Kampala, 13th/July/2012; Court in Kampala has ordered
for the arrest of the Mayor of Kampala’s Central Division Godfrey Nyakaana
Amooti to face trial over robbery and assault of a Red Pepper journalist George
Fidel Arinaitwe.The warrant was issued by the
Buganda Road Chief Magistrate Mary Khainza after Nyakaana failed to heed to
criminal summons issued against him last month. State Prosecutor Nelly Asiku
asked the court to order for Nyakaana’s arrest.
Prosecution alleges that on
February, 23 2011 during local council general elections for Kampala Lord Mayor,
Nyakaana unlawfully attacked Arinaitwe causing him actual bodily harm and also
robbed him of his Sony camera worth 400,000shs. In a bid to destroy the photos which
Arinaitwe had taken, Nyakaana is alleged to have grabbed the camera from
Arinaitwe and destroyed its memory card before punching him several times. He
was displeased by photos taken of the fracas that broke out after people
started accusing him of vote stuffing at the Railway ground polling station.
At the time of the attack, Nyakaana was
overseeing the votes of the ruling party’s (NRM) candidate Peter Sematimba. The
elections were later cancelled by the Electoral Commission upon discovering
that they were marred by wide spread irregularities throughout the district.
They were later re-organized and Ssematimba lost to the opposition’s Erias
Lukwago who is the current lord mayor of the city authority.
The matter was adjourned to July
27th for Nyakaana to appear in court
.“HRNJ-Uganda has a lot of hope in
this case because it would serve to deter public officials from misusing their
offices to curtail media work. It is however unfortunate that Nyakaana was not
in court. We hope that the police will execute the arrest warrant and produce
him to face trial.” Said HRNJ-Uganda lawyer Catherine Anite
For More Information
Contact;
Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda
(HRNJ-Uganda)
Kivebulaya Road Mengo Kampala Opp. St.
Marcelino Pre. School
P.O.BOX. 71314 Clock Tower Kampala
Tel: +256-414-272934 / +256-414-667627
E-mail: news@hrnjuganda.org
humanrajournalists@yahoo.co.uk
Website: www.hrnjuganda.org
BLOG:
http://hrnjuganda.blogpost.com
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