City mayoral candidate arrested shortly after nomination

Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The police in Gulu have arrested Alfred Okwonga, a candidate for Lord Mayor of Gulu city shortly after his being nominated.

Okwonga was arrested on Friday at around midday along the Ring road in Pece-Laroo division shortly after successfully being nominated from the Gulu district council by the Electoral Commission to contest in the 2021 general election on the National Resistance Movement -NRM party ticket.

He was intercepted alongside dozens of supporters while holding a procession with over six vehicles and a public address system. The candidate was then led to Gulu central police station where he is still being held.

The heavily armed police officers were led by John Bosco Nyangkol, the officer in-charge of Gulu central police station. They arrested Okwonga and impounded the public address system he was using.

Nyangkol told URN from Gulu central police station that Okwonga contravened the standard operations procedures and guidelines set by the Health Ministry to contain the spread of coronavirus disease by illegally holding a procession and gathering people.

He however declined to divulge much details noting that they were still doing more investigations.   Okwonga`s arrest comes at a time when Gulu district has registered a spike in the community cases of coronavirus disease now estimated at about 150.

Samuel Oyet Agwani, the NRM party media officer for Northern Uganda however appealed to the party aspirants to follow the set guidelines for containing the spread of Covid-19.

Okwonga was so far the third aspirant to be nominated for the final Gulu city Lord Mayor race.

******

URN