Category: Politics

{Shops in Moroto Town in Karamoja sub-region closed and business came to a standstill on Friday evening following news that the former presidential candidate, Dr Kizza Besigye, who was later charged with treason, was being moved away from the police cells to another place.}

The houses cleared and the streets filled. Traders locked up shops. Hundreds of locals abandoned their homes.
They poured out to the streets and Moroto Police Station to bid farewell to Dr Besigye with gifts of tomatoes, chicken, turkeys and cash. Most of them had earlier been denied access to see Besigye at Moroto Police Station.

Curious crowd
Curiosity was raging high among the residents after seeing a helicopter land in the bushes at Nakapelimen ground. Whether the helicopter was a decoy to dupe the crowds into one direction as the State took Besigye to a different destination or it was a mere coincidence, is a matter of imagination.
Crowds camped at the police station entrance waiting for Besigye to come out. Police attempts to chase them away were futile and a scuffle ensued. The residents had speculated that the chopper, which had landed in Moroto town, had come to fly Besigye back to Kampala.
They were right on the departure but wrong on the destination.

At exactly 6.15pm, Dr Besigye was indeed removed from the police cells aboard a black tinted pick-up but was not taken to Kampala as anticipated. He was taken to Moroto Chief Magistrate’s Court under tight security by counter terrorism and anti-riot police, and military personnel with a police escort fleet.

The helicopter that had gone to pick Dr Besigye landed at Moroto town at 6.10pm but left without him at 6.50pm and returned to Kampala.
Disappointed residents went back to their homes with their gifts.
Dr Besigye was charged with treason in Moroto Chief Magistrate’s Court at 6pm, one hour past court’s official working time.
The Moroto Chief Magistrate, Mr Charles Yeteise, read him treason charges for only three minutes. Dr Besigye was not allowed to say anything in court nor was he represented by a lawyer. Sunday Monitor learnt that Dr Besigye was charged without him making a statement with police after he refused to make one.
He was then whisked away to Moroto prison until May 25 when he will reappear for mention of his case.
Treason is a capital offence only tried by the High Court and attracts up to a death sentence on conviction.

MP blocked
Meanwhile, Mr Roland Mugume, the Rukungiri Municipality MP, who arrived in Moroto to see Besigye during the detention, spent three days at Moroto Police Station seeking to see the FDC leader without success.

Dr Besigye, the runner-up in the February presidential elections, was on Wednesday arrested in Kampala after a shock appearance in the city centre having beaten the round-the-clock blockade and surveillance of his home.

As the scuffle with the police was going on, a video showing Dr Besigye swearing in as new president of Uganda was running on You Tube and being shared on Facebook and other social media platforms.

The video shows Besigye, flanked by other FDC party officials, at an undisclosed location taking both the presidential oath and oath of allegiance before “a lady judge/commissioner of oath” who is unidentifiable as her face is turned away from the camera.

Social media shutdown
Three hours later, the Uganda Communications Commission shut down all social media platforms citing “security reasons” without further elaborating.

After the arrest on Wednesday, Besigye was bundled into a police van and taken away to an unknown place but a police helicopter later landed with him at Nadunget Airstrip in Moroto at 6pm. He was transported from there by road under tight security to Moroto Police Station.

Police accused him of holding an unlawful swearing-in. At Moroto police cells, the public was barred from seeing him.

In the morning of Saturday, the public was still in a restive mood. They were mobilising to go to Moroto Prison to see Dr Besigye.

Journalists were barred from even taking photographs of Besigye. Counter-terrorism police threatened to shoot any journalist who would take photos of Dr Besigye. They claimed they were acting on orders from “above”.

{According to clinical officer Leah Atsewa, who attended to him, Mr Wanjala was under the influence of alcohol.}

A man is fighting for his life at Bungoma Referral Hospital after jumping off a helicopter carrying the body of businessman Jacob Juma on Friday.

Sale Wanjala, 41, had hung on the chopper from Bungoma Posta Grounds as it took off after a public viewing of the body.

Mr Wanjala, a casual labourer, was seen hanging on the helicopter as it flew away from the grounds, prompting desperate mourners to shout and frantically wave at the pilot to land the aircraft and save him.

However, the pilot could not hear the shouts and flew away with the man holding tight to the the chopper’s tabular landing skids.

The helicopter had delivered Mr Juma’s body at the grounds instead of Kanduyi Stadium as had been scheduled for public viewing.

“I was sitting at the landing skids while the crowd milled around the chopper. Suddenly I realised the chopper was taking off and my foot was stuck. By the time I was freeing myself the chopper had already gained momentum and decided to hang on to wherever it was going,” Mr Wanjala said at his hospital bed.

The aircraft flew to Bungoma Airstrip and he decided to let go of the skids and jump off. He sustained injuries on his hip, legs and hand.

An ambulance that was accompanying Mr Juma’s hearse rushed him to the hospital where he is currently receiving treatment.

According to clinical officer Leah Atsewa, who attended to him, Mr Wanjala was under the influence of alcohol.

“We have examined him and he has no serious injuries only that he has a dislocated hip and bruises though we realised that he was reeking alcohol,” she said.

Mr Wanjala’s sister Leah Nelima told the Nation: “I received a call that my brother had jumped from a helicopter and had sustained head injuries that forced me to rush to the hospital to see for myself”.

Mr Wanjala had two wives. His first wife died a few years ago and he later separated from his second wife.

He had six children. Only one, aged 17, is alive.

{Thousands of supporters protest at accusations that opposition candidate Moise Katumbi was plotting a coup.}

Congo police fired tear gas at thousands of supporters rallying outside the prosecutor’s office where a leading opposition presidential candidate was facing a hearing over accusations he was plotting a coup.

Friday’s incident was the third time in five days that police fired tear gas at supporters of Moise Katumbi, the former governor of the country’s copper-mining region, who the government has accused of hiring mercenaries as part of the plot against the government, according to the Reuters news agency.

Authorities have given scant details about the allegations made last week, which Katumbi denies.

He says the accusations are aimed at derailing his campaign to succeed President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled since 2001, but is barred from standing for a third term in an election set for November.

Police also threw rocks at the demonstrators, who flocked towards Katumbi when he arrived outside the prosecutor general’s office. One rock hit Katumbi’s older brother, Abraham, in the face.

“It’s sad that there is not a state of law – police officers who throw stones and wound my older brother,” Katumbi said before entering the building.

The hearing was suspended after Katumbi said he felt unwell due to the tear gas.

Dozens were killed in January 2015 in protests over a proposed revision of the electoral law that critics said was a ploy to keep Kabila in power beyond the end of his mandate. Kabila has not said whether he will leave power this year.

{Former Presidential Candidate, Dr. Kizza Besigye was on Friday evening rushed to the Magistrate’s Court in Moroto district and summarily charged with Treason.}

According to the Forum for Democratic Change party officials no one including family, friends or party members where allowed within the precincts of the Court during the session that took about only 20 minutes.

The FDC Secretary for Trade and Investments, Doreen Nyanjura who is also the Makerere Councilor elect told ChimpReports on phone that Besigye was subsequently remanded at Moroto Prisons up to 25th May when the hearing of his case starts.

“Dr. KB (Besigye) was taken to court at 6:30 PM. None of us party members nor his family members were allowed near the court premises,” Ms. Nyanjura said.

“The court process the shortest time I have ever witnessed. It was just like a scripted and well rehearsed drama.”

Dr. Besigye was arrested on Wednesday when he escaped from the 24 hour tight security at his home in Kasangati and stormed the city centre.

He was briefly detained at Nagalama police station in Kiira but at night he was transferred to the Eastern district of Moroto which is 420km from the capital Kampala.

The treason charges are likely connected to a viral video posted online in which Besigye was seen being sworn in as President of Uganda as his party had earlier vowed.

The Constitutional Court recently blocked the opposition defiance protests which started towards the end of presidential campaigns and intensified when Besigye lost the elections.

{Western delegations attending the inauguration of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni have walked out of the ceremony in protest.}

US, European and Canadian diplomats left abruptly when Mr Museveni made disparaging comments about the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The US state department said they had also objected to the presence of Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir at the ceremony.

Mr Bashir is wanted by the ICC on charges of genocide.

Thursday’s inauguration – the fifth since Mr Museveni took power in 1986 – was attended by leaders from Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

In his address, Mr Museveni described the ICC as “a bunch of useless people” and said he no longer supported it.

State department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said: “In response to President Bashir’s presence and President Museveni’s remarks, the US delegation, along with representatives of the EU countries and Canada, departed the inauguration ceremonies to demonstrate our objections.”

“We believe that walking out in protest is an appropriate reaction to a head of state mocking efforts to ensure accountability for victims of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Ms Trudeau said that was especially the case as Uganda was committed to accountability as a party to the Rome statute, which established the ICC.

The Hague-based court has issued international warrants in 2009 and 2010 for Mr Bashir’s arrest on charges of genocide for atrocities in Sudan’s western Darfur region.

Correspondents say that states in theory have a legal duty to arrest ICC suspects on their territory, but African leaders are increasingly doubtful of its authority.

{President Museveni’s swearing in ceremony at Kololo Independence Grounds on Thursday left 160 people behind bars.}

Mr Patrick Onyango, the Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, said the suspects were arrested pickpocketing folks who had gathered to witness Mr Museveni’s swearing in for the fifth elective term.

“We arrested these people snatching items such as phones and wallets.They were arrested by our uniformed and plain-clothed security personnel,” Mr Onyango said.

Mr Onyango said majority of the suspects were teenagers suspected to be members of infamous criminal gang, Kifesi that terrorises people in the rough hours of morning and evening.

He said the number was likely to increase since other suspects were being detained at different police station in addition to the operation that was ongoing.

“This was a magnificent function that attracted people from all walks of life.Some people go to such events with different motives. We expected such characters to appear and we planned ahead,” Mr Onyango said.

However, Mr Onyango said the suspects would be screened since some could have been arrested due to their appearance or being adjacent to criminal elements.

The function, according to Mr Onyango was generally peaceful, given proper preparation and planning ahead by security forces.

“The event was generally peaceful. We did not register serious crimes apart from simple robberies; of mobile phones and loss of identify cards. We thank the public for being peaceful,” Mr Onyango said.

While addressing the media on Monday, Gen Kale Kayihura, the Inspector General of Police, warned that security agencies were more than ready to crush anyone who would engage in violent and criminal activities prior and during Mr Museveni’s swearing in.

Gen Kayihura’s pledge was indeed fulfilled when several opposition leaders were put under house arrest while others including former FDC presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye, were detained on the eve of the ceremony.

{President John Magufuli was on Thursday the toast of hundreds of people who attended the swearing-in of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, as they wildly applauded when he was being introduced at the Kololo Independence Grounds.}

Mr Museveni was sworn-in for another term as Uganda president at a ceremony attended by dozens of leaders and dignitaries, and beamed live by local and international television stations.

When he marched to the podium to introduce the heads of state who attended the ceremony just few minutes after taking oath of office, Mr Museveni started introducing one leader after another.

When it was Dr Magufuli’s turn to be introduced, the crowd wildly cheered him as he stood up to acknowledge the ecstatic reception. Dr Magufuli is popular among East African Community (EAC), member states for the radical changes he has embraced in Tanzania including spearheading the fight against corruption since he took over office late last year.

And when it was time to leave the grounds, journalists surged forward to book Dr Magufuli for exclusive interviews. However, their efforts hit a brick wall as the Tanzanian leader declined to address the media.

Accompanied by a small delegation, the Head of State jetted into Uganda on Wednesday from Arusha aboard a private Tanzanian jet. He arrived in Kampala in his second trip outside the country since he took oath of office in November last year.

Earlier, amid ululations, President Museveni signed the oath of allegiance and was handed the instruments of power by the Chief Justice, Mr Bart Katureebe, a few minutes to 12 noon.

The instruments included a copy of the Ugandan Constitution, the national flag, the presidential standard, a copy of the national anthem, the coat of arms, and the public seal. A sword and a shield (the symbol for Uganda’s defence forces) were also handed to the president.

The ceremony was attended by several heads of state, among them presidents Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya), Omar al-Bashir (Sudan), Salva Kiir (South Sudan), Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe), Jacob Zuma (South Africa) and Mahamadou Issoufou (Niger).

Also in attendance were two former Tanzanian presidents, Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Jakaya Kikwete. Other leaders who were cheered by the crowd are Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta and Omar al-Bashir of Sudan.

Introducing Mr Al-Bashir, President Museveni said his country was less concerned with the indictment of the former by the International Criminal Court (ICC). “We are less concerned with the ICC because initially when it was introduced, we thought they were serious.

But it has come to our knowledge that that court is a bunch of useless people.’’ Mr Museveni was declared winner of the February presidential elections after garnering 60.75 per cent of total votes cast.

His closest challenger Dr Kizza Besigye of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) got 35.37 per cent, while former Prime Minister, Amama Mbabazi, who challenged the results in the Supreme Court and lost the case, came third with 1.43 per cent.

Mr Museveni, who is the chairperson of the ruling NRM, came to power in 1986 after carrying out a five-year-long protracted guerrilla warfare in the jungles of Luwero triangle (1981-1986).