Police in Kamuli is holding Betty Naigaga for disobeying presidential directives.
Naigaga was last evening arrested from Buwenge town council, Jinja district by detectives from Kamuli CPS after two men who were earlier arrested for holding campaign meetings mentioned her name in their separate statements saying that she was the one who sent them.
Sam Kisira and Stanley Ngobi were on Easter Monday nabbed from Luzinga Trading Centre in Wankole Sub County while giving out food stuffs and sanitizers to a group of gathered residents.
They did so only a few days after the issuance of directives by the president which included banning the distribution of food stuffs by politicians for their political gains.
Michael Kasadha, the Busoga North Regional Police spokesman confirm this report this morning.
What she was doing is illegal because the president directed that whoever has items to donate must take it to the District Taskforce in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
Last year Naigaga declared her intentions to contest for Kamuli woman MP seat, a position currently occupied by speaker, Rebecca Kadaga.
Eagle Online has further learnt that Naigaga is a member of the ruling National Resistance Movement.
We could not readily get her for a comment but the Kamuli District NRM Administrative Officer, Trevor Solomon Baleke could not confirm whether she is their registered member.
“That is not how the members of NRM do things. For us as party, we are adhering to the directives of the president because it is in our interest that Uganda as a country wins the battle against Coronavirus,” he said.
“Whoever disobeys the presidential directives does it as a person and has to be treated as an enemy of the people. Our cadres are not using the pandemic to look for cheap popularity, because we are all aware that gathering people is risky in this critical period,” Baleke explained.
On Tuesday March, 31, President Museveni said that distribution of food to a group of people equates to attempted murder.
Museveni advised those who may want to reach out to the vulnerable poor to channel the items through either the national task force committee headed by the Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda or the taskforce committees at the district headed by RDCs.
He directed the police to arrest individuals who would be found distributing food to people.
Most politicians adhered to this directive and indeed the duo in custody become the first persons to be arrested on such charges.
