Lord Mayor of Ugandan capital arrested by police

By

Gloria Nakiyimba

Police fired tear gas and live bullets in the air as they arrested the embattled Lord Mayor of the Ugandan capital city Kampala, Erias Lukwago on Monday.

Lukwago was arrested with two of his supporters and taken to Nagalama police station after sneaking out of his home in Wakaliga, despite the tight security that had been deployed to block him from stepping out of his house.

Fred Enanga, the Police Spokesperson said they had received information that Lukwago was planning to march to the electoral commission to protest the postponement of the nomination of mayoral candidates.

Last week the government tabled in Parliament the Kampala Capital City Authority amendment bill 2015, and if passed, the Kampala Lord Mayor will be elected by councilors.

This prompted the electoral commission to halt the election of the Lord Mayor that was supposed to be held today.

A journalist working with a local television station, Isaac Kugonza, was shot and injured by police in the scuffle at Wakaliga.

Police used tear gas to disperse Lukwago’s supporters who were marching with him. Lukwago’s supporters pelted police with stones accusing them of working for President Museveni.

Gloria Nakiyimba

Gloria has experience spanning more than five years in Journalism, particularly in field reporting, editing, newscasting and management. She is currently working with Capital Radio Limited [91.3 Capital FM and 96.8 Beat FM] as Head of News, a position she has held since 2010.

Gloria previously worked as the Kampala Correspondent for Radio France International [RFI] generating local story leads with international inference for RFI’s global audience. She also served as Political Editor for The Weekly Mail Newspaper as well as Online Content Editor for the California based Ugandan broadcaster KubutakaRadio.com.