POLICE MOVES TO BLOCK RWENZURURU KING FROM VISITING KASENYI LANDING SITE.

Police has deployed heavily along the Kasese-Mbarara highway to block the Rwenzururu King Charles Wesley Mumbere to go to Kasenyi landing site on Lake George to preside over the Kingdom’s environmental and hero’s day.

King Mumbere’s intended visit has been contested by the minority ethnicities that include the Basongora, Bachingwe, Bagabo and Banyabindi who claim they do not pay allegiance to Rwenzururu Kingdom.

They claim to be behind the embattled Busongora Kingdom leader Ivan Bwebale Rutakirwa who was crowned on July 1^st last year at a secret event at Muhokya trading center five kilometers from Kasese town.

Despite, an agreement in a meeting between the two parties and the police on Thursday that changed King Mumbere’s venue from Kasenyi to Katunguru landing site, he and the youth wing have insisted on the original destination.

 The Rwenzori regional police Commander Mr. Wilson Kwanya has this morning issued a press statement vowing to block any cultural function to take place at Kasenyi landing site since the area is contested by many parties.

Police insists they will give security to King Mumbere and his subjects as they go to Katunguru landing site as agreed earlier.

However, the mood in Kasese town now is different from the setting of the police as groups of Banyarwenzururu prepare transport to Kasenyi despite warnings from the police.

Police on the other hand say they fear that any advances by the Banyarwenzururu to Kasenyi landing site may result into demonstrations by both the Bakonzo and the minority tribes leading to accidents, interruption of business activities and destruction of tourism since the venue is deep inside the Queen Elzabeth National park.

But majority of the Rwenzururu subjects seem to have taken heed of the press statement from the First Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Ivan Syauswa urging them to come in big numbers accompanying King Mumbere to the disputed venue. END.

17 SO FAR HELD AND ONE GUN RECOVERED IN THE KASESE JOINT SECURITY OPERATIONS

At least seventeen suspects have been arrested by the different security organs currently carrying out operations in Bukonzo West Constituency to get rid of thugs that have been killing people and taking away with their property.

Operations started on Monday after the Chairman LC 5 Kasese Lt. Col. Mawa Muhindo led the arrest of two businessmen who have been selling stolen meat at the Mpondwe border post and also reportedly involving in armed robbery.

After their arrest, the security organs that include the police and the Uganda people’s defense forces embarked on operations to arrest the rest of the people thought to be involved in the racket.

The UPDF 2^nd Division Public Relations Officer Lt. Ninsiima Rwemizuma reveals that so far seventeen people including a woman have been arrested in the areas of Mpondwe-Lubiriha town council, Karambi and Nyakiyumbu sub-county.

One gun with over fifty rounds of ammunitions has been recovered in the process.

Lt. Ninsiima says operations continue until the rest of the racket members who have since fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo are reprimanded.

Lt. Ninsiima says that upon interrogation, some of the suspects who have been disguising in business activities have confessed to shooting dead most of the people who have been killed in the last two years.  He says that information got so far reveals that they also killed one of their own called Muthengera after betraying them on a coffee theft deal.

It is said they reportedly told the security operatives that it is Muthengera who also murdered self-employed Journalist Amon Thembo Wa’Mupaghasya in early May 2012.

Lt. Ninsiima who claims that the suspects will be paraded to court soon says there is hope that more suspects and guns will be got in the near future.

He warned people of Kasese against hiding information that would have led to the arrest of suspected criminals before the killing of innocent businessmen became rampant.

So far, at least eleven people have been killed by shooting in Bukonzo West Constituency in the period of two years.  END

HUNDREDS THRONG FORT PORTAL ROADS TO RECEIVE THE BODY OF KALITA OWNER

Business came to a standstill yesterday evening in Fort Portal town as hundreds of people jammed the streets to receive the body of the departed Managing Director of the KALITA busy company the late Lucky Patrick Atwooki.

People from all walks of life that included business community, special hire drivers, boda boda riders, religious, cultural and district leaders were in tears along the roads as the casket carrying Lucky’s body arrived.

The procession of mourners started from Mogas petrol station East division taking a four kilometer walk from the centre of Fort Portal to St. John’s cathedral where a requiem service was held.

In his sermon, Rev. Ezra Musobozi the sub dean Rwenzori diocese argued the mourners to invest their wealth in people especially the needy so as to inherit the kingdom of God and to work hard and love their jobs to get good returns.

Reverend Musobozi described late Lucky as someone who had invested in the people of Tooro through the transport sector where hundreds of people have benefited.

Rev.Richard Baguma who represented Tooro kingdom said Uganda and Tooro have lost an important person who had become a change agent and employer of many people in transport sector, construction and other fields.

The Fort Portal Municipality MP Alex Ruhunda described the demice as a role model who started from humble beginnings as a taxi driver to a director of Kalita transporters.

He asked people to work hard if they are to become important persons in future.

Lucky commonly known as Kalita succumbed to cancer on Tuesday night at Mulago heart Institute.

His body has been taken to his ancestral home in Muhangi, Nyabuharwa sub county Kyenjojo district for a decent burial on Saturday. END

SECURITY AGENCIES MOUNT OPERATIONS TO CLEAR GUNS, SERIAL KILLERS IN KASESE

Different security agencies are carrying out through operations in areas around the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo to get rid of criminals who have been shooting dead civilians at night.

Within one year eleven people have been gunned down in their homes at night by unknown thugs and the latest being Baferi Kisembo a resident of Karukumiza village in Karambi sub-county, Kasese district.

Most of those killed are businessmen especially those dealing in coffee.

The UPDF 2^nd Division Public Relations Officer Lt. Ninsiima Rwemizuma says that different operations are ongoing by the army, the police’s crime intelligence unit and the Rapid Response Unit to arrest the key suspects and recover guns.

Currently, an unspecified number of suspects are being held by police after being hooked during the operations that started on Monday.

Lt. Ninsiima reveals that the suspects under detention are led by one Swalle a prominent taxi driver and former worker of the Uganda Revenue Authority.

In the operations joined by the Kasese district chairman Lt. Col. Mawa Muhindo, an AK47 gun and about sixty rounds of ammunition were recovered from Nyakiyumbu sub-county on Thursday.

Lt. Ninsiima says the security operatives are being led to the key suspects by an individual who has volunteered to give information about the suspected serial killers in the area.

A woman in whose house a gun was recovered yesterday has also been arrested but Lt. Ninsiima declined to identify her because it would jeopardize efforts to arrest her husband who is on the run.

He said that when all the key suspects are arrested, a police file will be made to arrange for their appearance in the courts of law.

The Kasese district chairman Lt. Col. Mawa Muhindo says the rampant illegal guns are a result of the Allied Democratic Forces rebellion that ended in the early 2000s and the several negative forces in Eastern DRC. END

TWO HELD FOR STEALING HEALTH CENTER CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS

Following several reports of stealing building materials at the construction site for the Nyamirami Health Center II in Muhokya sub-county, Kasese district, the suspects are now in custody.
The area LC III Chairman Mr. Ernest Kasoke said that following a public outcry, an operation that involved the sub-county executive and police was mounted on Tuesday in search for the missing materials from the site.
“The people around the health center have been complaining about the stealing of materials by the builders and selling them elsewhere. We thought this was going to affect the quality of work at the health center, so we swung into action today (Tuesday)”. Said Mr. Kasoke.
The site engineer and foreman for the Wood Fix Construction company that constructs the Shs 290m theater and the store keeper have been arrested as a result of the operation.
Mr. Benon Kibona the site engineer and Mr. Ali Nicholas the store keeper were found to have stolen six bags of cement and one roll of a wire mesh and sold them at the nearby Mithibiri trading center.
They are being detained at Muhokya police post waiting to be taken to court for charges against them.
Efforts to reach the Officer in charge of Muhokya police post were futile as he could not be reached on phone.
Mr. Kasoke commended the residents of Nyamirami for being vigilant and volunteering information leading to the arrest of the suspects.
 A reward of Shs. 100000 has been declared by the sub-county leadership to whoever will lead to the arrest of other suspects and recovery of stolen construction materials.
" I thank the community of Nyamirami for the vigilance leading to the capturing of the key suspects. in some areas people have looked on as government projects are being sabotaged by the implementers. we have announced a one hundred thousand shillings reward to whoever leads to the recovery of other materials". Mr. Kasoke said.
Nyamirami health center II has been at the top of a controversy between the residents of the lowland Muhokya Trading center and Kahendero landing site and the Kasese district leadership over the allocation of a theater instead of putting it at the Muhokya health
center III.
The residents of Muhokya complained that they were being marginalized by the district leadership as the theater is taken to a lower ranged health center instead of Muhokya which lies on the highway that is prone of accidents and other emergencies.
But the district chairman for Social Services Committee Mr. Richard Bomera last year clarified that the theater was allocated to Nyamirami health center II to ease the suffering faced by the residents of the hilly Mahango sub-county, some parts of Kyalhumba, Lake Katwe and Muhokya sub-county.
In return, President Yoweri Museveni while campaigning for the NRM candidate in the august woman parliamentary by-elections in Kasese promised to construct a theater for the people of Muhokya and the lake regions who had claimed services was being extended to opposition dominated Nyamirami.
Construction works are yet to start.
END