Public Service Minister Katumba Wamala (Left) graced the event. A survivor’s account of imprisonment, killings and the recovery of a murdered police chief’s body held guests spellbound as Mohsin Hassan launched; Bloodshed for Power: The Assassination of Uganda, at Four Points by Sheraton Kampala on Tuesday, October 6 2026.Prof. Charles Kwesiga, who was detained at Mutukula alongside Hassan’s father, Mohamed Hassan, brought a deeply personal dimension to the evening.He recounted how he and fellow detainees were ordered to bury the former Head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and later exhume his body for transportation to Kampala.His testimony became one of the most moving moments of a well-attended launch that brought together friends, well-wishers and invited dignitaries. Retired Gen. Ivan Koreta attended as Chief Guest, while Gen. Katumba Wamala, Minister of Public Service, delivered closing remarks.For Mohsin Hassan, the occasion marked the sharing of a family story he had carried for decades, and an invitation to Ugandans to examine the human cost of the country’s turbulent past.“Ladies and gentlemen, I have spent many years silently carrying the story of my father. Tonight, I am placing that story in your hands — and with it, something larger: a piece of Uganda’s history,” Hassan said.The book traces Mohamed Hassan’s rise through the Uganda Police to lead the CID, and the events that led to his imprisonment and killing under Idi Amin’s regime. It places his story within the political struggles and institutional breakdown that shaped Uganda’s early years after independence.Central to the narrative is his investigation into the murders of Brig. Pierino Okoya and his wife Anna. In his launch speech, Hassan described the investigation as a crucial part of the wider struggle preceding Amin’s seizure of power, while emphasising that evidence gathered during an investigation must be distinguished from allegations proved in court.“My father did not set out to change Uganda’s history. He was a policeman investigating a double murder and simply following the evidence, wherever it led,” he said.Kwesiga’s account gave guests a direct connection to events described in the book. He recalled his arrest in February 1971, detention at Luzira and subsequent transfer to Mutukula, where prisoners lived under constant threat of execution.“We started to do manual labor. Clearing the bushes, digging trenches and ditches,” Kwesiga recounted. “I would later learn that we were digging our own graves!”He described being made to bury fellow detainees and later retrieve Mohamed Hassan’s body from a mass grave. His survival, and his presence at the launch more than five decades later, gave particular weight to the evening’s call to preserve eyewitness accounts before they are lost.Hassan said the book draws on historical records, police and court material, personal documents, recollections and testimony, with sources cross-referenced wherever possible. Its purpose, he explained, is to examine evidence and preserve the record for future generations.“The consequences of political violence do not end when the brutality stops. They pass from one generation to the next,” he said.In closing, Gen. Katumba Wamala thanked Hassan for writing the book and Kwesiga for sharing the horrifying experiences he endured. He described the book as a work of history and encouraged young people to read it to better understand Uganda’s past.Hassan ended with an invitation to readers to engage critically with the story and discuss its lessons.“I hope you will read this book with an open mind. I hope you will question it, discuss it with others, and where necessary, challenge it. History should not be afraid of questions — indeed, it becomes stronger when questions are asked.”The post Bloodshed for Power: New Book on Uganda’s Turbulent Past Launched as Survivor Recalls Mutukula Horror appeared first on Business Focus.