KIRYANDONGO, UGANDA – A horrific industrial accident at Kiryandongo Sugar Limited left 19-year-old Asiimwe Patrick permanently disabled, sparking a high-stakes legal battle over workplace safety and corporate accountability.
The Incident: A Death Trap in the Boiler Room.
On May 11, 2025, Patrick—a youth hired as a casual labourer for a meager weekly wage of just UGX 15,000—was subjected to a parent’s worst nightmare. Though employed through a contractor, KK Investments Ltd, for basic cleaning duties, Patrick was allegedly diverted from his supervisor and commanded by the factory’s Instrumentation Manager (an expatriate staff member) to perform a life-threatening task: pulling bagasse residue from a live, running conveyor belt.
Without a single hour of safety training, and stripped of essential Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like gloves or overalls, Patrick stood no chance. The relentless machinery caught his civilian shirt, dragging him into its gears. In a matter of agonizing seconds, the machine amputated his entire right arm from the shoulder.
A Life Discarded: Abandoned in the Hospital.
The tragedy did not end at the factory floor. While Patrick languished in Kiryandongo Hospital for over two months, undergoing gruelling surgeries and skin grafts to prevent terminal infection, his employers reportedly turned their backs.
- Financial Ruin: Patrick’s family was buried under a huge sum of money in urgent medical bills.
- A Pittance for a Limb: The Defendant allegedly contributed a mere sum which was only paid after the desperate intervention of Local Council leaders.
“They treated him like a piece of broken machinery to be discarded,” says a representative from his legal team. “A 19-year-old has lost his future because a multi-million-shilling company prioritized sugar production over the life of a human being.”
The Legal Battle begun:
This publication has learned that, seeking justice for the stolen future of this young man, his lawyers—M/s Baraka Legal Associated Advocates and BUGA & Co Advocates—filed a suit in the High Court of Masindi (Civil Suit No. 32 of 2025).
The suit seeks to hold Kiryandongo Sugar Limited liable for:
- Gross Negligence: Forcing an untrained youth to handle live, dangerous machinery without PPE.
- Statutory Compensation: Claims under the Workers Compensation Act, Cap. 233.
- Substantial Damages: General, special, and aggravated damages to cater for lifelong disability, psychological trauma, and the loss of earning capacity.
Silence from the Factory:
Efforts to reach the top leadership of Kiryandongo Sugar Limited for comment were met with a wall of silence. Despite multiple correspondences, the company refused to address the incident or the plight of their injured worker.
This case shines a harsh spotlight on the “casualization” of labour in Uganda, where Contractors and Factory owners often shift blame while workers pay the ultimate price. Asiimwe Patrick was a young man with his whole life ahead of him; today, he is a symbol of a system in desperate need of reform.
