Vision Journalist released after night in jail

Apr 22, 2020

Gwebeyanga was released following pressure from top Security officials after New Vision piled pressure on them for his release.

JUSTICE  MEDIA FREEDOM

KAMULI - New Vision journalist Tom Gwebeyanga who was arrested on Tuesday on the orders of the Kamuli Chief Administrative Officer, Elizabeth Namanda, after he wrote a story about a dispute over the sh80m meant to assist the poor has been released.

Gwebeyanga was released following pressure from top Security officials after New Vision piled pressure on them for his release. 

Busoga North Regional Police Commander Joseph Okwakol confirmed Gwebeyanga's release and apologized to the media.

"This should not have turned out this way. He has been released on a police bond," Okwakol said.

On Tuesday evening Kamuli District Police Commander Ahmed Madiri noted that Gwebeyanga was arrested after he wrote a story that annoyed the District Task Force led by the RDC. 

"His story annoyed the RDC who is also the Chairman of the District COVID-19 Task Force and other members who ordered for his arrest. 

How can he state we were involved in sharing the money that was meant to help the affected people and yet it is not true," Madiri stated.

Sources in Police confirmed that Gwebayanga was badly beaten by the Kamuli District Health Officer, Dr Aggrey Batezaki before being locked up in Kamuli police station. 

 Efforts to get a comment from the RDC proved futile.

The story that was published by the New Vision on Tuesday alleged that the District COVID-19 Team had on Saturday disagreed on the allocation of the sh80m after the district technical team insisted that the money be distributed among the members of the COVID-19 Task Force.

The story also indicated that Ddumba stormed out of the meeting, bitterly protesting why the money should be shared among the big shots yet the poor people who are locked up in their homes without anything to eat.

"I cannot be part of such a greedy racket. By taking a share of that money, I would have eaten haram (sin). Let those who want to share do it, but not me," the seemingly irritated Ddumba said, as he stormed out.

The sh80 million was donated by the Korean Government through the International Development Institute (IDI) and the Korea Food for the Hungry International (KFHI), through Christine Okalang, the IDI Project Manager for Kamuli.

The consignment is in addition to the earlier sh480m donation which IDI released last week, which included of 8815 bags of maize flour (of 100kg), 394 bags of beans, 1,400 boxes of soap, 600 bags of rice, 9,600 boxes of toothpaste, among others.

The items were distributed to10,000 pupils in12 schools in Namwendwa, Bugulumbya, Nawanyago and Magogo Sub Counties on Friday.

Okalang said they added sh.80m to the earlier consignment to cater for the hungry in Kamuli town and the most advantaged in the rural areas.

During the heated meeting, the truck which was loaded with food and was just waiting for clearance to distribute the food was sent away, leaving the hungry anxious public in tears.

The stand-off went viral, attracting calls from the State House Monitoring Team under Lt. Col. Edith Nakalema, arousing suspicion of the subsequent arrest of some big shots.

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