Karuma workers recount shooting of colleague
Ronald Kisitu (pictured), who was the head of internal security and also safety officer, was shot dead on Monday afternoon during a scuffle between employees and security personnel. Courtesy photo
What you need to know:
- He said Kisitu, who the soldiers knew very well, was against the beating of the arrested worker.
- The 65 workers who were arrested during the incident and detained at Kiryandongo Central Police station for interrogation, have been accused of trying to snatch a gun from the soldiers that resulted into the shooting.
KIRYANDONGO. A Sinohydro Corporation Ltd worker shot dead last Monday by a soldier guarding the company premises in Karuma Town, Kiryandongo District, had a conflict with the army man, workers recount.
Ronald Kisitu, who was the head of internal security and also safety officer, was shot dead on Monday afternoon during a scuffle between employees and security personnel.
Kisitu had reportedly arrested and beaten up an employee, who had attempted to smuggle out scrap metal for sale.
But administrators and security personnel at the Karuma power dam site have since maintained that Kisitu was shot by the soldier as he attempted to disperse workers that were rioting at the main entrance to the hydro-power plant, protesting the arrest of a colleague.
However, Mr Linos Ngompek, the Kiryandongo Resident District Commissioner, said: “One of the employees tried to smuggle angle bars in a vehicle but he was caught. But his colleagues in the vehicle resisted his arrest and ganged up to rescue him from the soldier, who fired live bullets in defence, and unfortunately, one was shot dead.”
Mr Muhammad Lubogo, the Uganda Electricity Generation Company Ltd spokesperson, said in a telephone interview on Thursday that Kisitu was shot accidentally.
He said as head of internal security, Kisitu reportedly went to calm down the scuffle between the casual workers and the security officials, and one soldier mistakenly pulled his trigger and shot Kisitu in the chest.
But one of the workers, who witnessed the shooting, told Sunday Monitor that the shooting was intended since the soldier said Kisitu was always interfering with his work.
Kisitu, 33, who hailed from Jinja District, had worked for Sinohydro Corporation Ltd for two years.
“One of us, during the checks, was found with scrap metal that was immediately confiscated by the soldiers, but they continued to beat him up endlessly. This angered and prompted the deceased, who was standing about 30 metres away from the checkpoint, to walk towards the soldiers while telling them to stop beating the worker,” he said.
“In the chaos, this soldier (shooter) hit another worker with the butt of his gun and he was pushed down, but he got up and immediately shot Kisitu, accusing him of causing him problems and interfering with his work,” he added.
The same soldier allegedly shot at two other workers in their legs in an attempt to disperse the rowdy workers, the witness said.
He said Kisitu, who the soldiers knew very well, was against the beating of the arrested worker.
The 65 workers who were arrested during the incident and detained at Kiryandongo Central Police station for interrogation, have been accused of trying to snatch a gun from the soldiers that resulted into the shooting.
