The leadership of ‘People Power, a pressure group championed by Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi has called on the Uganda police to duly investigate cases of brutality against its supporters.
Addressing journalists in Kamwokya, a Kampala suburb on Tuesday, People Power spokesperson, Mr Joel Ssenyonyi said, some of their supporters have been killed by security agents and others are suffering because of their activities.
“Is being a supporter of an opposition group a crime that leads to death? We are asking police to come out on this and explain. The fact that people power does not have a police of its own, we are not responsible for the protection of people. The police should therefore carry out its role of protecting the people,” Mr Ssenyonyi said.
Senyonnyi added that in one of the cases, their supporter Salongo Stephen Lukoma, a Councilor from Lyabaana Sub County in Buvuma district was shot dead by Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) in Buvuma Island last week. Lukoma was killed by a UPDF soldier who was reportedly stopping illegal fishermen in the lake.
According to Senyonnyi, in another case, Moses Okot P’Bitek, a Gulu-based lawyer and people power supporter was shot in the limbs by a security guard attached to the Amolatar Resident District Commissioner, while Bosmic Otim, a musician who supports people power in Gulu was injured, still in a scuffle with security personnel.
Ssenyonnyi says the public should enjoy the right to belong to a political group of their choice.
