The Uganda Police Force have explained why they cordoned off the home of Kira Municipality legislator, Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda on Friday morning.
Ssemujju who is also the opposition chief whip in Parliament and spokesperson of the opposition party, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), was scheduled to host a political rally at Kireka near Jokers Hotel at 2pm on Friday.
Several members of Parliament who opposed the removal of the Presidential age limits last year were expected to address the rally and thereafter plant a tree in Ssemujju’s compound for the role he played in opposing the Bill.
However, on Friday morning, MP Ssemujju took to Twitter and claimed the military had besieged his home with an intention of denying him access to Kireka township for the rally.
“My home is under siege by the military. All aimed at stopping my rally today. Military officers forced themselves in my compound,” Nganda tweeted.
The Kira municipality MP claims that he notified the Inspector General of Police as well as the are District Police Commander on today’s rally on November 12, as required by the Public Order Management law.
Police Spokesperson, SSP Emilian Kayima in an exclusive interview with SoftPower News, has however said that Ssemujju’s rally could not be allowed near Joker’s Hotel since it houses a number of guests awaiting tomorrow’s game between Uganda Cranes and Cape Verde at Mandela National Stadium.
“Joker’s Hotel is a conveyed area with many guests for the Cranes game against Cape Verde tomorrow. The rally is most likely be disruptive,” Kayima explained.
“We wrote to him and he was notified on the same but he remains adamant. Our ground forces are engaging him to see our point of view,” he added.
Our efforts to reach Ssemujju as to whether police communicated to him on the possible disruptions of his rally, were futile since his known telephone contact was out of reach.