Leaders petition Museveni over Nantaba’s SFC guards

A section of leaders in Kayunga District have petitioned President Museveni over the “gross misconduct” of Special Forces Command (SFC) soldiers who guard former State minister for ICT Ida Nantaba.

Led by the Bbaale County Member of Parliament, Mr Charles Tebandeke, the leaders accuse the SFC guards of committing acts of assault on a number of occasions, with the most recent one documenting soldiers beating up mourners during the funeral of former Kitimbwa Town council mayor Isaac Kanzaali on June 25.

“The SFC soldiers who guard the Kayunga District Woman Member of Parliament have on many occasions beaten up innocent people in the district without any security agency like the police taking action against them,” the June 29 petition reads in part.

 “It is the taxpayers whose taxes were used to buy the guns being used to terrorise them, besides the fact that they are (tax payers) the ones who pay their salaries,” it adds.

In the petition, the leaders asked the President to “immediately withdraw the guns” from former minister “before residents fight for their rights.”

In last month’s incident, three mourners sustained injuries during the funeral of late Kanzaali after being beaten by the SFC soldiers.

When contacted, the SFC spokesperson, Mr Jimmy Dennis Omara, said the four soldiers were being investigated by a team of security agencies, including the police. “It is true they (SFC soldiers) acted in an unprofessional manner and we have sent a team to work with the police to investigate the matter. If we find out that she (Nantaba) is using the soldiers attached to her to cause mayhem, we shall withdraw them,” Mr Omara said during a telephone interview.

But Mr Tebandeke and Mr Michael Malinga, the Kitimbwa sub-county chairperson , said they were not sure that the alleged investigations into the soldiers’ conduct would yield any fruits.

They insisted that it is only the President who can prevail over the matter and “save the people in Kayunga” from being beaten. Mr Tebandeke also said cartridges of bullets fired by the soldiers have been handed over to police to help in investigations.

“We have no problem with her[Nantaba] being guarded by  SFC ,but our concern is on their misconduct,” Mr Malinga said in a separate interview on Tuesday .

But Mr Omara explained that Ms Nantaba was given SFC guards because she had “security threats” but noted that she (Nantaba) is not in any way special than other Ugandans.

Ms Nantaba refused to comment on the matter ,but after the fracas that took place at the funeral, she accused her political rivals of orchestrating such acts and hiring  goons to abuse her whenever she attends public gatherings.

Ms Hellen Butoto, the Ssezibwa Regional police spokesperson, said investigations into the alleged assault of mourners by the SFC soldiers were ongoing, adding that action would be taken after the investigations are completed.

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