Anne Mugisha father arrested By Alex B. Atuhaire & Nelson Naturinda July 26, 2003
The father of Reform Agenda's strong woman Anne Mugisha was Wednesday arrested and detained for two hours over alleged links with rebels. Mr George E. Mugisha was picked by operatives from the Violent Crime Crack Unit (VCCU) from his residence at Luthuli Avenue, Bugolobi. His daughter Anne is a member of Reform Agenda and now lives in Florida, USA. Mugisha's arrest apparently came after his shamba boy, Mr John Ssebwami told security personnel that the 70-year-old retired civil servant was collaborating with alleged rebels of the People's Redemption Army (PRA). His wife Janet told The Monitor on Thursday that her husband had bee released after being held for more than two hours at VCCU offices in Kireka. The VCCU replaced the Operation Wembley, formed to fight armed criminals. "After he was roughly arrested, an officer at Wembley offices in Kireka decided to release him because there was no credible evidence. He returned home yesterday [Wednesday]," Mrs Mugisha said. Government has always linked his daughter Anne to PRA. She was in charge of Research and Publicity for presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye during the 2001 elections. Besigye fled to exile in August 2001. He, too is accused of subversion, by government. Prior to Mugisha's arrest, Ssebwami had come to The Monitor offices, on Monday, alleging that the old man had refused to pay him his wages. He said Mugisha owed him Shs 400,000. He claimed that another worker had informed Mugisha that he [Ssebwami] wanted to leak information, about subversion, to security. Ssebwami said he had reported to the Labour Office in Kampala regarding his unpaid wages. Ssebwami has worked for Mugisha since 1998. He alleged that Mugisha gave him information about the rebels and Anne's activities abroad. He claimed he had information about Anne's travel to South Africa, Rwanda and Nigeria soliciting money for the said rebellion. He also claimed Mr Mugisha had been mobilising money within Uganda, including sale of his house in Rubaga. Mrs Mugisha on Thursday, denied the claims. She said: "Can you imagine all those allegations! Anne Mugisha is our daughter and has become a politician but we should be left to live in peace," she said. In an earlier interview before his arrest, Mr Mugisha denied owing money to Ssebwami. He showed copies of payment slips. He said police at Wandegeya were probing the alleged non-payment. He recalled that September 2001, operatives from the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence searched his Mbarara home, over similar allegations of subversion. "I know my telephone is tapped," he said. According to Mr Mugisha, the family has been harassed because of their daughter's political activities. ===== LM __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com
