The state minister for Investment, Evelyne Anite, has been summoned by police for flouting COVID-19 health safety guidelines when she held a campaign procession in her home area, Koboko.
Last Saturday, Anite organized a procession where multitudes of her supporters marched through the streets in Koboko town in northern Uganda to celebrate her donation of an ambulance. Anite’s supporters were dressed in her campaign T-shirts imprinted with her portrait.
Although the minister later claimed she did not know about the procession and that she did not organize it, police Spokesperson Fred Enanga says that Anite and other politicians abused all the guidelines set by the Electoral Commission, risking the lives of Ugandans in Koboko Municipality and also presented an ugly image as a leader to other Ugandans.
Similar crowds were likewise seen in Sheema Municipality, where supporters of Dickson Kateshumbwa, one of the ruling party aspirants also held a procession. He too like Anite said he did not organize the procession.
Enanga said the two have been summoned for disregarding all guidelines issued to ensure that the disease, which spreads through person to person contact, does not spread in the communities. Enanga says that Anite will equally be charged for participating in a negligent act which is likely to spread infectious disease and even considered attempted murder by the president.
“The incumbent MP for Koboko Municipality that is honorable minister Anite Evelyn came in a big crowd, in a procession involving vehicles along Oraba road, then entered Koboko Municipality. Police officers in that area managed to track down the organizers because honorable Anite disappeared and immediately headed for Kampala. We are going to get her through our CID headquarters in Kampala. We managed to arrest her campaign manager or agent called Remmy Malizan and all those who organized this illegal procession in Koboko are going to be tracked down, arrested, and charged with organizing an illegal assembly,” Enanga said.
Meanwhile, Enanga says that police have summoned all regional and divisional police commanders from areas of Mbale, Bulambuli, Napak, Hoima, Kampala, Mbarara, Sheema, Koboko and Mitooma among others to explain to their bosses why they failed to enforce the COVID-19 guidelines.
Police have come under heavy criticism for playing blind as members of the ruling party continue to flout anti-coronavirus guidelines but continue to rough up opposition politicians. The same weekend when Anite held a procession without police intervention, Kyadondo East MP and presidential aspirant Hon. Robert Kyagulanyi was blocked from attending a radio talk show in Mbale. Police fired tear gas and bullets to disperse his supporters. Likewise, Kawempe South MP Mubarak Munyagwa Sserunga was arrested by police for holding a meeting of about 20 people.
