By Mulengera Reporters
On the night of 11th May this very year, Quarish Ssegirinya alias Yasiin Lubowa was caught red-handed carrying out acts of vandalism on Telecom masts belonging to American Tower Corporation (ATC). This was past mid-night and crime scene was Namakonkome hill in the Matuga neighbourhood off the Kampala-Bombo Highway.
A group of private security operatives, working under SWAT and Platinum security companies, stumbled on him while on routine night patrol around ATC’s Telecom Mast sites which have for years been deliberately targeted by vandals who dismantle such sites and carry away the equipment and heavy metallic steel things which they sell to dealers in Kampala as scrap.
ATC contracted a Ugandan firm called i-Engineering Ltd to oversee the maintenance and security of hundreds of its such sites and towers, which enable the making of phone calls and access to other services offered by telecom companies which rely on ATC. Because ATC was losing a lot of money as a result of such telecom masts and sites vandalism, i-Engineering deployed their security manager 44-year-old Stanley Wabuge to personally move with private security guards and managers from the other two firms.
These were sub contracted to oversee security by i-Engineering because there is no way the company can have enough personnel to physically be at each and every telecom mast site. During that day’s routine patrol, the security team caught Yasiin Lubowa red-handed inside a generator house which he was busy dismantling. One of the security guards had a gun and cocked insisting they just kill the vandal on spot to send out a strong message to deter other vandals.
Yasiin Lubowa, whose four other accomplices fled and escaped being arrested, loudly cried out saying “Afande Tokuba [please don’t kill me].” And as he gave evidence on behalf of the state prosecutors from UCC (whose lawyers prosecute such cases in Her Worship Gladys Kamasanyu’s Standards, Utilities & Wildlife Magistrates Court in Makindye) on Tuesday, Stanley Wabuge said he regrets pleading with members of his security team that night who wanted to shoot and kill vandal Lubowa on the spot.
Having previously given his evidence (during his examination-in-chief session) during the preceding week, Tuesday was for Lubowa (who is legally unrepresented & is therefore his own lawyer) to cross-examine him. Having been jailed, tried and convicted before (in 2021) for committing the same vandalism offence, Lubowa now knows a lot about Uganda’s criminal justice system and believes he can ably represent himself given that he has no money to hire a lawyer.
The state briefs system, which obliges the state or government to get a lawyer for indigents, doesn’t strictly apply to Lubowa because his offence isn’t of a capital nature upon which it becomes mandatory for government to hire a lawyer for the accused person. So, Lubowa (who completed his earlier jail sentence it in May 2024 before committing the same vandalism offence in May 2025) believes he has had enough exposure to the criminal justice system to the extent that he can now represent himself.
His cross-examination questions were so provocative and angering to the extent that at some point Stanley Wabuge (the state witness) protested to the Magistrate wondering why someone he caught red-handed stealing his employer’s equipment and even saved from being shot at around 1am in the morning of 12th May, could be permitted to insult him so much in front of media cameras, in court.
Wabuge, who isn’t a lawyer and therefore doesn’t know much about cross examination, at some point forgot he was before a Magistrate and engaged in a shouting march with the accused person.
At some point, Yasiin Lubowa (the thief he caught red-handed and pleaded for not to be shot instantly) had guts to brand him a useless liar who was here to just tell court falsehoods. He made him get so angry and at some point Wabuge turned to face the Magistrate saying “Your Worship I regret saving this man that night.” He explained that some of his colleagues considered shooting him dead in the hope they would get away with it since this was 1am when everyone else was asleep.
“Let me repeat that you man I regret why I saved you because I’m very sure you are still alive and able to insult me before all these people because I saved you,” responded Wabuge in response to the very provocative cross-examination questions which Lubowa at some point relied on to declare to the Magistrate “Your Worship you can clearly see for yourself who between and Mr. Stanely is actually the thief.” Lubowa even demanded to be permitted to cross-examine the state prosecutor.
Clearly shocked at Lubowa’s guts and shamelessness, Wabuge couldn’t believe the man who was crying for mercy through that night up to the morning of 12th May when they surrendered him to the CIDs at Matuga Police Station, was now all of a sudden here turning tables on him. At some point, Lubowa demanded to know why Wabuge & others didn’t record videos or even photos of him being arrested and later on pleading for mercy. “You told Court last week that you tied me on ropes and in the same statement you later on said that I tried to fight you people. How could I manage to fight you when I’m tied on ropes and totally subdued?”
Wabuge responded with “yes you terrible thief, you are capable of doing that because you are a giant man.” This caused prolonged laughter in court. Lubowa, who has learnt over the years (as someone who has been on criminal trial severally before) knows very well that the more he angers the witness and creates doubt in the mind of the Magistrate regarding his guilt, the better because that reduces on his culpability and leads the prosecution towards failing to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.
Because he had confidence and kept referring to his well-prepared cross-examination notes, Lubowa asked many provocative and embarrassing questions aimed at angering and impeaching Wabuge’s credibility as a key prosecution witness. At some point, Lubowa (who has been signalling readiness to plead guilty in return for lighter sentencing only to change his mind at the next opportunity) asked Wabuge to disclose to court more details about the 30KVA generator which he was caught dismantling on that fateful night. And when the witness declined saying he wasn’t technical enough to answer such questions, Lubowa instigated the Magistrate to disallow his entire evidence on grounds he was testifying about things he doesn’t have adequate knowledge about.
“Your Worship you know very well I’m a mechanic from Kisekka market and this is one area where I have a lot of understanding. Let me tell you Mr. Stanley is a liar and actually the one who is supposed to be on trial and not myself. He is telling open lies to this court. The exhibits he has just displayed and taken court through saying they are the ones I was caught with don’t march the type of the generator [30KVA] he has described in his own words. They are too small and all this shows I’m just being persecuted on fabricated evidence,” in Luganda said the 30-year-old Kisekka market mechanic who Wabuge (being someone who got him rend-handed) is convinced is the thief and vandal who for years has been leading others to target and vandalize several of ATC masts and telecom towers in the Matuga neighbourhood and other places.
Mr. Wabuge maintains and told Court he was 100% sure that the man being prosecuted is the very one he saw and arrested on the night of 11th May. He said the fact that Lubowa is finally in explains why vandalism cases, targeting his client ATC’s Masts and tower sites, have lately diminished in frequency. To him, this is because the squad leader Lubowa’s incarceration and inability to roam around freely explains why the vandalism squads are now in disarray and haven’t been wrecking havoc of late.
Mulengera News understands that Lubowa has been oscillating between pleading guilty on one day and not guilty on the next because while in Luzira, inmates get exposed to a lot of self-defence ideas from fellow inmates and visiting lawyers whose advice quite often causes them to keep changing their mind as opposed to pleading guilty, enter a plea-bargain deal and end up getting a much lighter sentence.
Each time he feels the prosecution witnesses have given overwhelming evidence implicating him fully, Yasiin Lubowa becomes scared and signals the Magistrate of readiness to plead guilty yet once back at Luzira, he gets exposed to new ideas which keep emboldening him to say “I’m ready to defend myself.” And Gladys Kamasanyu (the trial Chief Magistrate), who Lubowa casually addresses as ‘mum,’ keeps making it clear that no accused person should be forced or stampeded into pleading guilty if they feel they aren’t and are in position to defend themselves against the prosecution case.
In his case, Yasiin Lubowa (who was caught red-handed with generator parts such as generator radiator, generator fan guard, generator fan-all of which have since been tendered as part of the prosecution evidence) faces a maximum jail term of 5 years once found guilty and convicted.
And this is so because he is a repeat offender against whom the Uganda Communications Act prescribes the maximum of five years in prison. Mulengera News understands that because he is hardened, having been through even much worse before, Yasiin Lubowa (who is a resident of Kibuye in Makindye Division) doesn’t seem to be bothered.
He is taking things so casually while appearing before the Magistrate, each time he is put in the dock, to the extent that last Tuesday he asked the presiding Magistrate to order/direct Stanly Wabuge (the complainant) to buy him lunch because he was tired of prison food. He said this after the cross-examination session had ended and Kamasanyu, in her jocular fashion, suggested that none of the men should ever hold a grudge against the other simply because of the belligerent exchange they had just had.
“I think you can even wave, smile at each other or even shake hands to show that there was nothing personal about what has just happened in court [before me] right now,” Kamasanyu said as the two men left their respective stands to go back in the audience to resume their seats. “No, Your Worship I don’t want his handshake, just order Mr. Stanley to buy me lunch. I’m hungry let him buy for me nice lunch because I’m tired of prison food,” he said causing laughter among journalists, lawyers, fellow inmates and other court users who were present that day.
SERIOUS SITUATION THOUGH: Yet behind all this banter (played out by the likes of Yasiin Lubowa before a fully packed court room) lies a very concerning situation relating to how much the country and investors like ATC actually lose as a result of unabated vandalism acts, which according to prosecution, continue to be orchestrated by unrepentant actors like Yasiin Lubowa and others.
The vandalism crimes they commit and remain seemingly unrepentant about are also a problem to the resource-constrained judicial system as Magistrates like Kamasanyu have to dedicate time trying them and seeking to establish their guilt at the expense of attending to other cases and matters before Court.
Yet for UCC Legal Affairs head Dr. Abdul Salaam Waisswa, it’s much more than that. Waisswa, who continues to lead UCC prosecutors who every week have to drive to Makindye to go prosecute such offenders, says that vandalism actually negatively impacts everyone and diminishes Uganda’s competitiveness and attractiveness as an irresistible investment destination for foreign investors like ATC.
He says that, whereas ATC loses actual money directly, as the vandalised equipment has to be replaced, it’s clients (the telecom companies) suffer reputational problems and even lose actual business as their customers and subscribers will endure days of unreliable and disrupted communication network as phone calls’ quality will drop and users won’t be able to communicate effectively.
A damaged mast will also disrupt and weaken (as opposed to strengthening) network quality for subscribers leveraging the system for data usage and internet access. Waisswa says a businessman who is unable to effectively communicate via phone calls’ making or even internet connectivity will lose out big time on business opportunities, which is why all Ugandans must realize that vandalism is a universal problem for everybody and react by becoming vigilant by promptly reporting vandalism whenever and wherever they become aware of the same.
