KASESE – The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) has arrested two of its officers in connection with the shooting dead of Church lay reader in Kasese District on Wednesday morning.
UPDF spokesperson Brig Richard Karemiire said the duo will appear in the military court as soon as investigations are complete.
“The UPDF highly regrets the incident and extends its deepest sympathy and condolences to the bereaved family,” Mr Karemiire tweeted on Thursday, 25 June 2020.
Benon Musimenta, a lay reader at Kogore Church of Uganda, was riding with his wife Allen when the met soldiers at Karungibati on Hima-Kasese road.
Ms Musimenta recounts that when the soldiers stopped them, her husband stopped only for the soldier to cross from one side of the road and shoot her husband in the neck, killing him instantly.
“They stopped us and when my husband stopped, I saw one of the soldiers from the other side of the road cross and shot him in the neck without asking any question,” she said.
The 222nd Brigade spokesperson, Captain Fidel Sonko Masumbuko, confirmed the incident but said investigations are underway to find what exactly happened.
Security forces in different parts of the country have come under criticism for allegedly extorting money from the public and assaulting them in enforcement of the presidential directives on Covid-19 pandemic.
The initial days of lockdown showed Local Defence Unit forces unleashing terror on Ugandans who were thought to have violated the directives.
When the President condemned the brutality against the public, the security personnel changed the game plan to extortion.
Following reports of brutality among enforcement officers, President Museveni announced that errant Local Defence Unit (LDUs) personnel engaged in beating Ugandans would be handed heavy disciplinary action.
