ARUA- Two people are receiving treatment at Arua Hospital for gunshot wounds sustained during the chaos that blemished the launch of Awakening Youth from Poverty, an initiative of the Brian White Foundation.
Chaos broke out Friday August 3 at around 6:00pm when a rowdy youth stormed the distribution point of Bryan White foundation demanding money. Two people were shot on the legs by the security agencies in the process of dispersing the rowdy and desperate people who had turned up at Arua Hill Boma Grounds to benefit from Foundation donations.
Socialite Bryan White, the CEO Brian White Foundation has been in Arua since the beginning of the week, promoting the programme which he says was started to provide funding to youths in order to help them fight poverty.
However, queries were raised on the criteria used to select beneficiaries as Bryan White has been giving out cash to individuals he believes are poor.
This caused the event to end prematurely when some youth demanded an equal share of the money that was being distributed. More chaos ensued when some people started stoning Bryan White Foundation members.
The police together with the UPDF officers deployed at the scene fired live bullets and tear gas that sent the crowd into more chaos, blocking traffic on all the roads to Kampala and Arua town. The tear gas spread to all the surrounding areas near Arua Hill forcing nearby businesses to close down.
The North Western Regional Police Commander Jonathan Musinguzi confirmed the shooting of two boys during the scuffle, however he disassociated himself from the actions of the UPDF officers.
Bryan White together with Zari Hassan who had arrived a few hours back were immediately taken away in one of his (Bryan) vehicles though some of his team members were caught up in the chaos.
Since his arrival in Arua a week ago, Bryan White’s convoy has attracted hundreds of youth who kept on following him demanding for money.
Bryan White Foundation kicked off its one week tour in Arua on Saturday last week. The foundation has earmarked Shs7 billion to be distributed to various groups of people in Arua District.
