FIRE OUTBREAKS IN BUNDIBUGYO IN SUSPECTED TRIBAL HICAPS AHEAD ON RWENZURURU CEREMONY

Tensions are running high in Bundibugyo district as suspected tribal attacks start ahead of the June 30^th Rwenzururu Kingdom peace day celebrations.
Rwenzururu King Charles Wesley Mumbere Iremangoma is set to lead his subjects in celebrations to mark when the Kingdom flag was hoisted for the first time when the Bakonzo and Bamba declared independence from Tooro Kingdom on June 30, 1962.
However, the Bamba/Bawisi who are planning to install their own king under the Obundingiya bwa Bwamba cultural institution do not want King Mumbere to step foot in Bundibugyo claiming that his center of operation should remain Kasese where he has a palace.
This morning, police arrested the Chairman LC I of a village outside Nyahuka town council following an overnight fire incident that burnt three houses that have been abandoned by Bakonzo families. No casualties and property lose was recorded because the houses are abandoned.
The Bundibugyo district police commander Denis Namuwoza who declined to identify the suspect, says he belongs to the Bawisi tribe. His vice chairman is also on the run.
The DPC says that the chairman LC I was arrested with the help of a police dog which entered his house and that of his vice.
Namuwoza says, last night incidents follows two other attempts to burn houses in Bundibugyo town on Tuesday and Friday nights respectively.
The two different fires were planned in the same way using a plastic material with ash and containers of petrol with strings connected to the target houses, the DPC confirms.
Namuwoza says the Tuesday night fire targeted a business house on the main street while that of Friday was at Alpha Nursery school both belonging to Bakonzo investors.
A Mukonzo man only identified as Mbusa has since been arrested also with the help of a police dog.
The DPC who says investigations are ongoing warns that police will not sit to watch when people are using the advantage of cultural tensions to paralyze business in Bundibugyo.  END

KASESE THANKS GIVING CEREMONY FOR MAJ. GEN. MBADI FLOPS

Kasese district leaders on Saturday called off an event that was supposed to be held yesterday (Sunday) to thank President Yoweri Museveni for promoting his former Aide De Camp Maj.Gen. Wilson Mbadi in the army ranks.

The district leadership together with the Kasese district elders’ forum had set today as a thanks giving day to the president who was to be the chief guest.

The joint Army Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Wilson Mbadi who was promoted from Brigadier in the recent reshuffle is the only living high ranking UPDF officer hailing from Kasese. Another person to have reached that rank is the former army commander the late Maj. Gen. James Kazini.

The bishops of the Catholic Diocese of Kasese and Anglican South Rwenzori diocese were set to lead thanks giving prayers at Nyakasanga playground in Kasese town.

But the organizers shocked residents on Saturday evening when they announced that the function has been postponed because the president has other state engagements.

The Kasese district chairman Lt. Col. Mawa Muhindo said last evening that the president called him and suggested that another date be organized in August.

“The thanks giving ceremony that was supposed to be held tomorrow (Sunday) at Nyakasanga playground has been postponed to August 11, 2013. The president who was supposed to be chief guest telephoned me last evening saying he was not able to come on Sunday and so we agreed to have another date in august”. Said Lt. Col. Mawa Muhindo.

The district council recently resolved to include the maintenance of Defense minister Dr. Crispus Kiyonga in the cabinet and several other appointments to the sons and daughters of Kasese in the thanks giving to the president.

The members of the opposition particularly FDC were not going to participate in the celebrations which the district General Secretary Mr. Johnson Kamalha had earlier described as a mobilization for the NRM instead of inviting the president to tour the infrastructure damaged by the floods last month.

One of the minority ethnicities in Kasese, the Banyabindi had also planned to boycott the function saying there was no reason to celebrate when government has not answered their demands.

Some residents of Kasese say the function should have been called off because it was going to be a flop as people were not ready to celebrate when they relatives are suffering the effects of the floods.

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GOVERNMENT FACES LEGAL SUIT OVER COMPENSATION FOR KASESE AIDF VICTIMS

A group of people who lost their property when the Allied Democratic Forces rebels attacked Kasese town in 2001 are planning to sue the government for failure to compensate them.

The group of ten claimants led by Mr. George Mutabazi says president Museveni has on several occasions in Kasese pledge the government’s committeemen to compensate them.

Mr. George Mutabazi says that there were over fifty people who lost property that include cars and houses in the attack but others have been compensated except the ten despite all submitting their bank accounts to the government.

On March 11^th, 2001 shortly after the general elections, the ADF rebels burnt 54 cars and a number of houses when they attacked Kasese town. They also killed 11 people.

President Yoweri Museveni is quoted to have promised compensation for all who lost property when he toured the town a day after the attack, a promise he repeated during the national celebrations for International Labour Day on May 1, 2010.

The group has written to the Solicitor General seeking an explanation about the criteria of executing selective compensation of the victims before a legal suit is filed.

They had planned to petition president Museveni had he come to Kasese for the thanks giving function today. The function was postponed.

The Kasese Resident District Commissioner Mr. Milton Odongo says his office knows little about the compensation process but agrees to have met the group several times. END

KASESE RADIO PRESENTER HELD FOR DEFILEMENT

A radio presenter in Kasese district is being held by police over alleged defilement of a thirteen year-old girl.
The Officer in Charge of Criminal Investigations in Kasese Godwin Tumugumye says Ronald Niwagyira 29, known for his stage name Dj. Ronnie the Best is a sports presenter with UBC Engeya FM in Kasese town.
Tumugumye says that the radio presenter was reportedly caught red handed by the victim’s mother who had trailed the daughter to his rented room in Kasese town on the night of Sunday.
There are reports that the girl is pregnant for the Radio presenter.
Nuwagira was arrested by the police after being tipped by the victim’s mother who had locked his door from outside.
The OC/CID says that Nuwagira who hails from Kabale district will be taken to court to be charged with aggravated defilement.
His arrest comes just a week after a Pentecostal pastor Samson Mwesigwa was remanded to Mubuku government prison by Kasese Chief Magistrate Agatonica Mbabazi over alleged defilement of a thirteen year old girl.
The district police commander Michael Sabila Musaani says defilement cases are high in the district although most parents only report the suspects after failed negotiations. END

14 YEAR-OLD BOY PERISHES IN SAND QUARRY AS TWO OTHERS BURNT WITH FIRE

A fourteen year-old boy in Buhuna II village in Karambi sub-county died yesterday after a sand quarry he was working on curved in on him.

The officer in charge of Mpondwe-Customs police post Baker Kawonawo identified the deceased as Moses Kabyemera son to Julius Tibamanya a resident of Buhuna II village.

Kawonawo says the boy has been a pupil in primary six at Kamasasa primary school in Karambi sub-county.

The OC says that the incident occurred at about 4pm when the boy was mining sand alone.

Police was called to the scene; the body was retrieved and taken to Bwera Hospital for a postmortem test before being handed over to the family for burials.

Kawonawo says police continues to investigate the circumstances under which the boy got absent from school to go and mine sand.

Meanwhile, police in Bwera have described as an accident a fire that killed two children burnt in the house in Kayanzi landing site in Nyakiyumbu sub-county.

Vincent Mwesigye, the Officer in Charge of Bwera police post says two children aged fourteen and eighty mistakenly left the candle lit as they went to sleep on Tuesday night. Their mother a Congolese national was away by that time.

It was too late for the neighbors to save the girls when they saw flames from the house.

Mwesigye says the children died at Kagando hospital a few hours after they were admitted in critical conditions.

Police says investigations do not show any malice because the fire started from inside the house. END