KAMPALA – Several NRM leaders in Kamuli District, including former minister Asuman Kiyingi, were booed as they attempted to calm down People Power Movement supporters on Sunday at the send-off of their colleague, Charles Mutyabule.
Mutyabule 24, was knocked dead in Mabira forest, along the Kampala-Jinja highway on Saturday. He was part of a procession that was escorting Kyadondo East Member of Parliament Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu to Kampala after being hosted at a radio talk show in Jinja.
People power activists claim that Mutyabule was knocked dead by a police patrol vehicle, an accusation that the police has dismissed.
During the burial in Bukakabila village in Kitayundwa sub-county, Kamuli district on Sunday, Joel Ssenyonyi, the People Power spokesperson, argued that Ugandans have a right to freely demand change through peaceful means like organized processions and they shouldn’t be reprimanded over the same.
However, Mr Kiyingi was booed when he asked them to seek redress from the courts of law. People Power supporters accused him of judging their mode of operation while demanding for change and ordered him to sit.
Naluswa Mutyabule, an elder in the area, condemned the people power team for exhibiting recklessness in their approach. He said that a successful commander should ensure the safety of his subjects during the battle because rampant death will weaken his force ahead of the war.
Naluswa further accused them of orchestrating long-distance processions which have caused the death of their colleagues. But the angry supporters attacked him until he was forced to flee from the funeral.
Alton Kasolo, a People Power mobilizer in Busoga sub-region challenged leaders to guide their youthful predecessors other than subjecting them to open criticism.
The deceased is survived by a five months’ pregnant wife, Mwajuma Mutesi. At about 1pm in Mabira Forest in Sanga village in Buikwe District, a double cabin truck, of army green colour, knocked one of the supporters who was riding a motorcycle. He was later pronounced dead at Kawolo Hospital. Bobi Wine alleged yesterday that it was a military truck which killed his supporter in front of cameras and his car.
The army and the police have denied having a hand in the death of Mutyabule.
Brig Gen Richard Karemire, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) spokesperson denied the vehicle belonged to the army. He challenged Bobi Wine to prove that the number plate of the truck belonged to the military.
“What I can bluntly tell you is, No. Those people just want to incriminate the army for nothing. A car having army colours doesn’t make it ours. After all the People Power women have posted that the car was a police vehicle, so you can seek more details from there,” Brig Karemire said by telephone last evening.
In a video circulated on social media by People Power, an army green Pick-up truck emerges behind Bobi Wine’s car, overtakes him and races towards motorcycle riders who were moving ahead in the convoy. The truck knocks one of the riders down and speeds away without stopping as other supporters gather to pick the victim up. The video clip ends here without further revelations.
Ssezibwa Regional Police Spokesperson, Ms Hellen Butoto, said that the accident happened so fast that they could not readily identify the runaway vehicle. She said the vehicle and the driver had not been identified by last evening.
