{"id":2220,"date":"2020-11-13T06:58:47","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T06:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ugandaupdatenews.com\/?p=2220"},"modified":"2020-11-13T06:58:55","modified_gmt":"2020-11-13T06:58:55","slug":"why-kanyamunyu-got-only-5-years-for-killing-akena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/why-kanyamunyu-got-only-5-years-for-killing-akena\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Kanyamunyu got Only 5 Years for Killing Akena"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><\/td><td>Why Kanyamunyu got Only 5 Years for Killing Akena \u00a0 On the exact 4th anniversary since he fatally shot Kenneth Akena at Lugogo in Kampala, Mathew Kanyamunyu has been sentenced to five years in prison. \u00a0 The sentence appears rather light, but it comes after a protracted process combining diplomacy, legal maneuvers and serious lobbying to defuse a potentially explosive conflict that had initially \u00a0taken a sectarian character given that the shooter was from a privileged background and from Ankole while the deceased victim was from the long suffering Acholi community. \u00a0 <br>When the hot tempered Kanyamunyu shot Akena after he accidentally scratched his car on November 12th 2016, his good-natured girlfriend Cynthia Munangwari who was with him in the \u00a0car insisted that they take the injured Akena to hospital. It is Cynthia\u2019s insistence that both spoilt Kanyamunyu\u2019s chances of getting away with the killing, but which has also been the most decisive factor in making it possible to reduce the murder charge to manslaughter that \u00a0earns a lighter sentence. \u00a0 Kanyamunyu initially pleaded not guilty. At the time, ethnic sentiments were high and another \u00a0man with a hot temper, Aruu MP Odonga Otto started to mobilise the Acholi community to seek justice for Akena. <br><br>Otto started readying to mobilise for transporting busloads of Acholi people to Kampala for the trial sessions. Matters were not helped when another hothead, \u00a0Edith Byanyima who is Kanyamunyu\u2019s aunt, countered that she was going to mobilise her \u00a0Baganda allies (the trial was taking place in Kampala, in Buganda Kingdom where she has very high connections in the royal family) to fight the Acholis. \u00a0 As tempers were getting out of hand, Kanyamunyu\u2019s cooler headed aunties including world UNAIDS boss Winnie Byanyima, top businesswoman Mrs Merian Sebunya took up the matters \u00a0and sued for peace, opting for diplomacy and lobbying. <br><br>\u00a0 The highly respected ladies reached out to the late Akena\u2019s family and senior Acholi religious and cultural leaders and lengthy negotiations got under way. In the end, Mathew Kanyamunyu \u00a0put all his social trappings aside and submitted to the Acholi cultural rituals of Mato Oput seeking \u00a0forgiveness and reconciliation. A smuggled video from the event showed Kanyamunyu \u2018walking\u2019 on \u00a0his knees towards the elders in Acholi and making his confession. He was made to pay ten cows and three goats. \u00a0 But the move to seek forgiveness and reconciliation did not go down well with his lawyers Caleb Alaka, Mc Dusman Kabega and Evans Ochieng. When Kanyamunyu returned to court \u00a0and for the proceedings to be put on hold so he completes the Mato Oput as well as the plea bargaining \u00a0prosecution, his angry lawyers simply abandoned him.\u00a0 \u00a0<br><br> Apparently agreeing with the defendant\u2019s lawyers who however never gave a reason for abandoning the case (they did not even pull out officially), Justice Stephen Mubiru flatly refused to mix Mato Oput with modern legal procedures, saying particularly that there is no established structure or authority over the cultural ritual. He explained to Kanyamunyu \u00a0that if got shortchanged in the Mato Oput, there was no known way for him to seek remedy. Besides, the cultural ritual had no time framework to work in. He also reminded Kanyamunyu that his co-accused, Cynthia Munangwari, was not party to the Mato Oput and so the delay he was seeking would deny her a speedy trial. <br><br><strong>Team Kanyamunyu moved into top gear<\/strong> <strong>\u00a0<\/strong> <br>He hired another lawyer of no mean credentials, Peter Kabatsi who like Kabega, had been DPP and knows the workings of the state legal machine in and out. In a couple of days, the plea bargaining process got underway. And this Thursday, the parties returned to court with a deal done.\u00a0 \u00a0<br><br> Kanyamunyu pleaded guilty to manslaughter and got six years, reduced to five and one month, \u00a0to which he was further advised that he can appeal of he finds it too harsh. Munangwari was acquitted. \u00a0 In his ruling and possibly for the benefit of the public, the judge explained Kanyamunyu is aged \u00a043 years and he is a first offender, that after shooting Akena, he realised the gravity of his actions and rushed the deceased to hospital where he told the doctors what had happened and attempted to save his life, that he sought out the deceased&#8217;s family and community leaders and asked for forgiveness, that he suffers from hypertension and is a single parent to 4 minor children.&#8221;\u00a0 <br><br>One aspect of the deal that we shall never know is the \u2018fate\u2019 of the killer weapon. Whose gun was it? Was Kanyamunyu licensed to carry a gun? Was he a state security agent authorized to have a gun? \u00a0Did it belong to another person authorized to have it? How was it disposed? Will the state separately \u00a0deal with him over illegal possession of the gun if it wasn\u2019t his? What measures would be taken against the actual owner of the gun, the least of which would be \u00a0a charge of failure to secure the \u00a0firearm? Those questions will never be answered in public. So now it is forgiveness and reconciliation to \u00a0allow for healing.<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why Kanyamunyu got Only 5 Years for Killing Akena \u00a0 On the exact 4th anniversary since he fatally shot Kenneth<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-perspective"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/kany.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11854,"url":"https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/murder-convict-kanyamunyu-out-of-prison-after-serving-a-sentence-of-3-years-and-5-months\/","url_meta":{"origin":2220,"position":0},"title":"Murder Convict Kanyamunyu Out Of Prison After Serving  A Sentence Of 3 years and 5 months","author":"UgandaUpdate","date":"April 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Murder convict Mathew Kanyamunyu , is out of prison after serving three years of a 5 year sentence for killing social worker\u00a0Kenneth Akena in 2016. 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