KAMPALA – The presidential advisor on media, Mr Joseph Tamale Mirundi, has described the nailing of Baker Kasumba, an NRM activist, as the work of the NRM mafia trying to discredit the opposition and discourage the wearing of the yellow berets.
The 21-year-old was nailed through the palms by unknown thugs last Wednesday night using two six-inch nails. While visiting Kasumba at Mulago National Referral Hospital, the NRM party Secretary-General, Justine Lumumba, said he had been attacked because of his political affiliation.
However, Mr Tamale questioned the manner in which he was nailed.
“How comes that there is no any chair who has come out to say that that boy is from his area??… Has he been an ardent NRM supporter? These are mafias trying to spoil my yellow berets. Can a killer let you survive? How comes that the nail did not pass through the bones in the pam, they targeted the flesh? This is a pure lie. There is a click of people within NRM is trying to make people scare not to buy these yellow berets,” he said while appearing on a talk show on Top Radio on Monday evening.
Addressing the weekly FDC presser at their party headquarters in Najjanankumbi this morning, the FDC Party Deputy Spokesperson, John Kikonyogo condemned such acts of violence.
He tasked police to expedite its investigations and come out with a clear report on the matter.
Kikonyogo however, said it is too early to speculate that Kasumba was attacked because of his affiliation with NRM, saying it is impossible for a political party in Uganda to ask its members to commit such acts of violence against opponents.
Kikonyogo condemned the transfer of Kasumba from Mulago Hospital to an unknown facility when Lumumba visited him on grounds that his life was in danger. However, Kikonyogo noted that if indeed the patient’s life was still in danger, the security would have deployed and kept the patient under surveillance such that any attempts to hurt him more are frustrated and the culprits apprehended.
