More than 80 suspects are reportedly arrested and are currently locked up in police cells after different security agencies carried out a joint operation to allegedly recover military stores from the offices of National Unity Platform (NUP) in Kamwokya and its supporters who sell NUP related material like berets and T-shirts around various arcades in Kampala City.
The joint security operation which involved police, the military and all intelligence agencies yesterday 14th October 2020 besieged the head office of NUP and picked up all NUP branded materials which they claim resemble those used by the military.
Away from the NUP offices, NUP sympathizers and traders within the city centre were in equal measure besieged by police and the military. The most affected traders were those who trade in clothing materials most especially T-shirts around the city Centre within the areas of Kiyembe, Ben Kiwanuka, Luwum Street, Mini Price, Qualicel Bus Terminal, Mukwano Arcade and other nearby areas including Makindye and Bwaise.
Our sources amongst traders whom we spoke to on condition of anonymity revealed that many of their colleagues were arrested and incarcerated in unknown locations and they include Ziwoome Andrew, John Semogerere, Buyinza Jane, Samson Mwesigwa and renown NUP mobiliser and trader, Noeline Nakkonde who was allegedly battered very badly around Mini Price area before she was dumped into a Toyota Hiace Drone motor vehicle with no registration plates and driven away with two others to an unknown location that wasn’t yet known by her fellow traders by press time.
It is reported that she is an aspiring councilor within Nakawa Division on the NUP ticket.
Whereas Police and the Military insist that the joint operation was aimed at recovering gazetted military stores and stopping their chain of distribution for political purposes, NUP leadership says their offices and supporters were targeted in an effort to intimidate them and sway them from mobilizing and preparing for the 2021 polls.
Police spokesperson Mr. Enanga Fred, on Wednesday emphasized how it is illegal for the civilian community to don berets on their heads for they are a preserve of the armed forces, a position that the NUP leadership contests insisting that their berets don’t have the branding of the military but rather the logo of their political party that can evidently be differentiated from that which is used by the military.
By press time, our sources within NUP leadership revealed that Hon. Robert Kyagulanyi, the NUP leader had sanctioned a team of top party lawyers led by Counsel Benjamin Katana to help and fight hard to secure the urgent release of their supporters and mobilisers most especially the traders whose shops and stores were vandalized by police and the military in an operation which NUP deems illegal and aimed at intimidating the masses as 2021 elections approach.
