By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
KAMPALA (Worthy News) - Christians said Saturday that a woman who turned to faith in Christ has been murdered in eastern Uganda by her Muslim son.
Sawuba Naigaga, 46, was reportedly killed this month in the Ugandan border town of Busia near Kenya. Her son, identified publicly as 25-year-old Ashirafu Basalirwa murdered his mother after hearing her praying to Jesus, a Christian friend of the late mother said.
Basalirwa apparently got angry after returning home on December 15 to Busia town in the Busia district from four years of working in Saudi Arabia
“As I was praying with my eyes closed, my son called me, saying ‘Mum, Mum — you are becoming a disgrace to the family and the religion of Allah,’” the friend quoted Naigaga as saying before she died on December 17.
“I kept quiet, and he pushed me hard to the wall, then I fell. He then took a blunt object and hit me at the head. Since then, I lost all my consciousness, only to find myself in the hospital bed,” the mother reportedly added.
Her friend said she had told “Naigaga the Gospel” and “led” the woman “to Christ.”
“I preached the Good News of Jesus to Sawuba Naigaga, who gave her life to Christ in 2022,” the friend said in comments distributed by Christian news agency Morning Star News.
ATTENDING CHURCH
“We had been attending church. One thing which I know is that she kept her faith silent from her family members, including her son,” added the friend, whose name was withheld for security reasons.
She said she found Naigaga on the day of the assault. “I ran to Sawuba’s home after hearing wailing from her house and an alarm from neighbors,” the friend recalled. “I dashed quickly to the scene, and I found her in a pool of blood but in an unconscious state. We rushed her to a nearby hospital, but she breathed her last breath after two days on December 17 due to internal bleeding.”
Basalirwa has fled and is in hiding, sources said. He has not commented, and it wasn’t immediately clear when and if police would detain him.
Christians called the murder the latest in a series of instances of persecution of Christians in parts of Uganda.
Uganda’s constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to propagate one’s faith and convert from one faith to another.
Muslims comprise nearly 14 percent of Uganda’s population of roughly 48 million, mainly living in eastern areas of the country where anti-Christian attacks are reported.
Besides her son, Naigaga is survived by a daughter, Christians said.