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Ugandan presidential candidate and pop star Bobi Wine said one of his bodyguards was killed Sunday when military police ran over him while Wine’s convoy was carrying a journalist wounded by police to seek medical help.
Military police said the bodyguard had fallen out of a car at speed.
Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has become the strongest rival of President Yoweri Museveni, 76, in the presidential election scheduled for January 14.
“I am sorry to announce the murder of Francis Senteza Kalibala, also known as Frank, a member of my security team. He was deliberately run over by a military police truck, No. H4DF 2382, which blocked us in Busega on the way to Rubaga to take Kasirye Ashraf to emergency medical services. Attention. “
The Ugandan army spokeswoman wrote on Twitter Sunday night that the bodyguard had not been hit by a military police vehicle.
“The UPDF (Uganda People’s Defense Force) would like to clarify that the late Senteza … was not hit by a military police vehicle as allegedly, but fell from a car at high speed … tried to jump into (sic) but it turned off. “
Police spokesman Fred Enanga did not respond to a request for comment about the bodyguard. He had previously told Reuters that Wine supporters had gathered on Sunday in Masaka, 125 km southwest of the capital Kampala. Wine had attended a church service in the city, he tweeted.
Enanga said the supporters were “a violent group” but did not elaborate on what they were doing.
“Tear gas was used to quell the violence. Unfortunately, journalists were trapped during the process of dispersing the violent group,” he said.
He said that one of the journalists, from the television station Ghetto TV, suffered a serious injury to his left eye “allegedly from a canister (of tear gas).”
Ashraf Kasirye was hospitalized at the Masaka Reference Hospital and later transferred to Kampala, he said.
“He’s in critical condition,” Wine later tweeted about Kasirye’s injury. “We hope against hope that he lives.”
The three journalists who were injured were wearing bulletproof vests and helmets marked “PRESS”, local reporter Culton Scovia Nakamya of BBS TV told Reuters.
Masaka is one of 11 areas where campaigns have been suspended due to coronavirus risks, although critics of the government say the real reason is the popularity of the opposition in these areas.
Another presidential candidate, Patrick Amuriat, was arrested in the city of Jinja on Sunday, his Forum for Democratic Change party tweeted. Jinja, east of the capital, is one of the districts where the electoral board suspended the campaign.
Amuriat’s party tweeted photos of him campaigning on Sunday, the day after the campaign’s suspension was announced.
Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Amuriat’s arrest.
Reuters
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