Uganda: Minister’s guards shoot agent of Kanungu LC5 winner

A 27-year-old man is admitted with gunshot wounds after he was allegedly shot by security guards of Kinkizi East MP and State Minister for Housing, Dr Chris Baryomunsi.

Mr Andrew Musinguzi said he was shot twice in the lower abdomen on January 19 after he had picked his appointment letter as agent of Mr Sam Kajojo, an independent candidate, who won the Kanungu District chairperson seat in last week’s local government elections.

Mr Kajojo defeated the NRM party flag bearer, Mr Zepher Mugisha in the January 20 election. Mr Mugisha was supported by top NRM party officials in Kanungu, including Dr Baryomunsi.

Mr Musinguzi, a resident of Kazirankyende Village in Northern Ward, Kanungu Town Council, said he had been assigned to Ruyonza Polling Station in the same ward.

He said the minister’s guards shot him using a pistol. “After picking the appointment letter at around 7.45 pm, I boarded a motorcycle ridden by Godfrey Musinguzi. After a short distance on Kanungu-Rukungiri road, a motorcycle carrying Dr Baryomunsi’s worker called Kafanta Mugisha and his chief agent Rogers Niwagaba for Rutenga Sub-county overtook us,” he narrated.

Mr Musinguzi added that as they reached Karuhunda junction, the motorcycle carrying the two stopped and shortly after, a Prado vehicle appeared and blocked the road, about half a kilometre to Kanungu Police Station.

“Mugisha told the security guards in the Prado; ‘These are the boys.’ The man (in the vehicle) wearing an army jacket pulled a pistol and shot me twice in the lower abdomen as we tried to turn back on the motorcycle. I fell in the drainage channel and rolled downhill. The attackers drove away. The boda boda man, who was carrying me, ran for his life, leaving me behind,” Mr Musinguzi said.

He added that after gaining consciousness, he called his friend who took him to Kanungu Health Centre IV where he was admitted for two days. He was later discharged without being operated on.

“I reported the matter at Kanungu Police Station and the case was recorded as CRB 027/2021. Government should meet my medical bills since I was injured by security officials employed by government,” Mr Musinguzi said.

Due to continued severe pain, Mr Musinguzi was taken back to Kanungu Health Centre IV on Saturday but later went to Rugyeyo Community Hospital for thorough medical check-up.

A medical officer at Rugyeyo Community Hospital, Dr Musa Ssentanza, said Mr Musinguzi needs X-ray (scan) examination. “The victim has gunshot wounds. After X-ray, it’s when we shall be able to establish extent of the injury,” Dr Ssentaza told Daily Monitor.

When contacted, Dr Baryomunsi dismissed allegations against his security guards. “Let them (complainants) not drag me into this; I am not their level. Who is the victim in the politics of Kanungu District? I was not a candidate in the LC5 elections,” Dr Baryomunsi said by telephone on Saturday.

What RDC says

Although Kanungu District Police Commander Julius Tugumenawe declined to comment on the incident, the Resident District Commissioner, Hajj Shafique Ssekandi, yesterday said more information is being compiled for possible prosecution.

“I blame the accused persons. They had no authority to monitor the electoral process in regard to who was committing any electoral offence. I wonder why his security people accumulated all that anger to start shooting at people in an election that was not for their boss,” Hajj Ssekandi told Daily Monitor yesterday.

Source: monitor.co.ug