Busia official was shot while in office, says family

The deceased, Kennedy Juma Bwire

BUSIA|MURDER

Busia district officials and the family of Kennedy Juma Bwire, the Busia district statistician have said he was killed in office and not in the district courtyard as Police claimed.

Family members said he was the killed at around 7:00pm and that the officer had enough time to clean up the place before calling the Police, which came at around 9:00pm.

Their assertion is based on blood stains on the floor right from Bwire's office to the place where his body lay in a pool of blood.

They also base their claim on testimonies of residents neighbouring the district headquarters who say that they only heard one gunshot contrary to the Police's claim that there were many gunshots fired.

Bwire, in his 20s and still on probation was on Monday evening killed at the district headquarters where he had gone after work to prepare a presentation.

During a heated security meeting held in Chango Machyo hall at the district headquarters on Tuesday evening, angry members of the public and district officials attempted to block regional Police commander, Julius Gobolo, and district Police commander, Ezra Tugume, from attending the meeting, but the RDC Hussein Kato Matanda who chaired the meeting pleaded with them to allow the officers into the district premises.

They lashed out at Tugume for failing to protect the crime scene and reportedly fabricating allegations against the Bwire.

After the shooting, Tugume posted on social media that a thief had been killed, a thing which district officials said a senior Police officer at his rank should not have done.

Tugume apologised, but still he was warned not attend the burial.

Matanda appealed to the public to be calm, saying that investigations were ongoing.

 "The officer in question has been arrested," Matanda said, adding that the law should be allowed to take its course.

The deceased's father, Humphrey Ndiachi Alego, a lecturer at Busitema University said he wanted to get justice for his late son.

He was also disappointed that his son was not the kind of person the Police depicted on social media.