Ugandan MP says she survived attempt on her life
Sunday March 24 2019
Idah Nantaba, Uganda's State Minister of Information and Communication Technology. The minister was driving along Kayunga-Mukono road when two motorbike-riding gunmen tried to attack her. PHOTO | DAILY MONITOR
A Ugandan legislator said she survived an attempt on her life on Sunday after unknown gunmen tried to ambush her.
Aidah Nantaba Eriosi, the Woman MP for Kayunga District in central Uganda, was driving along Kayunga-Mukono road when two motorbike-riding gunmen intercepted her.
"As she was approaching Ggavu trading centre, some strangers on a bodaboda stopped her and when she stopped, armed men with masked faces came from the bush and when she sensed danger she sped off," Amos Lugoloobi, the MP for Ntenjeru North, who is also Ms Nantaba's elder brother told Daily Monitor.
Ms Nantaba was reportedly with her bodyguard when the incident occurred but he did not fire at the suspected assailants as he feared that Ms Nantaba could be caught in cross fire.
She was returning to the capital Kampala from Ndeeba village in Kayunga where she had spent the weekend.
The state minister for ICT later drove to Naggalama Police Station where she reported the incident.
Police are now investigating the matter as manhunt for the other gunman continues.
"We are carrying out an operation now to hunt down these thugs and I will give you details later," Naggalama police chief Grace Nyangoma told journalists.
Ms Nantaba could not speak to the media by the time of filing this story as security blocked journalists from accessing her at the station.
However, according to Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson, Luke Owoyesigire, the Kayunga legislator was suspicious of the men on the motorbike before calling Nagalama Police Station in Mukono District which alerted other stations.
"The Police then started patrolling and monitoring the surroundings before the gunmen opened fire which prompted the police to fire back before killing one of the gunmen on spot," Owoyesigire told NTV.
In September last year assassins riding on a motorcycle killed Assistant Superintendent of Police Muhamad Kirumira.
Other prominent Ugandans killed in similar pattern include then Arua Municipality MP Ibrahim Abiriga, former Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Andrew Felix Kaweesi, former prosecutor Joan Kagezi among other Muslim clerics.
The killings prompted President Yoweri Museveni to issue security measures in a bid to calm an anxious population following the high profile murders.