Kipsiro’s brother beaten at chaotic cross-country
Moses Kipsiro (middle) crying in anger as he is calmed down by colleagues. Kipsiro was incensed by the arrest of his brother Ben Sande, who is said to have attempted murder on controversial athletics coach Peter Wemali. Photo by Ismail Kezaala
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Bleeding from his teeth, mouth and nose, battered Sande was freed minutes later when Kipsiro and his fellow runners from Bukwo came to intervene. And as numbers rose, Jinja DPC Apollo Kateeba fired two bullets in the air to disperse the crowd.
KAMPALA-Chaotic scenes not only halted progress but stole the headlines at the National Cross-Country Championships held at Jinja Golf Course on Saturday.
That Phillip Kipyeko (35:01) had pulled off a surprise to beat record six-time champion Moses Kipsiro (35:03) in the senior men’s 12km race would have offered the biggest news.
However, shortly after that upset by the Police runner, the event went messy when Kipsiro’s brother Ben Sande Nawari was attacked and badly beaten by unknown people.
“This is the worst incident ever to happen in my life,” a very bitter Kipsiro told this paper.
“The incident was very horrible,” said Kipsiro’s coach Raphael Kasaija, one of the witnesses. “It is sad that people come here to partake and enjoy athletics but such things end up happening.”
Daily Monitor understands that Sande, who was enjoying proceedings of the senior women’s 8km race under a tent, was approached by about six unidentified men clad in casual wear, apparently CID officers from Jinja town.
When Sande demanded what they had wanted, they responded that they had been sent to arrest him.
He insisted on staying and as they attempted to forcefully drag him to a car parked nearby, a scuffle emerged just above Dam Waters.
The event emcee, on noticing the row, said that ‘police was trying to handle a thief [Sande] who had stolen a phone’. Onlookers ganged up and they joined in whipping Sande.
Bleeding from his teeth, mouth and nose, Sande was freed minutes later when Kipsiro and his fellow runners from Bukwo came to intervene.
Bullets fired
And as numbers rose, Jinja DPC Apollo Kateeba fired two bullets in the air to disperse the crowd.
“They just wanted to whisk Sande away for good,” said Kasaija, who had engaged in a verbal exchange with the men.
“We managed to rescue him after they failed to present his warrant of arrest,” added Kasajja.
“These men have been hunting my people but will you first wait for us to die then you have action taken?” a disheartened Kipsiro queried the Uganda Athletics Federation officials at the scene.
Kipsiro and his family are said to believe that coach Peter Wemali is behind the attack on the Commonwealth 10,000m two-time gold medalist’s sibling.
Last year Kipsiro made allegations that Wemali had sexually harassed junior female athletes during a training camp in Bukwo in preparation for the March 16 Africa Cross-country Championships last year.
“He (Wemali) vowed to hurt or kill one by one of those who exposed his deeds last year,” stated a member of the athletics fraternity, whose name withheld for fear of reprisal.
“He has been trying so much to get to Kipsiro but in vain. So the cross-country country event gave him that opportunity,” Kasaija said.
