Police foil Opposition Independence fete

Kampala. Police backed by the army yesterday foiled the first of planned series of Independence Day Opposition rallies by detaining key Opposition leaders in their homes and cordoning off the venue.
Yesterday’s planned assembly in Bweyogerere, Wakiso District, near Kampala was to be followed by another today in Kawempe, a Kampala suburb.

This was to be crowned by a national rally tomorrow in Katwe in Kampala to renew what Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party termed as their “[efforts] in the fight for good governance in this country”.
Police, which have maintained a round-the-clock presence at the Kasangati residence of Opposition leader, Dr Kizza Besigye, since he was plucked from a Kenya Airways plane on Monday, maintained a keen watch at his home.
All through, the whereabouts of Dr Besigye, who was last seen appearing on a local television station remained unknown. Close associates suggested that he would “surface somewhere”.

Hours later, the former presidential candidate emerged in Bukayengare village, Buteza Sub-county, Sironko District for the burial of the former Makindye Court Chief Magistrate Richard Mafabi.
Mr Mafabi, 51, died last Sunday. He was the magistrate who issued criminal summons to Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura and other senior police officers for brutalising Dr Besigye’s supporters.
Dr Besigye has previously beaten police surveillance at his home only to resurface in the city centre.
There was a mini-fracas at Dr Besigye’s home yesterday as Kampala city councillor Muhammad Ssegirinya, who had accompanied Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, attempted to remove the police road spikes.

More than 20 police officers were deployed at the Bweyogerere-Kirinya home of Kira Municipality MP Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, the convener of yesterday’s rally that aborted.
Police commanded by Mr Gideon Byomuhangi, the officer-in-charge of Bweyogerere Police, blocked both journalists and Mr Ssemujju’s visitors from accessing his home.
Police, which placed a patrol car at the main gate of Mr Ssemujju’s home, also maintained a heavy presence at the nearby mosque ostensibly to prevent the MP from escaping using the smaller gate of his residence.
“I am still grounded, they [police] are not letting me out,” Mr Ssemujju said in a telephone interview.
By press time, there were no signs that there would be a rally at Jokas Hotel grounds. Police and the military kept watch a few metres away.

Mr Lukwago, who had a number of activities lined up, including a meeting with boda boda cyclists, was allowed to leave his Rubaga-Wakaliga home, but with the police trailing him.
Police maintain that allowing the Opposition to have parallel celebrations and activities will disrupt the national Independence Day celebrations planned for Luuka in eastern Uganda.
“The FDC party has been advised to attend national celebrations and desist from conducting any parallel celebrations. The general public is advised to avoid any parallel celebrations that are conducted outside the national celebrations,” Mr Andrew Felix Kaweesi, the police spokesperson, said in a statement.

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