new boyfriend, she knelt and started apologizing. In the process, he said, they chose to sit under a tree at his home but Agumeneitwe who was boiling with anger punched her in the chest and she, immediately stopped breathing.

Today, Agumeneitwe who was being taken to City Hall court said that he punched Nakabembe out of anger but he never thought that the punch would end her life.

“My punch wasn’t intended to kill her. I was angry but the punch landed on the wrong side. She fell down and died. I left the body where we were sitting and it was taken by heavy rain. But I am sorry for what I did,” a detective quoted Agumeneitwe’s statement.

Patrick Onyango, the Kampala metropolitan police spokesperson also said that Agumeneitwe asked for forgiveness as he was being taken to court. Nevertheless, Agumeneitwe has been charged with two counts of murder and robbery of a mobile phone. Nakabembe’s body was exhumed about three weeks ago from Kampala Capital City Authority KCCA cemetery at Bukasa, Bweyogerere division, Kira Municipality, Wakiso district where she had been buried. - URN/The Observer

Tanzanian authorities have started rationing electricity and water supply because of a drop in hydropower generation brought on by drought, the national provider said Wednesday, with some areas set to suffer nine-hour outages.

The East African nation has the capacity to generate nearly 1,695 megawatts through hydropower, natural gas and other means. But it is facing a shortage of 300 to 350 megawatts, Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (Tanesco) managing director Maharage Chande said.

"There are two major reasons which have caused the shortages in generation: prolonged drought and ongoing maintenance in some of our plants," Chande told reporters in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, on Wednesday.

The affected plants include Kihansi in the southeast Morogoro region, whose capacity has fallen from 180 megawatts to 17 megawatts, he said.

"Water levels have decreased in most sources, forcing our plants to generate below their capacity," Chande said.

The country is trying to increase its hydropower capacity, including through the construction of the controversial Julius Nyerere dam project in the Selous Game Reserve, which is expected to produce 2,100 megawatts once operational.

Tanzania, like its East African neighbours, has been experiencing poor rainfall and delayed monsoons, leading authorities to impose water rationing in Dar es Salaam last month because of a drought-induced fall in water levels. Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are in the grip of the worst drought in four decades after four failed rainy seasons wiped out livestock and crops. Written by VOA