The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Brig. Bonny Bamwiseki, the Commandant of the Fourth Infantry Division has faulted security personnel for carelessness while managing the Sunday night protest at Gulu Central High School, which claimed the life of a student and left several others nursing injuries.
Gabriel Rwotomiya, a senior three-student died instantly after being hit on the head by a stray bullet fired by one of the security officers who responded to the student protest. Rwotomiya was reportedly hiding on top of a mango tree within the school compound in an attempt to escape from the police and army officers firing live bullets at rowdy students.
The students had rampaged and destroyed a number of school properties after management blocked them from watching the Manchester derby. Brig. Bamwiseki told URN in an interview on Wednesday that there was no justification for armed security personnel to enter the school compound at night and fire live bullets to disperse the students.
He notes that had the police commanding officer informed the army that they were going to intervene in quelling the protest at night, they wouldn’t have allowed them to proceed. According to Brig. Bamwiseki, it would only be justifiable for security to intervene at night time If the students had set the school property ablaze or some of them had weapons like guns.
Brig. Bamwiseki says two UPDF officers who were involved in the shooting at the school are in custody at the Fourth Infantry Division headquarters barracks. He also notes that he has reached out to the Aswa River Region Police Commander to effect the arrest of the District Police Commander for negligence.
“I told the RPC to arrest the DPC. Why enter the school at midnight? why?… you remain outside patrolling not to enter there (school) at night,” he said. He also called on school authorities to desist from calling security personnel into matters that would ideally be managed through sensitization and dialogue.
Capt. Hassan Ahmed Kato, the Fourth Infantry Division Spokesperson told Uganda Radio Network-URN that the suspects arrested are undergoing interrogation. They are Lt. John Oryema and Private Denise Ochora, both from the Fourth Infantry Division headquarters in Gulu City.
Various leaders within Gulu city have also condemned security personnel for using guns to manage the student’s protest. Betty Aol Ocan, the Gulu City Woman Member of Parliament says that the incident at Gulu Central High School did not call for the intervention of the police and the army. She says the matter would have been handled by the school management.
Aol revealed that she will raise the matter on the floor of parliament so that a law is passed to ban the use of guns to quell violent situations in learning institutions since it does more harm than good.
Andrew Ogwetta Otto, the Pece-Laroo Division North councillor also condemned security forces for firing live bullets, saying that the situation was avoidable.
According to Ogwetta, the suspect in the school shooting that claimed the life of the student is said to have been drunk on that fateful night.
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