A 17-year-old boy is nursing wounds he sustained during a scuffle for hoes distributed by the Masindi District woman Member of Parliament, Ms Jalia Bintu Lukumu.
The injured has been identified as Solomon Benda.
Ms Bintu, who is in the race for bearing the NRM party flag in Buruli County, distributed the hoes and crates of soda at the home of a one Mr Didas Komakech, resident of Kahaara 1 Village in Miirya Sub-county on Thursday night.
Mr Komakech, the host, told our reporter that no sooner had Ms Bintu left the rally, than a fray ensued at around 7pm when the residents disagreed on the mode of distribution. One group wanted everybody who attended the rally to have a share on the hoes while another sided with the organisers that only the selected should share the hoes among themselves.
The disagreement on the criterion resulted into a skirmish in which several bottles of soda were smashed with many residents being injured. But the teenager was severely injured calling for medical management at a local health facility, according to Mr Komakech.
Efforts to get a comment from the legislator on the matter were futile as she could not be reached at the time of filing this story.
However, Mr Steven Mugisa, her campaign manager, dismissed the reports as “false and fabricated” though Mr Gerald Kasangaki, the Kahaara 1 village chairman confirmed the report.
Mr Kasangaki blamed the incident on the candidate’s failure to involve local leaders in organising the campaign rally saying the incident could not have happened if the organisers had informed the village authorities.
