General David Muhoozi on Monday evening visited Lwengo district, the scene of the latest incident. He indicated that preliminary assessments are pointing to possibilities of terrorism, a line of investigations security has now taken.
State Minister incharge of Internal Affairs General David Muhoozi leaving the meeting place after addressing a regional security meeting, following him is Brig Gen Deus Sande Commandant of UPDF Mechanised Brigade in Masaka
The State Minister of Internal Affairs, General David Muhoozi, has
said that security forces are investigating actions of terrorism concerning the recent
spate of killings in Masaka sub-region.
For close to one and half months, the areas of Masaka City, Lwengo
and Bukomansimbi districts, which are within the greater Masaka sub-region, have
been witnessing a new wave of criminality which is characterized by continuous
killings that are committed by unknown gangs.
According to police records, a total of 28 people have so far been
killed by assailants using blunt objects.
General Muhoozi on Monday evening visited Lwengo district, the
scene of the latest incident, and indicated that preliminary assessments are
pointing to possibilities of terrorism, a line of investigations security has
now taken.
Muhoozi, who also addressed a regional security meeting in the area, instructed Grace Akullo, the Director of Criminal Investigations Directorate and Edward Ochom, the Police’s Director of Operations, to camp in the area.
According to Muhoozi, investigations are now focused on
establishing the motive of the assailants whose executions he says are similar
to those of terrorists. He adds that have investigation teams have been instructed to critically study the trend of similar killings that have
occurred in the sub-region as part of the government’s efforts to find a lasting
solution to the problem.
//Cue in: “we have made….
Cue out; ….terrorizing the
population”//
Luganda
//Cue in; “ekigenderwa kya bano…
Cue out: ….ate tekiddamu.”//
He reveals that some 69 suspects are in custody in connection to the murders, indicating that some of these are to be charged with
terrorism and will help investigators dig deep into the incidents.
Muhoozi’s security briefing has also come at a
time when a section of leaders in the area is demanding a special inquest into
the killings in the sub-region.
Richard Paul Migadde, the former Local Council 3 Chairperson for
Kyannamukaaka Sub County in Masaka District, prefers that government sets up a
commission of inquiry beyond the ordinary police investigations, to dig further
into the gruesome murders.
Migadde says such murders have got a pattern that is traced back to 2009, when similar killings happened in Kyannamukaaka Sub
County, where a family of six people were killed in cold blood.
He says that the wave also claimed at least 26 lives in the area,
followed by the 2012 killings which occurred in Kyebe Sub County in Rakai
district.
“These incidents have been continuous in this area and security
organs have not given conclusive reports about them and neither have we had
successful prosecution of all these murders. The latest murders should now invoke our curiosity to find what
the real problem is,” Migadde noted.
However, General Muhoozi downplays the demands for a special commission of
inquiry, arguing that the government is committed to leading comprehensive
investigations that will go beyond the arrest of the culprits, which will help
to avoid a re-occurrence.
