Two shot, 20 held during lower council elections

Mar 02, 2016

The two unidentified victims, said to be Democratic Party supporters, were shot at after they hurled insults and threw stones and bottles at soldiers

Two people sustained bullet injuries while about 20 others were arrested during the lower council elections on Wednesday.

The shooting incident took place near St. Joseph polling station in Entebbe, Wakiso district, after soldiers attached to the Special Forces Command (SFC) were provoked by a group of youth.

The two unidentified victims, said to be Democratic Party (DP) supporters, were shot at after they hurled insults and threw stones and bottles at the soldiers who were patrolling the streets.

One of the youth was shot in the stomach while another was shot in the leg. They were rushed to Entebbe Grade B hospital where by press time they were still undergoing treatment.

DP spokesperson Kenneth Kakande and Entebbe municipality mayor, Depaul Kayanja, who is also a DP leader in the area, could not be reached to establish whether the injured were their members or not.

SFC spokesperson, Maj. Chris Magezi, confirmed the incident, but said the youth provoked the soldiers who were on routine patrol. He said a preliminary medical report showed that the victims were all out of danger.

"A group of soldiers on a military jeep were on routine patrol when they came under unprovoked attack by youth who pelted them with stones and glass bottles. It is unclear why this group of unruly youth decided to engage armed soldiers. It seems it is a growing trend because similar incidents were recently reported in Bwaise and Kalerwe," Magezi explained.

He said such behaviour by the unruly youth was reckless and totally uncalled for. "It seems to resonate well with the militant and defiance campaign that has been propagated by some politicians during campaigns."

Magezi called on the youth to always resort to peaceful means of resolving their grievances rather than attack armed personnel. "The incident is unfortunate and we shall investigate and get to the bottom of the matter."

In Kampala, Police arrested three people from different parts of the city over election related crimes and they were detained at different police stations.

Patrick Onyango, the Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson said two people; Ivan Nyende and Godfrey Muwanga, were arrested near Password Pub in Nateete, Rubaga division, for causing chaos during elections.

Onyango said the two, who allegedly tried to assault a presiding officer, have since been detained at Old Kampala police station.

At National Theatre polling station, Onyango said they arrested Hassan Magezi over voter bribery. Magezi was allegedly bribing voters with one of the councilors vying for a seat at the city's central division only identified as Ssengendo.

"Magezi was found with a contestant who was distributing money from his car. When the candidate saw police, he sped off but Magezi was arrested and taken to the Central Police Station (CPS)," said Onyango.

Magezi was reportedly found with a sh5,000 note. But when police tried to retrieve it from him as he was being led to CPS, Magezi is said to have chewed the note ostensibly to destroy evidence.

In Kasese, 17 people were arrested yesterday morning for threatening violence. A police source in the South Western district that preferred anonymity said the suspects threatened to lynch one of the candidates whom they suspected to have pre-ticked ballot papers.

"They thought one of the candidates had pre-ticked ballot papers yet it was not the case. We arrested them but we later released them on police bond to allow them to go and vote," the source said without divulging any names.

Whereas many other places peacefully held the lower council elections, the few incidents that happened in different parts of the country were eventually contained by police and the army.

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