Assailants armed with iron bars beat Ssentongo as he was on
his way to work in Nantabuliriwa in Mukono district, central Uganda, around
5 a.m., local journalists and the Ugandan Human Rights
Journalist Network reported. The assailants apparently dragged him into a
nearby cassava field.
Ssentongo, 29, died of his injuries before he could receive
treatment at Mulago
Hospital. Colleagues said
Ssentongo’s personal belongings, including cell phone and wallet, were left
intact.
Ssentongo presented a daily 7 a.m. news broadcast at Kireka-based Prime Radio, the station’s news editor, Katangole Kiwanuka, told CPJ. Although Prime Radio is a Seventh-Day Adventist private station with no political leanings, Kiwanuka said, Ssentongo would occasionally discuss politics over the air. Ssentongo, a news presenter at Prime Radio for two years, was also campaigning to become a Ggoma Sub-County council member on the ticket of the opposition Democratic Party. Ssentongo worked part-time for the Mukono High Court as well, local journalists told CPJ.