By A long-serving aide to Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja has reportedly vanished in the United States of America (USA) where he accompanied the premier on an official trip to New York.
Sources familiar with the matter said Mr Emmanuel Atwiine “likely” disappeared from a hotel in Manhattan on Tuesday night, but the entourage became aware on Wednesday when he was a no-show for breakfast.
The Ugandan delegation initially assumed Mr Atwiine had overslept. Suspicion, however, snowballed after calls and text messages to his mobile phone number went answered.
Intercom calls to his room by the front desk too went unanswered, sparking a scare and notification of staff at Uganda’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, the host of the premier’s delegation in New York.
Our investigations show that the hotel permitted the Ugandan officials, including New York-based diplomats, access to Mr Atwiine’s room where they found some of his luggage but he was not there.
Highly-placed sources said the bodyguard, who has worked with Ms Nabbanja for close to a dozen years, notified a delegation member to inform colleagues “not [to] worry about him” for he is not returning home.
In Kampala, Mr Charles Odongtho, the spokesperson for the Office of the Prime Minister, yesterday confirmed Mr Atwiine’s disappearance and said the matter had been referred for investigations by relevant authorities.
“Yes, it is true the prime minister’s bodyguard disappeared from her and this happened around 7am New York time on Wednesday,” Mr Odongtho said, adding, “It is now a matter for the police, Uganda’s embassy in New York and New York authorities.”
He added: “It is they that will tell us more, and what we can do more. We got more information when we tried to follow up that he had reached Canada. That’s what I can say for now.”
Other sources, however, intimated that the guard was likely in Chicago, better known by the moniker “windy city”, where he reportedly has relatives.
Ms Nabbanja flew to New York aboard Emirates Airlines on Sunday to represent the President at the UN General Assembly’s High-Level thematic debate on debt sustainability and socio-economic equality held on Tuesday.
The President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), Mr Dennis Francis, invited Mr Museveni for the meeting in mid-January when he flew to Kampala to attend the G77+China Summit at Speke Convention Centre, Munyonyo.
President Museveni, in the speech read by PM Nabbanja, called for the elimination of “the exploitative phenomena of commercial lending” if the world is to achieve global affluence.
“Commercial lending should be for frivolous goods such as spirits, perfumes, etc. However, for infrastructure, manufacturing and for some of the services such as tourism, the borrowing must be concessional-low interest and taking long to be paid back. In that case much of the world will surge forward with prosperity,” the President noted.
The premier was expected back in the country last evening, with one member of her security detail missing from the seven-member delegation.
Ms Nabbanja, whom we were unable to speak to directly for this story, was reportedly concerned by the disappearance of Mr Atwiine’s whom she had known and worked with closely for more than 10 years.
It remains unclear whether the aide is a security officer designated to provide protection to high-profile government officials such as the Prime Minister, or a civilian coopted into guard work in a personal capacity.
VVIPs in public service such as political appointees have the latitude to handpick some of the closest aides, including for security.
In Kampala, sources indicated that several personnel who had been drafted to travel with the premier had been denied visas by the US embassy.
Ms Ellen Masi, the US embassy public affairs counsellor, declined to discuss the matter.
“Visa records are confidential under US law; therefore, we cannot discuss the details of individual visa cases.”
A diplomat in Kampala told this publication on condition of anonymity that cases of confidants of top bureaucrats melting in foreign territories after flying in as part of official delegation, dents the image of government.
Separately, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary, Mr Vincent Bagiire, described the incident as unfortunate.
“The ministry heard about the purported disappearance of the PM’s bodyguard in New York. Which is extremely unfortunate as it undermines the trust between the two Governments. For now, we are giving the officer the benefit of the doubt with a view that he will return,” Mr Bagiire told us last evening.
The disappearance of Mr Atwiine comes 19 months after Parliament Speaker Anitah Among’s chief bodyguard, a one Aggrey Aruho, went missing in California where had travelled to attend the 34th Uganda North America Association (UNAA) convention.
He had flown in September 2022 as part of official government delegation, but never returned.
By then Assistant Superintendent of Police by rank, Aruho’s trip had been shrouded in mystery. Officially, he told his employer that he would not be turning up for work because he was indisposed, only for police to hear that he had vanished while overseas. It remains unclear whether his return home is still of interest to the government.
