There is heavy deployment of security personnel from both Police and UPDF along Entebbe road as well as at the airport ahead of the return of Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine. There is tight security check at the airport and people who are not intending to travel have been denied access inside the airport.
Journalist too have been asked for accreditation from Civil Aviation Authority and those without it have been chased away from the airport checkpoint.
Bobi Wine who has been in America for close to three weeks seeking specialized treatment following his alleged torture, is expected to touch on ground at Entebbe International Airport at 12:45pm.
This reporter has learnt that journalists from different media houses who were still travelling from Kampala to the Entebbe have been arrested and detained at Kisubi Police station.
A military helicopter has been deployed to patrol Entebbe and its outskirts.
Daily Monitor learnt that senior officers from police, army, Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence, Internal Security Organisation and military police on Wednesday evening met at the Kampala Central Police Station boardroom to work out finer deployment plans to ensure law and order prevails.
Police had earlier on the day banned any processions for the MP’s homecoming and said they would pick him from the airport, offer security and deliver him directly to his home in Magere, Wakiso District.
In a written statement read by police spokesperson Emilian Kayima, the Force said they would only allow the MP’s immediate family to receive him on arrival and that no one has notified the Force for a crowd event as required under the Public Order Management Act.
“He will be availed security from the airport to his home. Police will further ensure law and order [for] all road users. There shall be no unlawful rallies, processions and assemblies,” Mr Kayima said.
However, shortly after the police pronouncement, Mr Kyagulanyi, who was at the time at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, tweeted and posted on his Facebook page messages denouncing the directive.
“I am wondering why these police officers allow themselves to descend so low. They now want to decide who picks me and where I go upon arrival! Well, for your information, no single family member will receive me at the airport; this impunity must stop now,” he wrote.
The MP’s lawyers Mr Nicholas Opiyo, Mr Asuman Basalirwa and Mr Andrew Karamagi, at a separate press conference in the city’s upscale Kololo neighbourhood, announced that they would instead be at the airport in person to receive him because he is still a “suspect”.
Mr Kyagulanyi’s supporters and relatives also said their parallel arrangements will go on as planned.
“We shall receive Bobi Wine at home [in Kamokya, a Kampala suburb] and have a family meal together, pray and sing for him before we take him back to his home in Magere,” Mr Fred Nyanzi, the lawmaker’s elder brother, said.
Under the original plan, the legislator, would upon arrival, be chauffeured to Najjanankumbi, on the Entebbe highway, to check on his ailing grandmother and head to Kamokya for prayers and blessings before deciding whether to report to Parliament or head home.
UM– USEKE.RW
