Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has announced the arrest of a man he accuses of killing 38 people and eating their flesh over fifteen years, without publishing details of the evidence behind the accusations or identifying the victims.

What Kainerugaba announced

In a post on X on Monday, October 26, Kainerugaba said the detainee is named Musa Mugurizi and that the crimes attributed to him took place between 2010 and 2025 in the areas of Masaka, Ibanda and Kazo. The announcement came with a photo of the suspect in handcuffs.

The army chief, who is the son of President Yoweri Museveni, vowed that the man would be tried publicly and executed. That statement, however, is not a court ruling and does not establish the detainee’s responsibility for the crimes attributed to him.

What the announcement left out

The announcement included no list of victims and no forensic results confirming the cannibalism allegations. It also did not say when or where the arrest took place, or whether formal charges have been brought against the man in all the cases mentioned.

A similar name and an existing case in Masaka

The announcement coincided with the reopening of investigations into killings in the wider Masaka area, linked in earlier reports to the name Fred Mugulizi, also known as Kulaish Kamugisha.

According to Uganda Radio Network, Mugulizi and another defendant appeared before a court in Masaka on charges of murder and human trafficking over the killing of a woman last September, and were remanded in custody while investigations continue.

The relationship between that identity and the name announced by the army chief has not been clearly documented, so it cannot be said that the reports concern the same person, or that all the crimes are being merged into a single case.

The victim count and the cannibalism allegations still need evidence and judicial investigation, and the detainee remains a suspect, not a convicted man, until a verdict is issued.