Wemali saga: Kipsiro’s brother held over arson
Controversial athletics coach Wemali during the national cross-country in Jinja. His house in Kapchorwa was burnt on Sunday night. Photo by Ismail Kezaala
Kampala. National runner Simon Ayeko is in police custody on accusations of arson.
The 2011 World Military Games 3,000m steeplechase gold medalist was arrested from Bukwo on Monday on suspicion that he set coach Peter Wemali’s house, located in Kapchorwa, on fire on Sunday night.
Ayeko, a cousin brother to Commonwealth gold medalist Moses Kipsiro, is currently detained at Kapchorwa Police Station. “Yes, we have him (Ayeko),” Patrick Odokonyero, the Kapchorwa District Police Commander, told Daily Monitor on phone yesterday. “He was seen around the house and witnesses have pinned him. We were told they were two people but we are yet to get the other suspect.” Last week, Kipsiro received death threats and suspects it was the work of Wemali.
The death threats forced Kipsiro to skip the World Cross-country Championships held last Saturday in Guiyang, China as he demanded that Uganda Athletics Federation (UAF) and Uganda Police reprimand Wemali.
Kipsiro and Wemali haven’t been seeing eye-to-eye since last March when the runner demanded that the coach be banned from a training camp in Bukwo for reportedly sexually harassing junior female runners.
The runners had confided in Kipsiro in his capacity as team captain. While Kipsiro, Uganda’s only gold medalist at last year’s Commonwealth Games has won so many races, this might turn out to be the toughest of his career.
Yesterday, he was informed that he participated in the burning of the house. “I received a call from my neighbour telling me that I am a wanted man. That I was with Ayeko and we burnt the house together,” Kipsiro, who has been in Kampala since last Thursday, said.
“This is unbelievable. I don’t even know where Wemali’s house is. Did I use a chopper to Kapchorwa and back?” The neighbour in question, Dennis Kiprotich, told us that indeed Wemali had called him pointing a finger at Kipsiro.
“He (Wemali) hadn’t called me in more than a month so I was surprised to receive his call. He said he suspected Ayeko and Kipsiro but I don’t want to believe it. Ayeko was here in Bukwo until Sunday evening,” Kiprotich said. Adding; “He has been feeling unwell and I doubt he travelled to Kapchorwa later in the night.”
Evasive Wemali
Wemali is currently in Kampala but was too busy to give us a conclusive comment about the arson case. “Yes, it’s true my house was burnt,” Wemali said but background noise interrupted the phone conversation. “I am in traffic jam; I will call you back shortly.”
Asked whether he suspected Kipsiro to behind the burning of his house, Wemali asked in a tough tone: “Who told you?” Wemali hadn’t called back by press time.
Ayeko openly castigated Wemali on AthleticsTalk, a Facebook page last Friday, saying that the coach plans to kill Kipsiro. He also branded the coach a witchcraft man in the post. Wemali is a member of the page and keenly follows debates about him.
Kipsiro said the arson case could be a set-up aimed at frustrating his efforts to prompt authorities to take appropriate action. UAF and Police have remained silent about Kipsiro’s push for justice.
Wemali works for both institutions as a coach and Kipsiro believes they are covering up for his wrongs.
