June 13, 2018 - Uganda Peoples Congress leader Jimmy Akena has condemned attempts by the NRM to politicise and find scapegoats for the death of Arua Municipality MP Col. Ibrahim Abiriga.Akena was reacting after it was confirmed that Police in Kampala were holding Mukono Municipality legislator, Betty Nambooze Bakireke, after her arrest earlier today from her residence in Mukono, 21 kilometres east of Kampala.
The Spear has learned that Nambooze is being held over statements she made on social media about the death by shooting last Friday of the now late Arua Municipality MP, Col. Ibrahim Abiriga and his bodyguard.
Police entered her residence just before 10 am, and served her with summons to appear. She was later bundled into a police car that drove her to Jinja Road Police Station in Kampala.
Her lawyers led by Kampala Mayor Erias Lukwago were denied immediate access to their client.
The legislator who suffered injuries to her spinal cord during a scuffle with police at Parliament last November, was due to travel back to India for a medical review of her condition on Friday.
It was not immediately clear what charges would be preferred against her and whether she would be allowed leave to travel for medical attention.
News of Nambooze’s impending arrest started circulating on Monday, setting off a tense 48 hours until she was picked this morning.
Last evening, Police confirmed that they would be summoning her to answer questions about the circumstances surrounding the death by shooting of Arua Municipality MP Col. Ibrahim Abiriga and his bodyguard last Friday.
Briefly answering a question that was put to him on a WhatsApp group, Police Spokesperson SSP Emilian Kayima confirmed that Nambooze would be summoned to record a statement.
"We are summoning her to record a statement to this effect," Kayima said.
His statement attracted immediate reaction from members of the multi-stakeholder group, expressing concern that Police was straying from the hunt for the real killers.
"I hope u stay focused on the bigger problem and not just use scarecrow kind of investigations. I wish Allah unveils the assassins and the investigators this time produce facts not fictitious suspects,"posted Ahmed Bogere Masembe.
"I pray that security Agencies remain focused on finding the killers ...comical posts may derail investigations like in the past," commented Daniel Kaweesi' of the Uganda National Commission for UNESCO.
The atmosphere at Nambooze's residence in Mukono was tense most of Tuesday as the local police station appeared to be beefing up its ranks in preparation for Namboole's arrest. The complement of female officers was increased to six while more manpower appeared to be coming in from sister stations.
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