Police Sergeant, Esther Namaganda who was Saturday allegedly assaulted and manhandled by body guards of Uganda’s Ambassador to Burundi, Maj Gen Matayo Kyaligonza in Mukono, has come out to accuse the retired army general of slapping her in the face.
The incident happened in Seeta Mukono, where the army men are reported to have manhandled the female Police officer when she stopped their car after making a wrong turn.
Sergeant Namaganda says Kyaligonza’s body guards held her hands which gave way for the General to unleash his anger on her.
She says she stopped the driver who had made a wrong turn to go back and turn from the petrol station, which the driver objected to, and thereafter, two military officers came out of the vehicle and insisted that they wanted to continue through the way she said was wrong.
“I said no, don’t pass here, then what I did to stop them the more so that they go where I was telling them, I told one of the vehicles ahead of them to stop, so that they go to the petrol station and make a right turn,” Namaganda narrates.
“I saw again their boss coming now and asked; Why are you blocking us? I said no, I am not blocking you but your driver knows why am doing this. He said who are you, you sergeant? I said it is good you know that I am sergeant,” she adds.
She says Kyaligonza then attempted to “grab my ranks and when I turned, he pulled the linen with vigour” leading to the opening of the button and he (Kyaligonza) removed it.
“He said what do you want, I can even beat you and I said beat me. These ones (body guards) were holding my hands and I was struggling to be set free and as I turned, that is when that man I later came to know as Brig Kyaligonza gave me a hot slap,” Namaganda adds.
She says had it not been that she was held in the hands of the guards at that time, the slap would have dropped her down.
The traffic officer says it was at this point that a man we later came to know as Otai Peter Deogratius, a journalist working with state owned UBC television, came and told the officers that what they were doing was not right.
He is also reported to have taken the photos of the incident making rounds on social media.
The angry soldiers would instead reportedly turn against the journalist and beat him as well, as they demanded to know who he was.
Otai posted on his Facebook account that he “was beaten and assaulted by 2 UPDF soldiers ….. I could not stand and watch.”
The army has since apologised to the Police officer and described the incident as “regrettable” and that they have already embarked on establishing facts before taking the necessary action.
Meanwhile, the army has arrested the two body guards to Gen Kyaligonza and are currently detained at Makindye military Police headquarters.
The arrested officers are L/Cpl Bushindiki Peter and Pte Okurut John Robert.
