Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, Mr Luke Owoyesigyire. FILE PHOTO

Kampala. She became unwell suddenly. And her abrupt disappearance has the family of a long-serving police detective horrified.
There is something ominous about the teenager’s no-show at home since last Friday, her father David Kwikiriza said.
Anitah Nankya Kwikiriza, 15, first developed complications while at school in Namungoona, a Kampala suburb. She would scream or shrill and occasionally roll in dirt. The teenager did not respond to medication and health workers were unable to diagnose the illness.
Presuming that she required spiritual healing, the family picked her from school and took her for prayers at Great Power International Church in Nansana, Wakiso District.
The prayers were led by faithful worries or so, the family thought. They shouted, bellowed incantations. The worshippers strutted while clapping hands or slapping the church walls in an enactment of gesticulation triggered by possession with ‘holy spirit’.
Others collapsed in a pile on the floor. In repeat evening prayers over several days, worshippers joined their lead pastor in stretching their arms over Nankya, ostensibly to cast out demonic spirits and bless her.
That fateful Friday, the teenager sprinted out of the church unexpectedly during a prayer session. That was the last time she was seen and no family member or relative has heard of her whereabouts.
Anxiety and worry have driven the father, Mr Kwikiriza, to reach out to colleagues in the law enforcement fraternity in search of her daughter.
Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Luke Owoyesigyire yesterday said they had photographs of the missing girl displayed at Nansana and other police stations and to volunteers to share with police on sighting her.
“We are hopeful that we shall [find] her soon,” the police spokesperson said.
The family, suspecting unsuitable school environment, had moved Nankya out of boarding institution to a day school. They hoped to monitor her better. Now the race instead is to find her.