Muwanga Kivumbi, the Chairperson of Buganda Parliamentary Caucus
MPs from Buganda Parliamentary have given the Minister of Internal Affairs, Kahinda Otafire a list of 30 former security operatives they claim are suspects behind the recent spate of killing in greater Masaka region.
Muwanga Kivumbi (Butambala County), who also doubles as Chairperson of Buganda Parliamentary Caucus made the revelation today morning while speaking to journalists after their closed door meeting with the Minister.
“We have also brought to his knowledge of the information we have about the criminality. We have given him the names of 30 people. We gave him the pointers we have especially it is some insiders could be behind it, we have been that frank and he didn’t sound completely ignorant, although he never confirmed, but he sounded like he has a clue about it,” said Muwanga.
The lawmaker said the meeting that came ahead of the MPs travel to greater Masaka region was at the request of Minister of Internal Affairs through the Leader of Opposition, Mathias Mpuuga and was intended to solicit explanations from the Minister on how Government utilizes the Shs7Trn Parliament allocates annually for intelligence and security in the annual budget.
“Parliament approves Shs7Trn for security that is why we agreed to delay our travel to Greater Masaka region so that we may ask the Minister of Internal Affairs why he has failed to secure Ugandans. The mandate of Ministry of Internal Affairs is to detect and prevent crime, but they have failed in Masaka, that is why he must offer accountability,” Kivumbi said.
The caucus also urged some of the suspected security operatives behind the attacks in Masaka not to turn Buganda into their battle ground, but rather transfer their battle grounds to their respective regions, instead of punishing innocent locals in Greater Masaka region.
The Lawmakers also denied claims that politicians are behind the attacks, with Kivumbi accusing Government of trying to hide behind politics to defend their incompetence at securing Ugandans.
“We dismiss politics, it simply doesn’t add up. If there are people who want support and remove Government, you can’t go and machete and kill them, at the same time seek for their support. For us, we urge Government to desist from putting on a political spectator on this matter. We strongly believe that this is a security matter,” he said.
However, Minister Otafiire said that Government hasn’t ruled out politics and the meeting he held with MPs was intended to quell anxiety among political leaders and urge the people in affected districts of Masaka, Lwengo, Bukomansimbi, Kalungu and Rakai to work with security to end the killings
“If politics is part of the problem, how do you deal with that, do you talk to bishops? And it is also unfair to generalize and say all the elected leaders of Masaka are involved, no, some may be involved, some maybe not,” Otafiire said.
He said the meeting was aimed at giving the MPs information about what the security situation is in the area and to ask for their cooperation for them to also participate in eradication of insecurity in their area.
“I wanted to put their anxiety at rest,” said Otafiire.
The meeting comes ahead of the MPs planned trip to Masaka region where machete and panga wielding people have been hacking locals to death, a trend that has seen 26 people lose their lives. So far, 10 people have been arraigned before court following their arrest, linking them to the murders.
