At least six people have been admitted at Rakai hospital in critical condition following clashes between different candidates in the just concluded National Resistance Movement (NRM) primaries.  

The victims include Remegio Lubyayi, 45, of Buyamba sub-county, John Kakooza, and four others whose identities had yet not been established. It is said that the six were injured during a fight by groups of supporters of Amos Mandela, the Buyamba County MP and his arch-rival Gyaviira Ssemwanga.

Dr Yasin Kiyemba, the hospital medical superintendent, confirmed that the hospital was treating six injured persons. According to Dr Kiyemba, they received several patients with severe injuries from different sub-counties but some were discharged because of their injuries were minor.

He says that the majority of patients who are admitted in the meantime sustained injuries on the head, chest, back and other parts of the body and some complained of severe chest pain.  

Zaabeti Nalubega, Lubyayi’s mother, says that his son was attacked by Mandela’s supporters accusing him of campaigning against their candidate, while Kakooza says he was attacked by supporters of Kooki County MP Boaz Kasirabo in Rakai town council. They reportedly suspected him of being among a group that tore a voters’ register early in the day. 

However, two people have been arrested in connection with the incidents and detained at Rakai police station as investigations continue. Ben Niwamanya, the district police commander says they are still looking for more suspects to aid their investigations in the matter. He appealed to the residents and supporters of all candidates to refrain from taking the law in their hands.

This is very unfortunate @PoliceUg, is that keeping Law and Order or, broad day light theft. @CapitalFMUganda @ntvuganda @nbstv @observerug pic.twitter.com/zPsoQ8DSsq

— Ibrahim Ssemujju (@SsemujjuIbrahim) September 3, 2020

Opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) supporters allegedly voted in the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party primaries in Luweero town.

The mix up was allegedly brought about by the last-minute guidance issued following by the NRM party chairman Yoweri Museveni allowing persons whose names did not appear on the voters register to participate in the elections.

According to Museveni's statement, all unregistered party supporters could be added in the register if they are aged 18 years and above, as long as they can be verified by the village executive. But according to residents of Luweero, members of the NUP took advantage of the loophole to participate in the election.

This was reportedly witnessed at the polling centres of Kizito, Lumu, Kavule, Kiwogozi, Kasana Market and Kasoma among others in Luweero town council. At Lumu zone, Juma Mutwalib, one of the area voters said they found no reason for not participating in the elections after the president opened the window for them.

The supporters at Kasoma and Kizito villages confessed that they were mobilized to participate in the elections in favour of certain candidates. Some youths from Kasoma village also bragged of voting in more than one village.

Kisekka Ssaka, the NRM chairman of Lumu zone said that he verified the supporters as residents and he couldn’t stop them since they expressed willingness to participate in NRM primaries.

Zainab Kasirye, an agent for Luweero Woman MP Lilian Nakate said that some of the supporters voted twice and the party may not get a right candidate in the race over the irregularities.

Katikamu North MP Abraham Byandala said he had got reports that some his rival had bribed some of the youths to vote against him. Byandala contested for the NRM ticket with Gaddaffi Nasur, the Youth representative on NRM central executive committee Gaddafi Nasur for the Katikamu North party ticket.

Uthman Lubega, the NRM registrar for Luweero town council said that the youths were eligible to vote following NRM chairman guidance.

The minister of Lands Beti Namisango Kamya has been declared the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate in Lubaga North after winning party primaries held today. Kamya defeated her close rival Brian Tindyebwa.

Kamya a recent recruit in the NRM polled 6,164 votes representing 90 per cent against Tindyebwa's 671 votes. Dr Isaac Lwanga who was also in the race got only four votes.

Kamya was declared the winner shortly before 7 pm by the returning officer Robert Kato who said that the election was largely peaceful.

"We don't expect anyone to complain because the election was held during the day by people lining behind," Kato said.

Now Kamya will be contesting with Moses Kasibante the incumbent MP, and Abubaker Kawalya who recently crossed to the National Unity Platform from the FDC. Kamya was Lubaga North MP between 2005 to 2011 when she contested for the presidency on the Uganda Federal Alliance ticket.

However, she was defeated by President Yoweri Museveni who she later joined. In 2016 she tried to reclaim her position but narrowly lost to Kasibante.

LUBAGA SOUTH

In Lubaga South, Charles Kenneth Male defeated his two competitors for the NRM party flag. Male garnered 2,214 votes translating into 48 per cent of the total votes cast while his closest rival Senoga Mpiima polled 2,077 votes, while Ritah Kulabako Mugalu scored slightly over 200 votes.

Male was declared the winner by Lubaga Division overall electoral chairman Robert Kato. Soon after being declared winner, Male was handed over NRM party flag by Lubaga Division NRM chairman Hajji Abdullah Kitatta.

Kitatta urged the winner to reconcile with those he has defeated to make sure NRM wins in the forthcoming general elections. Male will now face off with the incumbent MP Kato Lubwama, among other candidates.

NAKAWA WEST

Meanwhile, former Kampala Woman MP Margaret Nantongo Zziwa has won the NRM ticket in the newly created Nakawa West constituency. 

Zziwa polled 1,991 votes to defeat Mukesh Shukla Babubhai and Benjamin Kalumba Ssebuliba in the race. Mukesh, the first runner up polled 1,275 votes whereas Kalumba emerged the third with 1,240 votes, according to results announced at 9 pm on Friday, by Sharifa Namwaase, the NRM registrar for Nakawa division.

Zziwa now joins the deputy attorney general Freddie Ruhindi as the official NRM candidates in Nakawa West and Nakawa East, in the forthcoming general elections.

Speaking after the declaration of the results, Mukesh congratulated Zziwa for the win but added that he's going to sit with his campaign team and discuss the next move. However, Kalumba protested the results saying that the elections were marred by irregularities, citing bribery, among others.

He noted that just like his name Kalumba connotes, he will continue moving forward to claim what belongs to him citing his effort towards the creation of the Nakawa West constituency.

Meanwhile, Farida Nambi got the highest votes in Nakawa for the Kampala Woman MP slot. She beat Shamim Nafuna with 6,284 votes against 2,188.

KAMPALA CENTRAL

Three people have lost their lives in electoral violence in Isingiro district. The dead are Wilber Nkabadiho, a resident of Katuragye village Katuragye sub-county, Musa Bright, a resident of Rugaga trading centre and Gordon Muhumuza, 20, a resident of Karo A111, central ward Kabuyanda town council.

Samson Kasasira, the Rwizi Region police spokesperson, says Nkabandiho was shot dead by a private guard Siddi Katiikiro who fired at rowdy voters in Katuragye cell in Isingiro town council. According to information from some residents, the deceased was a polling agent of Dr Ponsiano Mugyenyi, the rival of Bright Rwamirama, Isingiro County MP.  

Musa was shot by a UPDF soldier in Rugaga trading centre. He breathed his last while being rushed to Mbarara regional referral hospital for treatment. According to Kasasira, Musa was hit as UPDF officers dispersed supporters of Jeremiah Kamurari, one of the candidates for Bukanga West became violent.

Muhumuza, on the other hand, was killed in mob action. According to Kasasira, the deceased was lynched by the mob around 4:00 pm when he tried to interfere with the electoral process.

“Our preliminary investigations show that the deceased who got late at the polling centre, tried to interfere with the election process, which annoyed people and they started beating him until death,” he said.

He said police have started hunting for the mob members to face the law.

“We are seriously investigating all these incidents especially for the UPDF officers so that we can arrest one who is in hiding now," he said.

Wisdom Colleb, an eyewitness to the mob action, says people turned rowdy when they heard that soldiers had shot people in the neighbouring Isingiro town council.

“Tension started rising after news started making rounds that soldiers had shot the supporters of Dr Posiano Mugyenyi. People got annoyed and stoned Muhumza to death after he tried to hide some declaration forms,” he said. 

A woman has been shot dead during a procession by voters protesting the delayed release of results from the NRM primaries for Bugiri Woman member of parliament.

Florence Muganda was hit by a stray bullet while selling pancakes by the roadside when a combined security of the army and police opened fire to disperse a group of voters who were matching to Bugiri Central police station to demand the declaration of the results.

Muganda breathed her last while being rushed to Jinja regional referral hospital for treatment. According to our reporter, the voters decided to storm the police station after Bugiri District NRM party registrar to declare a winner between the incumbent, Agnes Taka Wejuli and Hadija Babi.

Trouble is said to have started at the tally centre after Babi accused presiding officers of pocketing bribes from her rival to doctor the results in her favour. Babi, who was shouting at the top of her voice tore declaration of results forms, which were being prepared by the NRM registrars forcing police to take over the tally centre and transfer all electoral materials to Bugiri police station in preparation for the declaration of the winner.

According to Babi, there was massive rigging of votes in Buluguyi, Kapyanga sub-counties and Namayemba town council.

"I cannot accept this election because the figures on some of the declaration forms were altered," she said.

Bugiri district police commander, Jeff Sebuyungo, says they decided to use teargas to disperse the voters because they were targeting some candidates. He says the residents started pelting security officers at the district headquarters with stones, prompting one of the soldiers to open fire.

"I want to call upon the people of Bugiri to remain calm because it was not our intention to shoot this woman but the locals were throwing stones towards security officers and we were forced to disperse them," he said. 

The deceased’s body is lying at Bugiri general hospital mortuary pending a postmortem.  

Bishop Dunstan Memorial secondary school quarantine centre in Kalangala has been closed due to lack of funds. 

In April, the island district received Shs 165 million from the ministry of Finance for surveillance, coordination, the establishment of isolation centres and fuel allowance for the COVID-19 taskforce members among other activities.

Kalangala LC V chairperson, Willy Lugoloobi, says that out of the money from the government, Shs 40 million was allocated to maintain the quarantine centre, feed suspects and also facilitate the five health workers and security officers at the facility. 

Daniel Kikoola, the Kalangala resident district commissioner says that by end of last month, the funds to maintain the centre had been exhausted. At the time of the closure, there were no COVID-19 suspects at the centre. Kikoola says that due to lack of funds, the task force was forced to mobilize for food and other items from the community.

Dr Godfrey Hadubi, the district health inspector, says that the centre will be opened when more funds are released. He says that Covid-19 suspects have been advised to self-isolate at their homes. The centre opened in early April and so far 89 suspects had been admitted at the centre. One of the patients at the facility identified Mubiru said there were only just 6 mattresses for 70 suspects and the facility advised those who could to get beddings from their homes.  

They were contacts of Eng Charles Banya Lwanga, who tested positive to COVID-19 after returning from the United States of America in March.

When Banya was referred to Entebbe hospital, the surveillance team traced all his contacts and took them for institutional quarantine. On Sunday Uganda registered two more coronavirus deaths, raising the total number of deaths to 41 and 3,667 confirmed cases.      

Survivors of last week's shooting involving city socialite and music promoter Charles Olim alias Sipapa in Kamwokya, a Kampala city are demanding for justice.

Two men moving with Sipapa in the same vehicle are said to have opened fire when a group of People Power supporters confronted them shortly after parking in front of the premises of Fred Nyanzi, the elder brother of Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine, a presidential aspirant and head of the National Unity Platform (NUP).  

According to eyewitnesses, People Power youths attacked Sipapa, a self-proclaimed supporter of President Yoweri Museveni and the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM). Sipapa was driving a Super Custom vehicle registration number, UBE 229E and the youth allegedly broke his windscreen, prompting two men who were driving with him to fire in the air and at the shops.

Gilbert Mugisha who operates a shop on Nyanzi’s building, says he was attending to his customers at around 9 am last Saturday when chaos broke out after the youth accused Sipapa of threatening to shoot them on various previous occasions.

Mugisha explains that a few minutes later, the two men jumped out of Sipapa’s vehicle and started shooting at them directly. Mugisha explains that he ducked for cover and a bullet hit the doorstep of his shop where he was lying.

He says the same group returned on the same day at around 9 pm in the evening and parked in the middle of the road and started asking if there anyone who had wanted to say anything about the earlier morning incident.

According to Mugisha, Sipapa mockingly asked the residents; 'banange, ka-sukali ke'ko oba twongelemu' (was the earlier sugar enough or we add some more). The phrase has often been used by Kyagulanyi to imply that his sustained political pressure has forced President Yoweri Museveni and his NRM government into political mistakes. 

Elizabeth Namagembe, a salon operator says they locked up themselves inside their premises when the shooting started, adding that one of their colleagues collapsed due to the heavy sound of gunfire. Namagembe also notes that no police officer stepped foot in the area until the next day despite the fact that Kira Road police station is just a short distance away.   

After shooting at #BobiWine supporters, city socialite Charles Olim alias Sipapa allegedly mockingly asked; ka sukali ke'ko oba twongelemu (guys, is the sugar enough or we add some)? The phrase has often been used by Bobi to imply pressurizing the state into political mistakes pic.twitter.com/AukD3uVKtt

— The Observer (@observerug) September 7, 2020

Muzafaru Nyombi, who is nursing a broken leg and wounded eye, says the same group returned on Saturday night and pounced on him as he was planning to return home. They reportedly accused him of being one of the people who attacked them during the day.

According to Nyombi, he opened a case against Sipapa and wants him arrested to answer for assault. Fred Nyanzi says despite opening a case at Kira Road police station they continue to see Sipapa moving around freely. According to Nyanzi, this is the third time that Sipapa is making a similar attack.  

“We’re going mobilize ourselves all these people who were affected that day to pinch a demonstration at Kira Road police we demand police to arrest Sipapa and charge him,” Nyanzi said.  

Sipapa has not yet commented as he could neither pick nor return our calls. The Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, Patrick Onyango, says the matter is being investigated. He says police detectives recovered bullet cartridges that will help to establish the owner of the firearms used. 

President Yoweri Museveni has given Inspector General of Police (IGP) Martins Okoth Ochola a chilling ultimatum: You either do your work or I will do it myself!

Museveni disclosed the ultimatum he gave to the IGP today Monday at the NRM secretariat at Plot 10 Kyadondo Road in Kampala where he was flagging off the distribution of motorcycles to parish chairpersons of the ruling National Resistance Movement party across the country. 

"I told the IGP that if the police doesn’t do their work, I will do it myself by arresting the police officers themselves," Museveni stunned his audience as he commented on the electoral violence that marred the NRM primaries held on Friday last week. At least 4 people were killed across the country during the primaries. 

"There was violence in Bukono county [Namutumba district] where people were beaten. I got information that police has not done much work. Some (policemen) have been arrested and given police bond; there is no police bond for somebody who has attacked Ugandans!,” Museveni added. 

Museveni vowed to deal with all persons who messed up the party primaries.  In some parts of the country, there were massive regularities where candidates who had been defeated ended up being announced winners. In some places like Namutumba, Isingiro, Ntungamo, Jinja, Katakwi, among others, there was violence that led to the killing and wounding of civilians. Museveni said that they are going to make sure that all those who participated in these irregularities and violence are held to account. 

Museveni said although the violence was orchestrated by the politicians, the police personnel are to be held accountable for failing to contain it.

Last week, police spokesman Fred Enanga warned police personnel especially those guarding VIPs against being drawn into the politicians' political wrangles, reminding them that they would face the music if they did. With the president now threatening to go and conduct the arrests of errant policemen himself, IGP Ochola is likely to move fast to avert the spectacle. 

Museveni wondered why police would shoot at unarmed people who were fighting amongst themselves: “That policeman must be arrested; even the ones who are threatening people you will go to jail for that if we get evidence,” a seemingly incensed Museveni said.

He also said that the state minister of Labour, Gender and Economic Development Mwesigwa Rukutana who was captured on camera attempting to shoot people over the weekend in Ntugamo after he lost the  Rushenyi primaries, will be charged with threatening violence and attempted murder. 

 “This game is finished,” Museveni said.

Rukatana has since been charged and remanded to Kyamugorani prison in Mbarara district in western Uganda. Museveni called upon all those dissatisfied with the election results to write petitions to the regional panels of elders which he said are going to be constituted to hear all election complaints.

“We are going to get three respected people who are not part of the struggles, then we shall go and audit village per village and we shall discover. If you have committed forgery, the registrar or the politician who ordered,  you all shall go to jail. The game is finished; the voting is by lining and if you miss-add, you are 'miss-add' yourself,” Museveni said.

Museveni’s speech came shortly before that of Justine Kasule Lumumba, the secretary general of the NRM who called upon the president to reign over some senior people who with impunity were freely changing the results of the elections.

“Some of our staff were lured into changing declaration forms on the way forgetting that people who had participated at the village don’t need to write; they registered the record in their faces…Some have done things with impunity… in Butemba county Kyakwanzi district, one of the candidates who got 3,000 votes brought in soldiers, cordoned off that place and was declared a winner and off they went away,” Lumumba said. 

The ball is now in Ochola's court to get the police to execute their duties professionally and with impartiality. In March 2017, President Museveni warned Ochola's predecessor Kale Kayihura to clean the police force of wrong elements. As months passed with no visible sign of police officers shaping up, Museveni resorted to other security agencies who started arresting rogue senior police officers and charging them in the military court for various crimes.

Kayihura was then removed from office, arrested and jointly charged with the errant officers in the army court. To avoid similar fate, Ochola is likely to use a firmer hand on the police officers so that by the time of the February 2021 elections, there is no laxity in the force's execution of its mandate to maintain law and order.

National Resistance Movement (NRM) chairpersons in Mityana district have disparaged and expressed disappointment over President Yoweri Museveni's offer of bicycles.

A total of 612 bicycles were sent to Mityana for distribution to 612 village chairpersons in the district. The district party chairperson Kintu John handed them over to parliamentary NRM flag bearers who will, in turn, deliver them to sub-county NRM chairpersons for handover to the direct beneficiaries.

However, a section of local leaders contends that it is unfair for the secretariat to distribute bicycles to village chairpersons yet they carry the greatest burden to mobilize and keep the NRM party in power. 

Onesm Bbaale, the NRM chairperson for Katiko B ward in Mityana municipality, says that if Museveni is certain that he has maintained the top chair due to the power of the votes cast by NRM supporters, then the LC 1 chairpersons should be receiving much more than a bicycle given the time the party has remained in leadership. Bbaale said even the Shs 10,000 monthly allowance given to LC chairpersons is not enough for the kind of work that they do. 

He thinks that instead of government continuing to award medals to soldiers who fought in the bush war which ended decades ago, Museveni should be considering the LC 1 chairpersons upon which his strength to enjoy leading Uganda is currently based on.

Wilson Mujwiga the party chairperson for Bujumbula village also in Mityana municipality says that whereas the village chairpersons are benefiting and receiving "outdated" bicycles, the villagers who are the direct voters "don’t benefit in any way" for supporting Museveni and his NRM party. 

Mujwiga wants Museveni to focus on the people who cast their votes for him to retain him in power than looking at the leaders at higher levels.

To Lawrence Kubugu the village chairperson for Busundo A village also in Mityana municipality, many elderly chairpersons do not have the energy to ride on bicycles. He believes that given the trust they command among the villagers; they should be given motorcycles rather than bicycles.

He also expressed discomfort over party mobilizers who opt to steal the endowments sent to village party mobilizers and the voters. Meanwhile, Kintu said he heard the chairperson's pleas and promised to deliver their message to the secretariat. He, however, warned the beneficiaries against selling the bicycles or changing their colour from yellow to avoid being subjected to legal process.

ICT Minister and the district Woman MP Judith Nabakooba who has also secured the party ticket to defend her seat in parliament said that government is aware that what the LC1 chairpersons are getting is not enough, but urged them to utilize the opportunity of operation wealth creation to benefit from NRM.

Yesterday, Museveni flagged off the distribution of motorcycles to parish chairpersons of the ruling NRM party across the country to help in the mobilisation ahead of next year's general elections. 

Christians have left Cameroonian churches that claim COVID-19 does not exist. The defecting Christians say they saw some who obeyed church instructions to ignore barrier measures infected or dying from the virus.  Christians are being accepted into other congregations.

This song "When God Speaks" blasts through loudspeakers at Winners Chapel, a popular church in the Fouda neighbourhood in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé. The song, by the Nigerian gospel singer Frank Ugochukwu Edwards, is played to welcome 23 new members. 

Among them is 37-year-old Annabella Tabot. Tabot says she left the Tabernacles of Freedoms Ministries because her pastor deceived them, saying that COVID-19 did not exist. Tabot says the pastor asked her 60-year-old husband not to go to the hospital and was instead praying for healing from evil spirits. 

"His health condition kept on deteriorating and he finally died. Luckily the government came in and isolated him and the other family members were not contaminated," she said.

In August, Cameroon’s government closed Tabernacles of Freedoms Ministries for preaching that COVID-19 is a hoax. Many of its 300 members defied government orders and kept worshipping in front of the closed church. Tabot said more than 100 members left the church when her sick husband died, shortly after he was suspected of having COVID-19 and forced to go to the hospital by the government. 

The Association of Pentecostal Churches in Yaoundé reported that at least 270 Christians left from six churches that preached against the existence of COVID-19. Protus Ngala, pastor of Redemption Ministries says 11 of his followers left. 

"I have gone to some of the people," he said. "I made some questionnaires and passed them over to the church [remaining members] to try to know what needs to be adjusted. I try to do all of those things to make sure that I am a better leader. I understand that I also could be defective." 

Ngala said he has always believed that COVID-19 exists but thought it could be treated through prayer and fasting. Governor Naserie Paul Bea of Cameroon’s Center region says the Christians are changing churches after a rigorous campaign he led to educate the public on the dangers of COVID-19. He says churches that do not respect barrier measures to protect against the virus will be punished. 

"We need to limit the activities of some of these groups," he said. "We cannot be in a state that is saying one thing and another person is preaching another thing. The [churches] are there to be a relay, not only of the government but equally to teach the people what the Bible says." 

Sociologist Paul Emmanuel Somb of the University of Yaoundé says the high wave of defections show people are not happy with most churches’ teachings.  

He says many new churches should face reality and acknowledge that their teachings truly do not respond to their member’s growing spiritual and health needs.

He says pastors, priests and Imams should be true guarantors of the uprightness and morality of people who are counting on them. He says religious leaders who deceived their followers, saying that COVID-19 does not exist and collected money from them, claiming to instead deliver patients from evil spirits should be held responsible for their actions. 

Since March 5 Cameroon has reported more than 19,000 COVID-19 cases, with 415 deaths according to Johns Hopkins University data. The central African state blames negligence, lack of knowledge and the failure of some churches to educate their members on the dangers of COVID-19 as among the factors in the increasing number of cases.

The state minister for Labour, Gender and Social Development and former deputy attorney general, Mwesigwa Rukutana has been denied bail and further remanded to Kitalya prison until September 15.

Rukutana was first remanded yesterday by Grade One magistrate Nazifah Namayanja to Kyamugorani prisons in Mbarara city, moments after he was arraigned in court to face charges of attempted murder, assault, malicious damage, and threatening violence.

He was arrested with three of his bodyguards from his home in Ruyonza, Rubaare sub-county for allegedly shooting and injuring a person, in the aftermath of the National Resistance Movement party primaries held last Friday. 

A video that has been circulating on social media, shows Rukutana grabbing a gun from one of his bodyguards, and shooting at a vehicle belonging to supporters of his political rival Naome Kabasharira. At the time of the incident, Rukutana had just lost the Rushenyi country NRM flag to Kabasharira.

The prosecution alleged that on September 5, 2020, at Kagugu village in Ntungamo district, Rukutana and others still at large, assaulted Julius Niwamanya and threatened to kill or injure him together with three others; Stuart Kamukama, Dan Rwibirungi, and Moses Kamukama.

It is also alleged that Rukutana also willfully and unlawfully damaged a motor vehicle registration number, UAR 840X, a Toyota Rav 4 type which belongs to one Moses Muhumuza.

But because he could not take plea in the absence of a chief magistrate, Rukutana was sent to Kyamugorani prison and ordered to report to the court today for a bail application. He applied for bail this morning through his lawyer Owen Murangira.

He presented four sureties including former Rujumbura MP Jim Muhwezi, Michael Mawanda, the Igara East MP, prominent businessman Bob Kabonero and Ali Mutebi. However, presiding chief magistrate Sarah Kawalya Mponye said that the court needed more time to study the application and come up with a ruling.

President Yoweri Museveni in a social media statement said Rukutana was not given "police bond because, according to the police, the evidence is clear and they should go for trial. I hope the DPP will also oppose bail. The image of impunity is not acceptable."