City riot victims demand compensation from gov’t

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Victims who sustained injuries during the city protests in Kampala are seeking compensation from the government.

On Wednesday, riots broke out in Kampala and other parts of the country following the arrest of National Unity Platform presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu.

Police and the army used teargas and live bullets to quell the protests leading to death and several injuries.

Peter Oguyi, a boda boda rider in Kisenyi says that he was hit by a bullet on the leg near Kisenyi health center. He explains that he was first admitted at the health center before he was referred to Mulago Hospital where he has now spent four days.

Oguyi now wants the government to compensate him. He says that the motorcycle he drove was acquired through a loan.

Leopold Nyakauma, who deals in spare parts in Kiseka market where the riots started from narrates that when the chaos erupted, he closed his shop and boarded a boda boda to go home but his journey was cut short when a police officer shot at the boda boda rider.

According to Nyakahuma, when the boda boda rider was shot at, he lost control and they both fell off the motorcycle, but as he stood up to run, he was again shot twice on the legs.

Musa Kasolo, a brother to one of the patients says that the government should take care of his brother’s five children.

While visiting the causality ward at Mulago Hospital on Thursday, Dr Joyce Moriku Kaducu, the State Minister of Primary Health Care said the government would pay the costs of treatment for the victims.

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