Mr. Issa Ngumba has worked with Radio Kwizera for about three years. Radio Kwizera is a regional community radio established in 1995 by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JR'S) in collaboration with The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Catholic Diocese of Rulenge-Ngara to respond to the plights of refugees after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda that left over a million people dead. The coverage includes regions of Rwanda and Burundi and DRC Congo, areas that have always baffled with conflict, banditry and influx of refugees into Northwestern Tanzania.

Mr. Ngumba reports for Radio Kwizera from Kakonko, remote village of Kibondo district, Kigoma Region in Western Tanzania. Apart from working as a journalist, Mr. Ngumba was famous for administering traditional medicine of which he received customers as far as Burundi.

Kakonko is a village with a population of about 24,688 people. The area has a large coverage of forested and inhibited land which makes it a niche for a bunch of criminals who often escape from Burundi to this region.

Last Saturday, the 5th of January 2013, Mr. Ngumba, according to the wife, received a customer for traditional medicine. The said client, who is later known to be a Burundian by nationality, is said to have come seeking traditional medicine for fortune. According to Mr. Ngumba’s wife, her husband had some discussions with the visitor and the duo later left the house for the bush searching herbs but Mr. Ngumba never came back. The wife said she was surprised because whenever her husband went out looking for herbs he always carried a hoe, but this time around, he went empty handed.

For three days Mr. Ngumba went missing. Although his phone was reachable he never picked it up. The family and friends reported the case to the police immediately after noticing that something was not right. For three days, a search was made and Ngumba was found murdered in the bush. The body was already decaying. His assailant (s) shot him on the left hand close to the chest, broke his neck, put his cell-phone beside him and left a gun (pistol) in his trousers. The body had bruises, an indication that he was either tortured before being shot or he fought for his life before being powered.

The death of the Journalist has left many in dilemma but angry. Everyone wants to know why? Was he killed because he is a journalist? Was it that his deals in traditional medicine went sour? No one can answer these questions.

Unconfirmed reports also say that he used to work for the government as a security agent, and was he killed because for this? No one knows. For some, he has never engaged in any investigative story coverage and therefore could not be killed on that account. The people are traumatized and the Journalists at Radio Kwizera are also vigilant on this issue. Police investigations are going on and hopefully the truth shall come out.

Mr. Ngumba is survived by 7 children with the first born in the second year of secondary education.


Mr. Issa Ngumba at one of Radio Kwizera's News Desks

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