The Go Forward presidential candidate John Patrick Amama Mbabazi has broken his silence regarding the disappearance of the head of his private security detail, Christopher Aine.
Aine, who is wanted by police for ‘grievous assault’ went missing about two weeks ago and frantic efforts by the authorities and relatives to trace his whereabouts have not yielded fruit.
But this afternoon Mr Mbabazi has said Aine, who has a Shs20 million bounty issued by police chief Gen Kale Kayihura would be found, and that Mr Mbabazi’s lawyers had already written to court for a writ of habeas corpus, a judicial instrument that requires the authorities to produce a missing person.
‘Yesterday, our lawyers successfully lodged a habeas corpus order with the High Court of Uganda for Aine. We will find him’, Mr Mbabazi wrote in a statement titled: ‘Statement Regarding the Continual Brutalisation of Go Forward Supporters and Campaign Agents’.
Giving names and their places of abode, Mr Mbabazi, details the woes that his supporters have reportedly endured, adding that in the last one month alone dozens of his supporters have been ‘assaulted, arrested, ‘disappeared’ and even killed’.
Further, Mr Mbabazi spoke about campaign violence meted out against his supporters and also called for calm and restraint by the authorities, saying it would create harmonious continuity.
‘As we approach the last 40 days of this campaign, the tempo is growing and the people are becoming more decisive. The tensions may rise, but I appeal to those in authority to exercise fairness, restraint and better judgment for the sake of our children, our neighbours and our country, Uganda. This is what we deserve as a nation peaceful transition of power. It starts now’, Mr Mbabazi wrote.
Full statement:Â
