FEATURE

Whose baby?
Woman is accused of stealing and
selling Ugandan babies in Juba
By Joan Akello

Sarah Namubiru, a laboratory administrator at MBN Clinical Laboratories in Kampala

is in the eye of a maternity storm but she, surprisingly, is quite calm. She is stuck
between two women; HamidahMusitwaWalika and Mary Namukwaya Musumika,
who are battling in court over the maternity of a baby. Musumika accusesMusit-
waof stealing her baby. But in a strange turn of events,a DNA maternity test done at
Namubirus laboratory showed Musitwa to be the mother of the baby girl.

Hamidah Musitwa Walika (L) who is

accused of stealing the four month old
baby (C) and Mary Namukwaya Musumika
(R), the complainant. THE INDEPENDENT/
JOAN AKELLO

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FEATURE

owever, Musumika has rejected the

results and the police investigating
the case and the magistrates court
are not convinced and are casting doubt on
the DNA results.
The Lugazi Magistrates Court has
ordered for fresh tests to be carried out.
Not at MBN Clinical Laboratories this time
but at the Government Analytical Labora-
tories (GAL). The magistrate also ordered
that HamidahMusitwa remains in jail.
In November 2013, the police took sam-
ples from the two women for testing GAL.

samples, but in December, DNA experts
from GAL took a second set of sample
from the women at Lugazi Central Police
Station. It is not clear why results of these
samples are also not out yet.
Ordinarily, that would leave Namubiru
and her clinic in a tight spot. But Namu-
biru is convinced the DNA results are
accurate and the accuser, Musumika, will
eventually realise the baby is not hers.
I am a mother and I know the pain of
losing a child, Namubiru told The Inde-
pendent, As a woman, Musumika is frus-
trated, and a desperate mother will move
everywhere thinking every baby is hers, it
is only natural for the public to pity her.
This is not her baby even though she
may claim it looks like her or her husband.
DNA results do not lie, they are the most
accurate and you can never go wrong,
Namubiru adds.
But Namubiru and her husband, Robert
Wandera, disagree. They have named the


those results were tampered with because
she looks like her father and she is light-
skinned like me, Musumika told The Inde-
pendent, The child is mine.
Her husband agrees.
That baby girl is mine, he says, and the
police investigations seem to back them.

Unbelievable story

The women in the dispute; Musitwa and

Musumika are from neighbouring villages
in Buikwe district. Musumika, 25, is from
Nakazadde village in Lugazi town council,
while Musitwa is from Kitega which is a
few minutes walk away.
Medical records indicate that on May 30,
2013 at 2am, Musumika delivered a baby
girl at Namengo Maternity Home health
unit in Buikwe district.
But her ordeal started three months later
in August 2013 when the baby was stolen.
On the fateful morning, Musumika was
outside her house doing her laundry when
a woman she knew casually approached
her.
The woman who stole my baby
pretended that she was looking for a

house to rent in my neighbourhood,

Musumika recalls, She had been here
more than once to visit a woman in the
neighbourhood. The baby was crying
inside the house so she asked if she
could help me carry it. I gave her the
baby, and then she said was going to

the washing.
When Musumika, at around 9 am, went
over to the neighbour she thought the
stranger was visiting, the woman denied
knowing her. Instead, she said, the stranger

A copy of Mary Namukwaya Musumika

Mothers passport and Dafini Nekesas child
heath card.
had as usual asked if there was a house she
could rent and left when she was told there
wasnt any.
I moved around thinking that I could
catch her and alerted my neighbours but
my baby was already taken.
She telephoned her husband, two hours
later but he could not hear of it. He imme-
diately accused her of negligence.
I want to see my daughter by the time I
arrive home, he threatened.
But when Wandera, a builder returned
home at 7pm, his daughter was not home

has not been caught.

The Juba connection

After weeks of searching, Musumika

says she got news from a man from Lugazi
who had gone to Juba, the capital of neigh-
bouring South Sudan, and claimed he had

seen a woman from Kitega with two babies

there.
That woman was Faridah, who is Hami-
dahMusitwas sister. She lived at Aru junc-
tion, just before Juba town. It is not clear
how it happened but on September 30,
2013, the sisters were arrested.
I used to work in the market in Juba

name) with Faridah, Musitwa recalls,
On September 30, the chairman of Bagan-
da in Juba came and asked my sister why
she had two children. We were arrested
and brought to Uganda.
That is when Musitwa got to know that
she was being accused of stealing Musumi-
kas baby.
The baby was six months old at the time
and it is not clear why Musumika, whose
baby should have been about four months
old then, insisted this was her baby.
Musitwa, her sister, and their two
babies; Faridahs was just two weeks

Police Station for four days, then to Kira
Police Station, before being transferred to

to Luzira Maximum Security Prison in
Kampala.
Musitwa says she sympathises with
Musumika because she understands
the pain of a mother whose baby is sto-
len. However she says she suspects it is
her family that is trying to target her by
spreading rumours that she and her sister
steal babies and sell them in Juba.
Musitwa, who is out of jail on police
bond and is back home, says her ordeal
begun in 2010, when she lost her father.
My family wanted to chase my mother
and her six children from this land. But
because mother refused to leave, they have
been threatening us.
The LC even told my mother that we
have to leave or else we will be burnt, rela-
tives came here with stones, you can see
that some windows are broken. That is
why we the four big girls have decided to
leave home. That is why I left for Juba with
Faridah.
Her accuser, Musumika appears to back
Musitwas claims. She says people from
Musitwas village have been feeding her
information regarding the case. Some have
also threatened her.

Unbelievable story

But Musitwa appears to have got into

trouble because, according to Ayebare;
the Lugazi police boss, her story did not
add up. For example, she does not have a
record in any hospital where she delivered.

Friday (March 29th 2013) at home with
the support of my two sisters Faridah
and my follower, Musitwaexaplains, I
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FEATURE
did not go to a health facility because it
was a public holiday.
But Musitwa does not have any docu-
ments or photographs of the baby. She
says she handed these documents to the
police in Juba.
She also claims she hid her pregnancy
from her mother and never sought medi-

pregnancy.
I feared mother because this was the
second time I was pregnant in senior four.
She had already threatened and warned

when I was also in senior four.

She says both the girls father is one
Ahmed IddKaweesi whom police and The
Independent have contacted to no avail. The
police say all this makes her story unbe-
lievable.
Things got complicated when, according
to the chief investigator of the case, Henry
Ayebare, who heads Buikwe District Crim-
inal Investigations Department, Musitwa
was examined and the doctors report
showed that she had not been pregnant in
the past one year. She, therefore, could not
have delivered any baby in 2013.
It is not clear what tests were done and
Dr. Joshua Kiberu, the medical superinten-
dent of Kawolo Hospital in Buikwe District
where the examination was done, declined
to give details of the examination citing

But the police boss says he and his team

opted for a DNA test because the medical
report was not conclusive.
In November 2013, the Lugazi police
took the baby and the two women to MBN
clinical Laboratories, Nakasero, in Kampa-
la for a maternity test. That is where they
met Namubiru.

Due to public interest, we cross

checked the information, she says, We
proved that the person police arrested is
the mother.
Im sure she will get the same results
from government. There are two DNA
testing machines (genetical analysers) in
the country, in MBN and Government
Analytical Laboratory. These machines
are expensive and accredited internation-
ally that is why they are not common,
Namubiru said.
She adds that though results can be tam-

because it is not a one-mans show.
MBN has been in the DNA testing busi-
ness for about three years, having piloted
in 2010 and launched operations on March
9, 2012.
Dr. Fred Bwanga who technically over-
saw the DNA testing exercise says he has
a PhD holder in medical science, a fellow-
ship in clinical microbiology, and masters
in microbiology. He says he is a Medical
Microbiology Technical Advisor with

as the Mycology Laboratory at Makerere

University, a side laboratory at the Medical
ward, Mbarara University Teaching hospi-
tal and MBN clinical laboratories.
In 2005 to 2006 Bwanga trained and
worked at Clinical Microbiology Labora-
tory, National Mycology Reference Labo-
ratory, Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory

Results rejected

Maternity DNA testing determines

whether a woman could be the biological
mother of a child. Like a DNA paternity

with that of the alleged mother to deter-
mine how likely it is that the child has
inherited the DNA from the alleged
mother.

one involving the late comedian Paddy
Bitama, have shone the spotlight on the
role of DNA tests in resolving paternity
and maternity disputes.
In this case, the results showed that
the suspected baby thief, Hamidah, was
actually the mother of the baby. But her
accuser, Musumika, rejected the results.
According to Namubiru, every indi-

does not change unless someone tampers
with the results.
For this case, she says, the clinic was
diligent and thorough.
18

Issue 302.indd 18

Robert Wandera, a builder and father of the

stolen baby quit his job. He is claiming paternity
of the baby Musitwa says is hers.

and Immunology laboratory University

Hospitals of Cleveland, USA. Previously

Superintendent of Abim Hospital in Koti-
do, Uganda.
Dr Bwanga declined to comment on the
case but Namubiru said Several checks
and balances are in place to ensure only
the accurate results are released.
The DNA testing machine is not like
the one for malaria where you can get
varying results,Namubiru said, This is

around with such results.

Secondly, DNA is a risky business

to be careless or negligent, Namubiru

says.
Namubiru says it is not unusual for
DNA tests results to be rejected.

the press, she says, Most people apolo-
gise for rejecting the results because they
come to realise the truth after calming
down.
Namubiru says people reject results
because of the perception that everybody
is corrupt and are always bribed.
People think that no Ugandan is faith-
ful so they come here with a biased mind.
Naturally they reject the results because
they do not favour them, she says.
She adds that some people who are des-
perate, like Musumika, also reject results.
Other reasons cited include fear, unwill-
ingness to accept the truth, and guilt.
Namubiru said Musumika might be

imprisoning a mother for two months over

her own child, something that is also very
frustrating.
The loss of her child and delay in releas-
ing the DNA results have also strained
Musumika and threatened her marriage.
Mary (Musumika) has become a with-
drawn woman, always lost in thought yet
her next door neighbor also has a baby
almost the age of her lost baby, says

neighbour.
My life has changed since my baby was
stolen. My husband is always demand-
ing for the baby and even quit working
because he feels its useless to work. My

Trevor Kamya saying he will also be sto-


August 2013.
Meanwhile, although the case is sched-
uled to be heard on Feb.14, it is unlikely
that the DNA results will be out. The gov-
ernment laboratory has since October 1,
2013, suspended DNA testing due to lack
of reagents to use. I will hold prayers and

she says hopefully.

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