Kampala Metropolitan Police Commander Andrew Felix Kaweesi has denied that there is an increase in gun violence in Kampala, three days after a Muslim cleric was murdered in the city.
Sheikh Abdul Karim Sentamu was gunned down last Friday next to William Street Mosque as he boarded his car shortly after leading evening prayers.
But while speaking to the Press at Central Police Station on Monday, Kaweesi described Sentamu’s killing as an isolated incident that cannot be used to justify a rise in gun violence.
Kaweesi could not tell whether the gun used in the incident was owned by a private person but was quick to add that a new law to control guns in private hands was on the way.
He promised that police would continue with the investigations into the murder of the cleric to establish the motive and bring the perpetrators to book.
Sheikh Sentamu is a former close associate of Jamil Mukulu, the self-styled leader of the Allied Democratic Forces—ADF. He is the second former ADF person to be killed after denouncing violence and getting Amnesty.
Five years ago, a former ADF insurgent Issa Lubega together with his brother, Moses Mulumba, was killed in a grenade attack at Nateete traffic lights.
Lubega defected from the ADF to the government in 2000 and joined the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force to hunt down his former colleagues. Though two ADF suspects were later arrested, police has never come up with a conclusive report on the death that at that time was seen as a fight between JATT operatives over operations money.
Sheikh Abdu Karim Sentamu was buried last Saturday at a cemetery in Wakiso amidst calls for a speedy investigation.
Sentamu was linked to the Kibuli faction led by Self styled Supreme Mufti Sheikh Zubair Kayongo.
