Butaleja candidates accuse police of harrasment

By Charles Etukuri

Two candidates in the Butaleja by-elections have complained about the heavy deployment of police in their area ahead of voting on Monday.

Felistus Namwihiriri of Forum for Democratic Change and Sarah Annet Logose an independent candidate also said that despite reporting cases of their supporters being beaten by their rivals, police had not acted.

Addressing a press conference at the Plyte Hotel in Butaleja on Saturday Morning the two said that the heavy police deployment was scaring away their supporters.

“They have continuously ripped off my posters and replaced them with the ones of the NRM candidate. They assaulted me and I lost my money but despite reporting, police has not been helpful,” Logose said.

Namwihiriri said it was wrong for police to deploy heavily in the area and that this was aimed at intimidating their supporters.

The Butaleja District Criminal Investigations Boss Vincent Otyeng told New Vision that the deployment in the area was not unusual.

 “Over time, Butaleja has been one of the election hot spots and that is why we deployed heavily because we had reports that there were threats of violence,” he said.

The elections to replace Butaleja district woman member of Parliament the late Cerinah Nebanda  who are expected to take place  on February 11.