Jinja East Member of Parliament Paul Mwiru has dared the the Director of CIID, Grace Akullo to adduce evidence against the election officials police has arrested.
Mr. Mwiru has in a facebook message posted on his facebook page alleged that Ms Akullo and her directorate is acting on fabricated evidence to arrest his ‘innocent’ supporters.
“Grace Akullo who claims to be a Born-again Christian is being used by the NRM to fabricate evidence to back up the purported election petition challenging our victory. I am reliably informed that my supporters are being arrested and coerced to confess…….. in exchange for money,” alleges Mwiru in the post.
This comes after the police arrested the speaker of Jinja Municipal Council, Morris Bizitu and some ten individuals who served as polling official in the recent Jinja East MP by-election won by Mwiru.
The suspects were arrested from their various workplaces or homes and briefly held at Kiira Regional police headquarters along Bell Avenue in Jinja town. Later at around 7:00 pm on Monday , the polling officials, including six ladies were whisked to Jinja central division police headquarters where they were detained. Bizitu was taken to Kiira Road police station in Kampala.
“I have learned from police sources that they are under pressure to persecute my supporters and make up a case for National Resistance Movement. My advice to Akullo is that she desists from making unlawful orders and stop being used in politically driven matters,” laments Mwiru in his post adding that: The DPP and the Uganda Human Rights Commission and all other rights bodies are informed.
Kiira Regional police commander, Superintendent of police, Onesmus Mwesigwa told reporters on Monday April 10, 2018 that the detained polling officials are being held over voter registration malpractice.
Police says that the arrested individuals are said to have illegally added ghost voters in the registration Database.
Quoting the Electoral Commission Act, Mwesigwa said that the polling officials have been charged for “procuring registration of other persons not entitled to be on the register. Section 29 of the Election Commission states that any person who by himself or herself or any other person procures the registration of himself or herself or any other person on a voters roll for a constituency, knowing that he or she or that other person is not entitled to be registered on that voters roll or is already registered on it or on another voters roll; or by himself or herself or any other person procures the registration of a fictitious person, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding thirty currency points or to imprisonment not exceeding one year or to both.
Mwesigwa said the police have enough evidence to pin the suspects on the illegal transfer of names.
However, he refused to tell the media who the complainant in this matter is, saying that it will affect police investigations.
Contacted for a comment, the district Returning Officer, Rogers Sserunjogi denied knowledge about the arrests of his juniors officers.
A few days to the polling date, Mwiru told a press conference that there were some unknown names on the Jinja East voters’ register which allegations were later dismissed by the ecetoral commission. Mwiru was declared winner with 6,654 votes against NRM’s Nathan Igeme Nabeeta who got 5,034 votes.
The results were rejected by the ruling party. The NRM Secretary General, Justine Kasule Lumumba who told a press conference that the party legal team was evaluating the available evidence to see whether they would Mwiru’s victory in court.
Some sources said Mwiru had managed to have his diehards recruited into the electoral commission to handle the by-election as polling official
