In short
Sikoriyo was locked up in February for forcefully occupying the land belonging to Wilfred Chelimo, a resident of Kew village and threatening Violence. The deceased’s relatives rampaged on Tuesday demanding an explanation from Prison authorities on the cause of his death.
There is tension in Kapchorwa and Kween
districts following the death of an inmate at Kapchorwa government
Prisons. Forty-nine-year-old Boniface Sikoriyo, a
resident of Kew village Benyinyi Town council in Kween district died in
the prison cells on Monday.
Sikoriyo was locked up in February for forcefully occupying the land belonging to Wilfred Chelimo, a resident of Kew village and threatening Violence. The deceased's relatives rampaged on Tuesday demanding an explanation from Prison authorities on the cause of his death.
They also raided Chelimo's home and vandalized his property as another group stormed Kapchorwa prisons. The deceased's bother, Willy Cherop, says they not satisfied with the postmortem report issued by Kapchorwa Hospital about the death of the inmate because none of the relatives was involved in the postmortem exercise.
"When the deceased was arrested early February he was fine and was not complaining of any sickness," he said. Frank Baine, the Uganda Prison Services Spokesperson, says the postmortem shows that the inmate died of respiratory complications.
"There is a procedure for redress. If the relatives of the deceased are not satisfied with the postmortem report let them do another Postmortem," he added. The relatives of the deceased are holding a meeting this morning to decide whether to bury the body or transport it to Mbale Regional Referral Hospital for another postmortem to be done by the Regional police surgeon.
The uncertainty of what might happen has compelled police to deploy heavily in Kween and Kapchorwa districts to deal with any eventualities. Rogers Taitika, the Sippi Region Police Spokesperson, says the deployment is to make sure that the angry relatives of the deceased don't harm people and destroy property.
"Security has deployed uniform, none uniform and Field Force Unit personnel on the ground,"Taitika said.
Sikoriyo was locked up in February for forcefully occupying the land belonging to Wilfred Chelimo, a resident of Kew village and threatening Violence. The deceased's relatives rampaged on Tuesday demanding an explanation from Prison authorities on the cause of his death.
They also raided Chelimo's home and vandalized his property as another group stormed Kapchorwa prisons. The deceased's bother, Willy Cherop, says they not satisfied with the postmortem report issued by Kapchorwa Hospital about the death of the inmate because none of the relatives was involved in the postmortem exercise.
"When the deceased was arrested early February he was fine and was not complaining of any sickness," he said. Frank Baine, the Uganda Prison Services Spokesperson, says the postmortem shows that the inmate died of respiratory complications.
"There is a procedure for redress. If the relatives of the deceased are not satisfied with the postmortem report let them do another Postmortem," he added. The relatives of the deceased are holding a meeting this morning to decide whether to bury the body or transport it to Mbale Regional Referral Hospital for another postmortem to be done by the Regional police surgeon.
The uncertainty of what might happen has compelled police to deploy heavily in Kween and Kapchorwa districts to deal with any eventualities. Rogers Taitika, the Sippi Region Police Spokesperson, says the deployment is to make sure that the angry relatives of the deceased don't harm people and destroy property.
"Security has deployed uniform, none uniform and Field Force Unit personnel on the ground,"Taitika said.
