By KT Reporter
Security is maintaining a heavy deployment in Sembabule district ahead of the National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu’s campaign activities in the area.
Police, plain-clothed personnel, and heavy security trucks have been deployed on major roads towards Sembabule town council, where Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, is expected to address his main campaign rally.
Goretti Namugga, the Mawogola County Member of Parliament and one of the NUP coordinators in Sembabule, claims that the deployment is intended to cause unnecessary tension, to prevent people from receiving Kyagulanyi in big numbers.
She says that besides scaring away the opposition’s enthusiastic supporters in Sembabule, the security personnel could also be plotting to block the NUP Presidential candidate from accessing the main campaign venues in the town council.
Namugga revealed that they had planned to hold their main rally at Sembabule district playground in Sembabule town council and proceed with a second gathering at Mitete trading center, but the route to the main venue has been barricaded since Monday evening.
“We duly notified the security teams about the two rallies, but to our surprise, our pre-campaign teams have not been allowed to access the venue to begin the preparation. As usual, these people could be interested in frustrating our efforts and eventually denying the candidate the opportunity of addressing his supporters in the town council,” she says.
Nevertheless, she Namugga indicates that their campaign coordination teams are liaising with the higher security authorities to ensure that the NUP campaign activities proceed as planned.
“We are a very civilized and peaceful political party. There are people here who want to be decorated and worshiped as idols; they think that interfering with planned activities can keep them hold on power and continue manipulating the people of Sembabule,” she alleges.
Twaha Kasirye, the Greater Masaka Regional Police Spokesperson, dismissed allegations of scaring away Kyagulanyi’s supporters, indicating that the deployment is instead aimed at ensuring law and order in the area.
He has called upon the residents and political actors to cooperate with the officers to avoid any eventualities.
He says that the joint security deployment should not scare anybody from continuing with their lawful activities, indicating that, besides campaigns, other economic activities and services should also be allowed to proceed uninterrupted.
Richard Namanya, one of the NUP supporters in Sembabule town council, reveals that the security trucks arrived in the area last evening, and that the personnel have created a serious scare in some of the opposition mobilizers.
He alleges that many of the opposition campaign materials, including Kyagulanyi’s posters and hanging banners, were pulled down last night, blaming it on the NRM coordinators who he claims collaborated with the security.
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On Sunday, retired Major General Phinahansi Katirima, the Sembabule district NRM Chairperson, mounted a public address system on a mobile truck and drove around the area discouraging people from attending Kyagukanyi’s rallies in the area.
He urged residents to instead dress up in NRM yellow attire, stand by the roadside, and wave to Kyagulanyi and his campaign teams as they pass by the area.
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