Sir Apollo Kagwa Primay School, Nakasero conceals minister’s child who reportedly caused death of a pupil

Police detectives are making  return journeys to Sir Apollo Kaggwa
Primary School Nakasero to record witness statements and reconstruct
an incident that recently claimed the life of a five-year-old child.

The incident claimed life of Imran Ssentamu, a pupil in Top class B,
who died at the nearby Case Hospital, also in the city’s upscale
Nakasero neighbourhood, where school authorities had rushed him  he
was hurt by an object at the school located on Nakasero Road

The deceased’s parents lodged a case at police after receiving
conflicting accounts on the events that resulted in the death of the
child.
The Nakasero campus is one of several top Sir Apollo Kaggwa schools,
and runs both nursery and primary sections.

In an interview with the press the dead pupil’s father, who requested
not to be named, said he believes that the school management’s actions
raise suspicion that they are concealing the truth.

“The school management told us that Imran knocked a table and it hit
him. But five of seven children, who witnessed the incident, told the
detectives yesterday that someone pushed a three-legged table that hit
him,” the father said, tears roling down his cheek.

One version of the incident is that a child of  a powerful government
official pushed the furniture that knocked the five-year-old Ssentamu,
resulting in him bleeding profusely.

The other account, one told by the school administration and
constituting official line of police inquiry, is that the table
collapsed on the child in a freak accident.

Mr Francis Banya, the head teacher at Sir Apollo Kaggwa Primary School
Nakasero, declined to comment on the incident on grounds that “the
issue is being handled by the police”. “You should get details from
the police,” he said, “We have no comment”.

Surprisingly, the administration did not inform other parents about
the incident until hours after Ssentamu lost his life. They had
organised a pre-Primary Four children music concert and traditional
food exhibition on the premises.
The fatal incident had happened on Friday before the mid-morning break
time and briefly paralysed activities at the school as teachers,
non-teaching staff and curious pupils gathered in shock.

Ssentamu was rushed to Case Hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival.
The post-mortem report shows he suffered a broken skull and back
injuries. The deceased’s father said the boy previously returned home
with a facial bruise, and informed them that the injury was inflicted
by a bully pupil.

He said he notified the class teacher, and had no reason to believe a
repeat attack would happen and take their child’s life.
The father asked not to be named because he is a lower-level
government employee and fears reprisal by the “powerful and
well-connected” parent of the alleged bully child.

He said accounts offered by children interviewed by police suggests
the likelihood that they were coached to structure similar response.

The deceased’s mother, who too asked not to be named, said her second
child, who is in Middle Class at the same Sir Apollo Kaggwa School
branch, told them that his elder brother was pushed and tumbled down
the stairs of the storeyed buildings

The toddler said his brother rose up painfully, couldn’t speak and
desperately signalled for help.

“He told us that there was no teacher to help [Ssentamu) immediately,”
the mother said, quoting the deceased’s sibling. The traumatised
Middle Class child has stopped going to school where tuition per term
grosses Shs1.1m.

She said other pupils corroborated the account, but teachers have
since gagged them.
“I am ready to forgive whoever did anything to my child. What I want
to know is the truth about what happened,” she said.
One pupil, whose name we are concealing because he is a minor, said
they saw “a lot of blood” on the floor on the fateful day and became
scared to return to school.
They have received no counselling.

Luke Owoyesigyire, the Kampala Metropolitan Police deputy spokesman,
said that they are likely to prefer charges of “rash and negligence”
causing death against some school staff.

“We have obtained statements from the school head teacher, pupils and
class teacher of Imran Ssentamu…we arrested the teacher but later
released her on police bond,” he said.

Ssentamu had been bullied at school multiple times, according to his
parents. One time some tormenter switched his good shoe for an old
one. On another occasion, he was injured near the right eye.

Sir Apollo Kaggwa Primary School Nakasero management never notified
police of the incident and eventual death of Ssentamu, detectives
said, even when the Kampala Central Police Station (CPS) is about
half-a-kilometre away.
Police became aware when deceased’s parents lodged a case.