A bodyguard shot dead a government minister in Uganda on Tuesday, apparently over a private dispute, the army and local media reported.
The security guard, who could not be identified, then killed himself with his gun, state broadcaster UBC and other media reported.
The victim, Charles Engola, was Minister of Labor in President Yoweri Museveni’s government. He was a retired colonel.
Brigadier Felix Kulayigye, an army spokesman, said in a brief statement that an “unfortunate incident” led to Engola’s death. “We will keep the public updated with the details while we investigate the matter,” Kulayigye wrote on Twitter.
The event happened at Engola’s home in the suburbs of Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Detectives are on site.
The motive for the crime was not clear, but the local press reported that there appeared to have been a dispute over the guard’s pay.
“Witnesses say the soldier shouted that he had not been paid for a long time even though he worked for the minister,” reported the online newspaper NilePost.
The event rocked the country, which has seen other prominent politicians gunned down over the years.
In 2021, a former army chief was injured and his daughter killed when a man shot his vehicle in Kampala.