MBALE CITY – His legs are burnt to the bone. His family of six is going hungry. And the factory where his nightmare began first denied he ever worked there. Now, a 38-year-old father lies in agony, fighting for his life and his dignity, after a horrific accident at Mbale Sino Park left him crippled and abandoned.
Rugumayo Michael came all the way from Fort Portal with a dream—to find work in Mbale City and provide for his wife and four children. He got that job just six days before everything went wrong.
On March 5th of this year, Mr. Rugumayo was working in one of the factories within the sprawling Sino Park industrial complex. His supervisor, Mr. Joseph Kutosi, assigned him a task that required him to work dangerously close to a tank of scalding hot water—water believed to be mixed with industrial chemicals and at its highest boiling point.
He tried to be careful. But in a horrifying instant, he slipped and plunged into the liquid fire.
“Both my legs were burnt to the bone,” Mr. Rugumayo said, his voice trembling as he spoke from his modest home in Namabasa. He was wearing no protective gear at the time—a dangerous habit, he says, that is common among most workers in the park.
What followed was a blur of inadequate first aid, a rushed trip to a nearby clinic, and then silence. Mr. Rugumayo received some initial treatment, but when the clinic demanded a balance of around 20,000 Shillings, the Sino Park officials stopped paying. With no money and nowhere to turn, he stopped going.
“I am dying of pain,” he said, his eyes filled with anguish. “I cannot walk. I cannot support my family. My four children and my wife are looking at me, and I have nothing to give them.”
His supervisor, Mr. Joseph Kutosi, has denied that the factory abandoned him, claiming instead that Mr. Rugumayo simply left the clinic on his own, which caused his injuries to worsen. Mr. Kutosi also pointed out that Mr. Rugumayo had only worked for six days at a wage of 6,000 Shillings per day, suggesting the factory owners were already being generous to treat him at all.
But for a man whose flesh was melted off his bones, generosity is not measured in excuses.
Desperate and with nowhere else to go, Mr. Rugumayo last week reached out to the media, hoping someone would hear his cries. When journalists first contacted Sino Park officials, their response was chilling: they denied Mr. Rugumayo was ever their employee. They claimed he had used a fake worker’s ID to enter the factory.
But under pressure, the story changed. The management eventually admitted he was their worker and offered him 200,000 Shillings for treatment.
It was too little, too late.
“I need full compensation of 3 million Shillings so that I can go back to Fort Portal,” Mr. Rugumayo said, his voice firm despite his suffering. “I need to be with my parents so they can help me heal. Here in Mbale, I cannot survive. My family cannot survive.”
Sino Park spokesperson, Mr. Kenneth, has now stepped forward to do damage control. He promised that all will be done to ensure Mr. Rugumayo receives his full compensation and the medical treatment he so desperately needs. He even extended an offer for Mr. Rugumayo to return to work once he recovers.
But for a man who has already been denied, abandoned, and left to die in pain, promises ring hollow until they are fulfilled.
As he sits in his home, his burnt legs a constant reminder of the factory’s neglect, Mr. Rugumayo is left with one question that no official has yet answered: How will his family survive while he waits for justice?
