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City director arrested after bodyguard kills 2
KCCA officials beat up a resident in Luzira yesterday. Courtesy Photo.
Kampala City’s Physical Planning Director George Agaba was by press time still under police custody after his bodyguard shot and killed two people during a demolition exercise gone bloody.
Deputy Police Spokesperson Judith Nabakooba said last evening Mr Agaba and his bodyguard, identified as police constable Santos Makmot were in custody at Jinja Road Police Station over the incident.
“We have launched an investigation into the shooting. Mr Agaba and his bodyguard are being questioned,” Ms Nabakooba said yesterday.
One of the deceased has been identified as John Onyango, a resident of Port Bell, Luzira suburb. The identity of the other deceased person is still unknown. Four people were reportedly injured following the incident.
A statement by Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) yesterday said its law enforcement officers were carrying out a demolition exercise in the Port Bell area when the incident occurred.
“This exercise was notified to the police as has been the case with all previous enforcement operations and to our information the OC Kitantale Police Post gave a go-ahead to remove the kiosks,” the statement read in part.
Witnesses say two people were killed but police told NTV only one person died
According to KCCA, its enforcement team retreated after the demolition exercise. They were, however, attacked by an angry mob and were forced to react after the mob target Mr Agaba.
But a witness said Mr Agaba walked to his official vehicle, only to return with a rifle. He initially attempted to shoot into the crowd but the rifle was jammed.
“The man (bodyguard) took it from him and pushed him into the car. He appeared to be struggling with it and later fired into the crowd,” the witness added. Television footage confirms these accounts.
Pictures this newspaper obtained show Mr Agaba brandishing the assault rifle.
Video footage and pictures show the gunman, dressed in a white long sleeved shirt and blue jeans, firing live ammunition into the crowd using an assault rifle and later a pistol.
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Public threat
The fatal shooting came on the day Sunday Monitor published a lead story with photographs of commandos, commanded by former RRU operative Musa Walugembe, that has lately surfaced to crush opposition demonstrations.
The story raised public safety concerns in the hands of, and accountability by, such characters that wear no uniform yet carry around assault rifles, acting with impunity.
KCCA yesterday defended Mr Agaba: “By all indication, they appeared to be going for Mr George Agaba, the director of Physical Planning. The action of the mob prompted Agaba’s bodyguard to fire in the air to secure Agaba and disperse the crowd,” said the statement issued by the spokesperson, Mr Peter Kaujju.
The footage also showed KCCA law enforcement officers physically assaulting locals. The witness said the area’s LCII chairman, Mr Charles Kwehinda, pleaded with Mr Agaba to allow locals remove their property from the kiosk.
“(Mr) Agaba refused to listen to (Mr) Kwehinda. He (Agaba) walked away from Kwehinda and the bulldozers rolled in. The public became wild as their property was being destroyed,” an eyewitness told this newspaper yesterday.
Video footage also showed bulldozers demolishing structures amidst cries from residence.
Mr Kwehinda and other local leaders were physically assaulted and pictures obtained by this newspaper also show innocent bystanders being beaten and robbed. KCCA said there was no resistance from the kiosk owners.
“The exercise proceeded smoothly and these kiosks were peacefully removed. Indeed some of the offending kiosks were removed by their respective owners,” KCCA said.
Although police said Mr Agaba’s bodyguard is a police constable deployed to guard city Executive Director Jennifer Musisi after she reported death threats to the President Museveni, following her heavy hand in dealing with some of the corrupt deals in the city, Daily Monitor could not independently confirm this by press time.
