Kaliro mayor, speaker survive lynching

By Tom Gwebayanga

Kaliro town Mayor, Rev. David Wako and the Speaker, John Baptist Kisira were close to being lynched by angry residents who stormed the council meeting and roughed them up.

 The enraged residents had got wind that the meeting, which had barely begun, was intended to move a motion to throw out the town clerk, Stephen Kasadha, who the angry residents say has strived to develop the town.

Turning their fury on the Mayor, the angry residents, armed with sticks and stones, disorganized the meeting, forcing the Mayor and the Speaker to hide in the ceiling.

The attackers blamed the Mayor of witch-hunting the town clerk by using his political supremacy in the guise of the IGG report, that alleged Kasadha had misused some council funds.

Amidst fists and verbal artillery, the attackers accused Wako of not being a citizen of Uganda and they appealed to security agencies, Interpol and immigration departments to investigate him.

“They [the duo] want to change management of the park. The clerk has stuck to the right tendering procedure and they want to throw him out,” a protestor, Hakim Mutesasira let out his dissatisfaction.

A time bomb seems to be resting under the councilors, who the attackers say have done utterly nothing to develop the town.

The crowd outwitted security, forcing the DPC, Joram Tumwesige to call for more manpower to disperse the swarm and save Wako.

Kaliro DPC  Joram Tumwesigye and other security officials protecting Rev Wako

Wako was retrieved from the ceiling and whisked away amidst tight security as the protestors followed, spitting barrages of insults in his direction.

 “We elected you for service delivery, why then do you bicker and suffocate development?” an unidentified lady fumed.

 When normalcy was restored, Kasadha explained that the Speaker invited the public but sensed danger and wished to change the venue from the open area to the hall, a decision which sparked off protests among the residents.

Martin Magada, a prominent business man blamed the town councilors for resorting to the obsolete campaign fever instead of promoting development.

 Kasadha revealed that the councilors were being influenced and funded by a businessman called Friday Katugezyeku, who lost the park tender due to incompetence.

He said despite being targeted, he was more than ready to technically knock them out.

The residents praised Kasadha for his prowess and sang him praises, vowing to support him because since he was deployed to Kaliro, a series of developmental activities in the education, roads and social sectors have been registered.

The IGG report, Kasadha said, had serious implications and that there was no cause for alarm.

“The grounds to implicate me were flimsy but the councilors just wanted to use it as a scapegoat,” he beamed.

The meeting was called off.