Two men who were travelling on a boda boda were yesterday shot by security officers for allegedly defying the President’s ban on using public transport measures, a move adopted to control the spread of the COVID-19 disease.
Alex Oryem and Khasim Ssebudde, all residents of Seeta, Goma division in Mukono municipality are nursing wounds in Mukono general hospital after they were shot by security operatives that were deployed to enforce the presidential directive of suspending all public transport to stop the further spread of coronavirus.
The two construction workers were shot while travelling on a motorcycle from Seeta to Namugongo for their daily duties.
Ssebudde was shot in the stomach while Oryem was shot in the leg.
Oryem however explained he had no idea about the Presidential directive as he had not watched news the previous evening.
“As we were going for work, we got intercepted by two police officers who blamed us for riding on the one motorcycle, when we sought to know the offence we had committed, they instead just shot at us,” said Oryem.
But Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, Patrick Onyango says the two were shot after they tried to attack police officers.
“After police had stopped them, they tried to attack our officers who first fired warning shots in the air. People should at all times not defy presidential directives aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus,” Onyango added.
But the cruel actions of enforcement forces have been criticised by a number of people including Trade and Industry Minister Amelia Kyambadde, Government Spokesperson Ofwono Opondo among others.
Kyambadde urged security officers to act in a humane way, rather that resorting to brutality, while Opondo apologised for the cruel actions.
