Kasese Police is holding Christopher Kibazanga, the former Busongora South Member of Parliament and ten unidentified FDC vigilantes. The suspects were picked up this afternoon by anti riot police from the home of Kibazanga along Crescent road in Kasese town. Our reporter who witnessed the arrest of the suspects says that Police broke into the house of the former legislator and whisked him out together with the ten men.
The cops bundled the suspects onto a waiting police car and drove off to Kasese Central Police. Earlier on, Police was engaged in running battles with FDC supporters protesting the cordoning off of the home of Kibazanga. Police raided Kibazanga’s home by 4:00am on Tuesday but he refused to open for them hence prompting FDC supporters to assemble there.
Wilson Kwanya, the Western Regional Police Commander who commanded the operation declined to comment about the arrest. But a police officer who spoke to URN on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to journalists said they arrested the suspects because some of them had sneaked into the district to monitor the Kasese District Woman MP by-elections on Wednesday without accreditation from Electoral Commission.
He explains that they will screen the suspects and release those with accreditation. The source could not however say whether or not police would press any charges against Kibazanga. On Monday this week, Badru Kigundu, the Electoral Commission Chairperson warned that nobody would be allowed to work as an election monitor without accreditation from the EC headquarters or Kasese district returning officer.
He said the move was aimed at eliminating the deployment of political party youth brigades to avoid cases of election violence as witnessed in the Bukoto South by-elections. By the time of filing this story, Mugisha Muntu, the FDC chief mobilizer and secretary general Alice Alaso were still at Kasese Central Police Station to try to secure the release of Kibazanga and the ten vigilantes.
