Members sitting on the Parliamentary Committee of Defense chaired by Hon Judith Nabakooba were yesterday ‘stunned’ by contradictions put forward by heads of government security organs they were grilling over the Kasese clashes that left dozens dead.
The committee is currently investigating the issues that transpired in Kasese between November 24 and 27 to come up with a report that will be presented before the house for discussion.
Kawempe South Member of Parliament, Mubarak Munyagwa who is a member on the committee told the media that the closed door meeting heard a lot of contradictions from the officials.
“I told fellow (opposition) members that in order to get the truth, we should not boycott the meeting. The Minister of Internal Affairs (Gen. Jeje Odongo) brought a different version that the people who died in the clashes were 104; so they are contradicting each other, Hon. Kiyonga talked of over 250, the Director of Military Intelligence talked of 64, the Minister of Defense in the morning talked of 78,” Munyagwa revealed.
“This means they are all telling lies when it comes to the number of people who died during the clashes; they all say there were no children in the palace,” Munyagwa said.
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According to Munyagwa, members asked to be allowed to visit the people who were arrested at the palace to determine whether or not there were women and children, but the security officers were hesitant.
Kawempe South MP, Mubarak Munyagwa
“The important thing we have got is that they have revealed that the suspects were driven from Kasese to Nalufenya naked; this was said by the Minister of Internal Affairs and even Kaweesi didn’t refute it.”
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Speaking to the media after the closed meeting, the Minister of Defense, Jeje Odongo revealed that the suspects are still in detention centers and their charges are being prepared.
On reports of whether there were children killed in the palace, the Minister noted that there were no children; “we didn’t see any and that’s why we have never mentioned them in any of the reports we have made.”