Security hunt for ex-presidential candidate Kabuleta

Security agencies are hunting for the principal of the National Economic Empowerment Dialogue, Mr Joseph Kabuleta, on allegations of spreading misleading information against vaccination of children against coronavirus. 

Armed security personnel dressed in civilian clothes raided the offices of Mr Kabuleta at Luthuli Avenue in Bugolobi, Kampala, and briefly detained his colleagues in search for him, but didn’t find him. 
Mr Moses Matovu, the spokesperson of the National Economic Empowerment Dialogue, said the armed men raided their offices yesterday morning and took over their communication gadgets before they carried out a search. 

“They asked us to tell them where our principal was and we told them he was out of office. But they insisted that he was around, so they searched the area. We found out later that they were tracking the mobile phone he used during the presidential elections,” Mr Matovu said. 

“We told them that he had left the phone in the office. They picked it and went with it.”
There were efforts by security officers to use Mr Kabuleta’s colleagues phone to lure him into his office in vain. Efforts by this publication to talk to Mr Kabuleta were futile by press time. 
Mr Kabuleta has been critical about vaccination of children in schools against Covid-19 and other diseases. He often claims that the vaccines have adverse effects on human beings and also cause death to some people, an allegation that both the government and international health organisations such as World Health Organisation refute. 

According to Mr Matovu’s colleague, Mr Jeje Kyaka, the security personnel possessed a video in which Mr Kabuleta allegedly talked about the ongoing Covid-19 vaccinations of children in school, which they claimed contained a range of offences such as sedition and offensive communication.
The deputy spokesperson of Kampala Metropolitan Police, Mr Luke Owoyesigyire, said he had not yet been briefed about the matter.

Police sources said contravention of the Immunisation Act 2017 is part of the many offences they are investigating against Mr Kabuleta and his colleagues.
The law penalises anyone who makes misleading statements against vaccines. 
According to Section 23 (1) of the Immunisation Act, a person shall not make, cause to be made, or publish any misleading statement or information regarding the use or effect of any vaccine. 

Section 23(2) of the Immunisation Act states: “…a person who contravenes this section commits an offence and is liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding 48 currency points (Shs960,000) or imprisonment not exceeding two years or both.”
Police have before interrogated Mr Kabuleta’s pastor Elvis Mbonye on allegations of promoting an anti-immunisation campaign against measles and Rubella on his social media platform. 

Mr Mbonye denied the allegations, and the case never reached prosecution level. 
President Museveni has repeatedly vowed to deal with anyone against immunisation and vaccination campaigns. He once said he had to arrest one religious leader in western Uganda, who was against immunisation campaign.