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Kyotera civil servant arrested over alleged subversive activities - Family
Area police on December 4 cordoned off Mr Joseph Ssegirinya's home as investigations into the allegations got underway. PHOTO/AMBROSE MUSASIZI
What you need to know:
- Greater Masaka region police spokesperson Mr Mohamad Nsubuga confirmed the arrest of Mr Ssegirinya noting that “he was simply a suspect to be investigated.”
Security operatives in Masaka Sub-region have arrested Mr Joseph Ssegirinya Kisekulo, a civil servant attached to Kyotera District Local Government on allegations of being connected to a group involved in subversive activities, his family said Sunday.
According to Mr Mike Mutesasira the Mitukula-Kinankore LC I Chairperson, the suspect was picked by security men in plain clothes who took him to Kyotera Police Station on spot.
“After picking him in a nearby trading centre in Kyotera, the police in Kyotera told us that Ssegirinya was being investigated on allegations of having connections with a group practicing highway robbery and other criminal acts in the country which we highly doubt,” he told Daily Monitor.
Local council records show that Mr Ssegirinya is a resident of Mitukula-Kinankore Cell in Kyotera Town Council and a parish chief attached to Kyebe Sub-county where he has worked for the last ten years.
Chairman Mutesasira observed that Joseph has been so down to earth and has not been involved in any criminal acts at the village or at his place of work.
Mr Mathias Kisekulo said the family was ‘overwhlemed’ to learn that his brother (Ssegirinya) was linked to a group terrorizing Kyotera and other neighboring communities.
“We shall try to be calm but they should not provoke us because we have information that this motive could be politically engineered,” he explained.
Kyotera District Chairperson and also a brother to the suspect, Mr Patrick Kintu Kisekulo said interim police accusations connected Mr Ssegirinya to a highway robbery group which operates in army and Police uniform.
“They say that Ssegirinya is a high class criminal but we highly disagree,”he said.
Greater Masaka region police spokesperson Mr Mohamad Nsubuga confirmed the arrest of Mr Ssegirinya noting that “he was simply a suspect to be investigated.”
“We are holding Mr Ssegirinya at Kyotera Police Station but we shall first search his home and also make thorough interrogations before we release him,” he said.
Mr Nsubuga added that security should be left to do its work without intervention from the community especially on issues concerning destabilizing peace of Ugandans.
Mr John Paul Mpalanyi the Kyotera County MP told Daily Monitor that Mr Ssegirinya’s arrest is most likely political.
“As the 2021 elections were ongoing, several people were arrested in Kyotera but later released without being charged in any case. We are worried that this could be the same motive of intimidating our people,” he explained.
Early this year, about 19 people were arrested in Kyotera district on allegations of terrorism but 18 of them were later released after a period of about two months on interrogation.
