City boss stabbed in poll fracas
Mar 11, 2006
Violence marred yesterday’s LC3 elections in several parts of the country. In Kampala, Central division chairman Charles Serunjogi was stabbed and taken to Nsambya hospital in critical condition.
By Vision Reporters Violence marred yesterday’s LC3 elections in several parts of the country. In Kampala, Central division chairman Charles Serunjogi was stabbed and taken to Nsambya hospital in critical condition.
Serunjogi, who was vying for the same seat with former professional boxer Godfrey Nyakana, was stabbed in a scuffle in Kololo.
Kampala Central MP-elect Erias Lukwago also complained of having been assaulted and punched by Nyakana’s supporters after he reportedly intervened in an incident in Kisenyi.
Serunjogi was stabbed in the abdomen in the afternoon at Summit View polling station in the upscale Kololo suburb. The scuffle erupted after he allegedly intercepted three minibuses ferrying suspected illegal voters.
According to a witness, army veterans backing Nyakana threw out Serunjogi’s agents, who called him to intervene.
“As he drove with some supporters to Summit view, three minibuses followed him behind and sandwiched his vehicle.
“He was forced out of his vehicle and a fight ensued between his supporters and the occupants of the minivans,†said Ivan Sentamu, one of Serunjogi’s injured supporters. “When I saw these men beating our chairman, I told them to stop. It is then that one of them stabbed him in the abdomen. As he tried to block the knife, it cut his thumb,†Sentamu said.
Witnesses said he fled and was later rescued by his supporters who took him to Nsambya Hospital.
But Kampala police chief Grace Turyagumanawe, who was also at the hospital, dismissed the stabbing.
By press time, Serunjogi was still undergoing an operation. People who jammed the hospital, including DP chief John Ssebaana Kizito, were stopped from seeing him.
“I was with Serunjogi along with DP lawyer Erias Lukwago at Kira Road police station when he received a call. He then told me that he had received reports that Nyakana was ferrying supporters to summit view,†Turyagumanawe said.
He said his pleas to dissuade Serunjogi from going there fell on deaf ears. “Shortly after, I got a call that there was a scuffle at summit view and rushed there,†he said.
At All Saints Nakasero, there were reports that housing state minister Capt. Francis Babu was involved in a scuffle with people suspected to have been rigging the polls.
Babu denied getting involved in the scuffle. “I found one minibus transporting opposition supporters from one polling station to the other. After making a comment, they ran away,†he said.
In Nakawa, incumbent LC3 chairman Protazio Kintu complained to the Electoral Commission about alleged multiple voting at Makerere University Business School. In Kiboga district, gunfire rocked Mulusozi polling station in Kyankwanzi sub-county. Ten people were injured during a scuffle between supporters of incumbent chairman Lt. Fred Mpora and those of Ivan Amanya.
In Hoima, the polls were put off following anomalies on the ballot papers, including wrong symbols.
Ends
Serunjogi, who was vying for the same seat with former professional boxer Godfrey Nyakana, was stabbed in a scuffle in Kololo.
Kampala Central MP-elect Erias Lukwago also complained of having been assaulted and punched by Nyakana’s supporters after he reportedly intervened in an incident in Kisenyi.
Serunjogi was stabbed in the abdomen in the afternoon at Summit View polling station in the upscale Kololo suburb. The scuffle erupted after he allegedly intercepted three minibuses ferrying suspected illegal voters.
According to a witness, army veterans backing Nyakana threw out Serunjogi’s agents, who called him to intervene.
“As he drove with some supporters to Summit view, three minibuses followed him behind and sandwiched his vehicle.
“He was forced out of his vehicle and a fight ensued between his supporters and the occupants of the minivans,†said Ivan Sentamu, one of Serunjogi’s injured supporters. “When I saw these men beating our chairman, I told them to stop. It is then that one of them stabbed him in the abdomen. As he tried to block the knife, it cut his thumb,†Sentamu said.
Witnesses said he fled and was later rescued by his supporters who took him to Nsambya Hospital.
But Kampala police chief Grace Turyagumanawe, who was also at the hospital, dismissed the stabbing.
By press time, Serunjogi was still undergoing an operation. People who jammed the hospital, including DP chief John Ssebaana Kizito, were stopped from seeing him.
“I was with Serunjogi along with DP lawyer Erias Lukwago at Kira Road police station when he received a call. He then told me that he had received reports that Nyakana was ferrying supporters to summit view,†Turyagumanawe said.
He said his pleas to dissuade Serunjogi from going there fell on deaf ears. “Shortly after, I got a call that there was a scuffle at summit view and rushed there,†he said.
At All Saints Nakasero, there were reports that housing state minister Capt. Francis Babu was involved in a scuffle with people suspected to have been rigging the polls.
Babu denied getting involved in the scuffle. “I found one minibus transporting opposition supporters from one polling station to the other. After making a comment, they ran away,†he said.
In Nakawa, incumbent LC3 chairman Protazio Kintu complained to the Electoral Commission about alleged multiple voting at Makerere University Business School. In Kiboga district, gunfire rocked Mulusozi polling station in Kyankwanzi sub-county. Ten people were injured during a scuffle between supporters of incumbent chairman Lt. Fred Mpora and those of Ivan Amanya.
In Hoima, the polls were put off following anomalies on the ballot papers, including wrong symbols.
Ends