Police Commissioner for Community Affairs, Asan Kasingye, addressing mourners at Kalerwe
By Steven Candia and Moses Mulondo
THE POLICE have apologised to residents of Kalerwe for Tuesday’s shooting, in which a school boy and a special Police constable (SPC) were killed by stray bullets during a botched security operation.
Police killings trigger city riot
Police commissioner for community affairs, Asan Kasingye, delivered the message on behalf of the Inspector General of Police, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura.
“I have come here to apologise because we lost two lives in the hands of errant Police officers,” Kasingye said.
“We don’t condone the act of taking peoples’ lives in such an unlawful way. I promise that what took place should never happen again so that we have the public and the Police work together to prevent crime.”
He handed over sh1m to each of the families of the victims as contribution towards the funeral expenses.
Addressing a press briefing earlier, Kampala Police Chief Edward Ochom said a female Police officer, who was in charge of the group of Probationer Police Constables at Kalerwe, had been arrested for neglect of duty.
“The constables had been placed under her supervision. She was supposed to have commanded them but she was not there, so we are holding her responsible,” Ochom said at Kampala Central Police Station.
Corporal Eseri Madangu is being held together with five other policemen.
They were identified as Emmanuel Muduli, Ivan Mutamanya, Brain Balikuddembe, Yokana Muichi and Emmanuel Arinaitwe.
They will be charged with murder. The SPCs were trying to arrest a marijuana smoker when they came under attack, prompting them to open fire, killing 12-year-old Willy Byamukama by mistake.
The boy’s death angered the residents and triggered off a riot, in which a Police patrol car was smashed and set ablaze.
The other victim was identified as Tom Ntanda, a policeman attached to Wandegeya Police Station.
Two other suspects had been arrested in connection with torching the Police vehicle. The hunt for the third suspect is still on, the Police said.
On the involvement of the army in quelling the riot, Ochom said the Police had called for reinforcement from the Military Police.
Internal affairs state minister Matia Kasaija yesterday described the incident as unfortunate. A security operation like that did not necessitate the use of live ammunition, he said.
The opposition UPC condemned the killings and blamed it on lack of professionalism and inadequate training of SPCs.
“They use excessive force beyond what the law requires in arresting suspected criminals,” said UPC secretary general Peter Walubiri during the party’s weekly briefing.
“People have now begun looking at Police officers as enemies.”
Re:Lwaki obulamu bwa ABAGANDA buli cheap mu Uganda? 5 Months ago
I think what is happening is just about individuals who do not have their country at heart. They are capable of sacrificing their country just so long as they can remain on the throne. These aberrations can happen anywhere in the world. And I believe the only effective way need to be established to thwart or bring to justice these mad men who order mass killings of opponents or ethnic groups. No continent on the face of the globe has so far escaped the scourge of some mad 'Hitler' seeking to impose his will on an entire nation at any cost, including human life. Remember it is not a specific ethnic group. We have all suffered at the hands of these mad men. It would be an insult to the memory of the innocent millions who have perished at the hands of these vicious despots for our country's sake to allow ourselves to fight along tribal/ethnic grounds. My humble request dear is to refer to some of these issues as happening not to Baganda specifically but to Ugandans as a whole. I need not cite examples
[i]Many of life\'s circumstances are created by three basic choices: the disciplines you choose to keep, the people you choose to be with; and, the laws you choose to obey]
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Re:Lwaki obulamu bwa ABAGANDA buli cheap mu Uganda? 5 Months ago
IT IS NOTHING OTHER THAN PURE TERROR.
Buganda is dealing with terrorists.
There have been over 20 fires which have destroyed property and lives in Ugandan schools since the year began. Radio Katwe would like to look into what is going on because we cannot believe that the only institutions in Uganda which are careless are schools.
It is true that Ugandans rarely think twice about fires. In fact most of us go about our lives never caring so much about taking fire prevention measures. The capital city Kampala where the most precious things are has only the most rudimentary fire-brigade to speak of. So how come rampant fires have not been a way of life until just a few months ago?
The most suspicious cases are the schools of all places, that are bursting into flames almost every day. We have heard the Police talk of indisciplined children, carelessness and so on, but sincerely what has caused our children to become destructive all at once? Did children from Masaka to Moroto, Kasese to Tororo somehow organise and agree that 2008 is the year of burning things? For us we think that the national scale, timing and nature of these attacks leave no doubt that this a coordinated, targetted plan by a very powerful group that has a national reach.
New Vision on Monday wrote a good report on these fires and it said that they have been 25. On Monday two more fires in schools in Mukono and elsewhere brought the fires to 27.
The Overseer of the Intelligence agencies, General David Tinyefuza, said that the fires are the work of a rebel group, the Allied Democratic Forces also known as the ADF.
According to one analyst who knows the method of Museveni and his NRA henchmen, as soon as Tinyefuza blamed the over 25 school fires on the ADF, he gave the game away.
This analyst says that Museveni has always relied on campaigns of terror against the general population and the common man. After he orders his men to commit the atrocities, he blames them on the people whom he is fighting.
This is what Museveni did in the time of fighting Amin, in the Luwero Triangle and he had been doing it in northern Uganda since 1988, according to the insider.
Ugandans have been wondering about the fires. They are wondering how so many fires can break out at about the same time. They are also wondering why the fires should be affecting mainly schools, the most defenceless and vulnerable.
There were days in the past when Uganda did not have a vibrant private sector and that is when you could say schools would get burnt from negligence.
Today you see many schools which get a lot of school fees and the school officials make sure they care about things like fire extinguishers. People are asking why these fires should all be coming now.
The arson took a new twist on Sunday when the offices of the Red Pepper newspaper were attacked and also burnt. Red Pepper wrote after the fire that soldiers covered in hoods came to their office headquarters at Namanve and threw explosives into the compound. A generator costing over 100million shillings was destroyed.
Red Pepper is a paper which is believed to be close to the powers that be. So maybe Museveni decided that Red Pepper should also be burnt so that when he comes out and claims it is the work of ADF, Ugandans will believe it as Red Pepper is well connected to the government.
The speculation is that to make the argument of ADF more convincing, attacks against other businesses like the New Vision which is a state paper could be staged.
Some sources who know Museveni's methods and timetable say that it is only a matter of time before the offices of the Daily Monitor also experience an incident (fire, attack etc) engineered by Museveni's agents and the ADF will take all the blame.
Another target could be Uganda House, the headquarters of the Uganda People's Congress party. Before the Budo fire in April, one afternoon Radio Katwe informers say the Minister of State for Security, Amama Mbabazi, drove to Uganda House.
It was a Saturday. Mbabazi came with his bodyguards. He got out of his car and looked up at Uganda House, he looked at the floors, at the restaurant, then he drove off. The visit was all rather strange. What was he inspecting? What did he want?
It will be no big surprise if Uganda House is on the list of prominent properties to be attacked in this campaign of terror.
Re:Lwaki obulamu bwa ABAGANDA buli cheap mu Ugand 4 Months, 1 Week ago
Arrest of kingdom ministers portends trouble for Mengo
I was shocked upon learning of the arrest of Buganda Information Minister Mr Peter Mayiga, Deputy Information Minister Mr Medard Lubega and chairperson of the kingdom’s civic education committee Ms Betty Nambooze for inciting sectarianism.
The action of arresting the three Mengo notables reflected humiliation of the people they represent.
I am a listerner to all of the accused’s programmes on the kingdom’s Central Broadcasting Service radio. While I sometimes find their language confrontational, their arrest will only inspire them to hero status and will only increase resentment to the NRM government.
Being the mouthpiece of the kingdom, whoever ordered their arrest should have respected their position in Ugandan society. The manner in which the youthful minister was arrested is a clue to what the police has already been accused of.
Why would an elite police force smash the window glass of a car whose occupant Nambooze cannot match the size of the smallest police constable? The image of the police force should be preserved.
Secondly, this should not have been done on the occasion of the Buganda Conference for it would loosely be interpreted that whoever arrested them was cowed by their achievement.
The government should be made to know that the people of Buganda today are more united against any force that will seek to antagonise them.
Diplomacy would have been better than confrotation.
It was also conspicuous that Prof. Apolo Nsibambi, he of the Mawazo fame, did not attend the Buganda conference when colleagues Mazrui, Mamdani, Juuko and Sempebwa were indulging in intellectual discourse.
Why was Ms Ruth Nankabirwa and Speaker of Parliament Mr Edward Ssekandi the only notable people from the central government? Where was Prof. Makubuya? Was this scenario deliberate? Was it a reaction to Nsibambi’s recent humiliation at the funeral service of the late Kiggundu? Is this how a government reacts to pressure from a non-armed force?
That said and done, closure of CBS radio could be next. But how will Baganda react? Are we not rapidly sliding back towards 1966? Time will tell.
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