The recent death of a two-year-old boy plunged one of Kampala’s high-profile families into the national spotlight, revealing deep divisions, emotional scars, and conflicting accounts of marriage, betrayal, and parenthood.
The boy, Nganwa Rugari, died under mysterious circumstances on April 2, 2025, just hours before his parents were scheduled to conduct a DNA test.
His mother, Jolin Kanoheri, is currently detained at Jinja Road Police Station in Kampala as police investigate the case as a possible homicide.
But behind the tragedy lies a long and complicated history between Kanoheri and her estranged husband, businessman Chris Rugari—a history now unraveling in public.
Both parents have come forward with dramatically opposing accounts of their 16-year relationship, with each accusing the other of deception and manipulation.
While Rugari insists his son’s death is suspicious, Kanoheri says she is being unfairly targeted after a household accident.
Kanoheri: “He Tried to Control My Body”
Speaking through relatives, Jolin Kanoheri described a relationship defined by emotional control, reproductive coercion, and abandonment.
She said the cracks in their marriage began shortly after the birth of their first son, Evans Shyaka, in 2011.
“When our firstborn was four months old, Rugari told me to remove my uterus,” she recalled.
“He said he only wanted one child so that we could have fun and enjoy life.”
She says she rejected the idea, which sparked a rift in the relationship.
“I asked him, ‘Why didn’t you tell me this before you asked me to be your wife?’
Rugari reportedly replied, ‘It was my plan.’ I told him, ‘If that’s how you think, why didn’t you just get a sugar mummy and have one child with her?’”
Separate bedrooms
Kanoheri claims they continued to live under the same roof but in separate rooms between 2011 and 2017.
During that time, she pursued a relationship with another man and had two children, in 2012 and 2014.
“I wanted to have more children. So I got into another relationship,” she said.
“But Rugari knew. It was a secret between us to protect the family’s image. He promised to take care of the children and educate them to university level if I kept the matter secret.”
According to her, Rugari eventually returned to her life in 2017, apologizing and pledging to rebuild the family.
She said he agreed to adopt her two children from the other relationship and they resumed life as a blended family.
Dubai wedding
Rugari organised his private wedding with Kanoheri in Dubai. He bought flight tickets for 20 family members – 10 from each side and hosted them in plush hotels.
The couple had two more children together in 2022 and 2024, and lived abroad for several years—in Zambia, Dubai, and Turkey.
Kanoheri said the pressure to undergo a hysterectomy returned even after Rugari flew family members to Dubai for the wedding and paid 16 cows in dowry.
“He said, ‘Now I want you to remove your uterus.’ I refused. I had done my research and knew it could affect my health. He got angry and said, ‘You tricked me. I only have one child with you, and you have two with another man. Now I want two more.’”
Despite the tensions, the couple had their fifth child in early 2024. But their relationship deteriorated further while she was pregnant and living in Turkey.
Upon returning to Uganda, Kanoheri said she found another woman—Brenda Walter—living in their marital home in Mutungo.
“I reported the matter to Jinja Road Police. Brenda took everything from the house, even destroyed the bed because it was in-built. She even took all the door keys,” Kanoheri said.
Rugari: “She Lied About the Children. Now My Son is Dead.”
Chris Rugari, who also serves as Uganda’s Honorary Consul to Zimbabwe, has rejected much of Kanoheri’s account as false and deliberately misleading.
He said he initially chose to remain silent out of respect for the police investigation and his own grief.
“I had refrained from commenting about matters under police investigation, but also because I’m mourning the brutal and cruel death of my beloved son under unclear circumstances,” he told ChimpReports this Wednesday afternoon.
He denied ever demanding that his wife undergo a hysterectomy.
“It’s not only shocking but also disturbing to read that I forced my wife to remove the uterus,” he said.
“Whoever came up with that narrative needs a sobriety test—it doesn’t make sense to even a half-time thinker.”
According to Rugari, they began living together in 2009 and had five children: one in 2010, another in 2013, a third in 2015, the fourth in 2022, and the last in 2024.
“The first three were born at Kololo Hospital. I signed their birth certificates, paid their school fees, took them for immunization, changed their diapers—everything a responsible father would do,” he said.
He said the children attended top schools in Uganda and abroad, including Kissyfur Kindergarten in Bugolobi, GEMS Cambridge in Butabika, and later pursued specialized education in Turkey.
Separation
Rugari dismissed Kanoheri’s claims that they were estranged from 2011 to 2017.
“We have networks. People would see us together,” he said. “She was going on holidays almost every week—to Dubai, Mombasa, and elsewhere. I bought her a brand-new Toyota Land Cruiser in 2012, and later another car, which she is still driving. How can she say we were separated when I was doing all that? Wow.”
The turning point, Rugari said, came in September 2023, when he discovered that two of the children he had raised were not biologically his.
“That’s when my conflict with Jolin started,” he said. “My fourth-born son, who was staying with her, died on April 2—the very day we were scheduled to do a DNA test.”
He maintains that the circumstances of the boy’s death were highly suspicious and demanded a full investigation.
“Let the public not be fed on disinformation and fabricated propaganda meant to divert attention from what killed my child,” he said.
“That’s the only thing I care about now.”
As for the accusations surrounding Brenda Walter, Rugari said she was not a romantic partner but a contractor managing ongoing work at the Mutungo house.
“She never occupied the house. She was overseeing construction work,” he said.
The Night of the Tragedy
According to a close family source, on the evening of April 1, the maid retired to bed after completing her chores.
The children were left playing on the basement floor, where the family had temporarily relocated their bedroom due to unsafe staircases without rails.
Kanoheri reportedly went upstairs to retrieve a personal item from the bedroom upstairs.
Moments later, she heard a loud cry and rushed downstairs.
“She couldn’t see the boy. When she looked outside, she saw him on the ground, trying to stand,” the relative said.
Kanoheri attempted to rush him to the hospital, but her car failed to start. Kitintale Hospital sent an ambulance to collect the boy.
He was examined, given painkillers, and told to return in the morning for CT scans.
“Back home, she gave him a drink, then laid him to rest. Around 5:00 a.m., Nganwa started sweating in the upper body while his lower body was cold,” the family source added.
Kanoheri called an ambulance again. At the hospital, doctors attempted to stabilize him using oxygen, but the boy was pronounced dead.
Police Investigation
Police initially arrested the maid as a suspect.
Kanoheri, who had been visiting the police station to check on the maid’s status, was herself arrested on April 4 and has remained in custody since.
Authorities have conducted multiple postmortems to help determine the cause of death.
While the investigation continues, both parents are urging for the truth—but from vastly different perspectives.
“I just want to know what killed my child,” said Rugari. “Everything else can wait.”
“This was an accident,” Kanoheri reportedly told her relatives.
A Family Torn Apart
What was once a union marked by international travel, private weddings, and shared parenting dreams has ended in a storm of accusations, arrests, and tragedy.
As the police work to establish the facts, the death of young Nganwa Rugari remains a painful reminder of the devastating consequences of family breakdowns left unresolved.
Src: ChimpReports
