A Firebase Crew member who was reportedly abducted while on his way to their studios in Kamwokya on July 21, was later found dumped at Mulago Hospital with his eye plucked out and two fingers cut.
Michael Kalinda, commonly known as Ziggy Wine, who was also a social media blogger, reportedly went missing after being kidnapped by unknown men.
The family and friends have been looking for him for a week in vain. His captors later dumped him at the Mulago Hospital gate, where he was found unconscious and taken to the casualty section. His body bears several burns, seemingly inflicted using a flat iron.
John Ssentamu, the manager of Firebase Entertainment owned by Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine, the Kyadondo East Member of Parliament, confirmed that Ziggy Wine was one of their members.
“We got that information on Thursday. We haven’t got concrete information about what could have happened to him, but we are trying to find out more,” Ssentamu said.
Bobi Wine confirmed that Ziggy was his very close friend.
“My close friend and fellow artist (Ziggy Wine) was kidnapped a couple of weeks back. He was beaten beyond recognition, his left eye plucked out, two of his fingers cut off, all his belongings taken and dumped at Mulago Hospital and left for dead,” he said.
“This is one of the very many saddening stories across the country. As we do our best to save a life in a very critical state, kindly keep our brother in your prayers,” Bobi Wine added. James Mubiru, a political activist in Rubaga North, who worked closely with Ziggy Wine, said they had tried together with his family to search for him in vain.
“On Sunday, we received a call from someone who notified us that some unknown person had dropped him at Mulago while unconscious, with burn marks, two fingers had been cut and an eye plucked out,” he said.
It has been established that shortly after Kalinda was admitted in the casualty ward, he reportedly scribbled a family member’s number on a piece of paper and the doctors later contacted the family on Sunday evening.
POLICE SPEAKS OUT
Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango said they were yet to register a complaint from the musician’s family but that they would investigate to find out who was behind the kidnap.
“We will try to establish if it is true he was kidnapped. We will also wait for him to recover and record a statement on whether he remembers where he was being detained,” Onyango said.
He also noted that the family had decided to hide him after they received a threatening phone call from an unknown number.
“As I speak now, he is receiving medical care at a place we shall not disclose for security purposes. His condition is so bad. They burnt the whole body with a flat iron and he is fully conscious,”
Mubiru said.
The family has become very suspicious of all those who were trying to call and establish how he was faring for fear that his attackers were still hunting for him. One of the sisters who spoke to Uganda’s National Newspaper New Vision on Saturday said on the day he left his home in Nansana, he called his other brother notifying him he was going to Kamwokya.
“Immediately he left, his phones went off. We didn’t report to the Police. His bike has also not been seen since,” the sister said.
One of the brothers only identified as Ronald said they had received a call from an unknown number and the person threatened them that they knew he was still alive and that they would come back for him.
“We are scared as a family and we even don’t want to receive visitors,” he said.
Cases of kidnaps in Uganda are not new. However, of recent, politicians have accused security agencies of hunting down those they think are against the Government.