By Seguya Musa
In 2014, the Ugandan citizenry were shocked by the sudden disappearing of former UCU (Uganda Christian University) student, Ritah Kivumbi. After two years of searching to no avail, the police recently went to her home in Mukono and discovered shocking details about why she disappeared. Her uncle, who insisted to talk on grounds of anonymity, relayed that she left the city because they’d refused to accept her hastily increasing urge to advocate for the LGBT community.
“Her father left when she was a toddler. She never really got to know how it felt to grow up with a father. By the time Ritah disappeared, she was a renowned gay advocate in our town, Mukono. We tried to understand her by setting rules for her to keep her secret at bay. By the time she left, most of her relatives had resolved to disown her because of her vehement and stubborn refusal to adhere to the rules,” said a former friend.
The uncle further revealed she was once almost expelled out of high school. When the community in Mukono however got hold of the information that she was strongly advocating for the LGBT community because she was gay, they vowed to discipline her. Her obvious interpretation of the threat, according to the villagers, was that the community had vowed to kill her.
“She eloped. No one knows where she is. Some people think she was kidnapped. Others think she is dead. The police won’t stop claiming there are investigations going on but we all know they will be to no avail. Her mother thinks she is out of the country but doesn’t know where she is. Heck, no one knows where she is. But her close friends and fellow friends always said it was because she was deterred from living a free life as lesbian in Uganda so she sought asylum in an unknown country,” said another relative.
