Godfrey Walakira, a boda boda motorist from Luzira was shot dead by military men deployed to guard Luzira maximum prison on Sunday night. Walakira was shot in the stomach and head, when he and other boda boda motorists attempted to force their way into the prison gates while pursuing Eric Kasozi, a UPDF soldier who had knocked their colleague at Mutungo in Nakawa.
It is alleged that after knocking the boda boda motorist Kasozi drove through Luzira trading centre with over 100 boda boda riders in hot pursuit. Eye witnesses say that when Kasozi reached the gate his colleagues who were manning the gate opened for him and he entered. However, Private Geoffrey Twongirwe, one of the soldiers opened fire at the boda boda motorists when they tried to enter the gate killing Walakira instantly.
Frank Baine, the spokesman Uganda prisons blames the motorists for attempting to force themselves into a security installation. He says that with the current terror threat there is no way boda boda riders would have been left to play around the main gate. Baine says that the motorists ignored warning shots by the soldiers and threatened to break into the prison, but fled when one of them was shot dead.
He defended the act of the soldiers saying the riders were not police that they were going to arrest somebody in prison. When asked whether the errant UPDF soldier had been handed over to police, Baine said the boda boda riders had not registered a complaint with police. Ibn Senkumbi, the Kampala Metropolitan spokesperson says that a report has been made at Mutungo police. Senkumbi explained that the police have not recorded statements from the soldiers because they were arrested and taken to Makindye military barracks.
