President Museveni speaks out on Arua chaos

President Yoweri K Museveni. FILE PHOTO

What you need to know:

  • He wondered why someone would take supporters through congested streets yet the law is clear that the supporters should go for the rally at an agreed venue and, after the rally, everybody disperses to his/her home. He warned NRM leaders to never involve themselves in such processions because they inconvenience the public.
  • Mr Museveni said that some leaders have been acting with impunity and it has caused the death of one in Bugiri and, now, one person in Arua.

President Yoweri K Museveni has come out to give his own insight of the chaos that ensued in Arua Municipality on Monday during the last campaign rallies for the Arua by-election.
The chaos which President Museveni blames on the weak management by the police and some opposition elements left one person dead and six others injured. Bobi wine’s driver Yasin Kawuma was shot dead in that chaos.

President Museveni in his statement posted on his facebook timeline on Wednesday, said he understands that some people were worried about the endless criminal acts of elements of the Opposition, including the incidents of Arua on Monday.

“I always insist on singling out the grandchildren because I want them to be conversant with our rich experiences spanning a period of 58 years. The elements of the Opposition, including Kassiano Wadri, Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine) and others, who stoned our convoy, including my vehicle,” President Museveni said.

He said that the vehicle in his motorcade that was smashed with stones by Wadri’s supporters is purposely for carrying luggage and therefore is not armoured, answering many Ugandans who have been wondering how a bullet-proof car could easily be smashed by stones.

“The stones they threw broke the rear glass window of the car where we transport luggage. That window glass is not armoured. There was no harm on the old man with a hat,” he said, adding: “It is a big shame to have such confused people who want to use violence to intimidate Ugandans. Nobody has a right to intimidate any Ugandan by word or action.”


President Museveni also said that his convoy did not react with fire in response to this attack, because they were not equipped for anti-riots.
“Our intervention could have resulted into people's death because we only had live bullets,” Museveni said.

“Unfortunately, this crowd, with a tinga tinga (a grader), apparently continued to the town where they attacked people who were coming from the NRM rally. They injured quite a number of people with stones. It was in those scuffles that one of the attackers was shot dead. This is due to the weak management by the Police and the criminal behaviour of some of the Opposition leaders,” he added.
He wondered why someone would take supporters through congested streets yet the law is clear that the supporters should go for the rally at an agreed venue and, after the rally, everybody disperses to his/her home. He warned NRM leaders to never involve themselves in such processions because they inconvenience the public.

Mr Museveni said that some leaders have been acting with impunity and it has caused the death of one in Bugiri and, now, one person in Arua.
“These acts are strongly rejected and will be punished according to the law. Anybody who organizes such groups is responsible for their misconduct,” he said, concluding that: “We went to the bush to fight for the right of making political decisions by Ugandans without intimidation by word or action. Anybody who threatens this will have himself to blame.”