KAMPALA — President Yoweri Museveni has condemned in the strongest terms an assassination attempt on the former army commander Gen. Katumba Wamala.
Gunmen on Tuesday morning attacked and wounded Transport Minister and former army commander, Gen Katumba Wamala, killing his daughter Brenda Nantongo and driver Haruna Kayondo.
Witnesses say men on motorbikes fired several shots at their vehicle near their home in the capital, Kampala.
Museveni in a social media post said his government will defeat those criminals as “we did in the past”.
He said investigators already have clues to those killers.
“Besides, he added, that the new system of digital beacons on all vehicles and Boda Bodas will eliminate the misuse of vehicles and Boda Bodas to commit crimes.
“The pigs who do not value life shot at Gen. Katumba killed his daughter and driver and injured him. Condolences on the loss of the two Ugandans. I talked to Gen. Katumba twice on the phone. He is being well-managed,” he wrote.
Museveni wished Gen.Katumba a quick recovery.
“The bodyguard should not have shot in the air. He should have shot to kill. We could be having a dead terrorist instead of scaring away the terrorists. His shooting saved Gen. Katumba by scaring the criminals away”.
The army says phone calls potentially linked to planning the assassination attempt are being investigated.
Soldiers are guarding the hospital where Gen Wamala is being treated for non life-threatening injuries.
He is regarded as one of Uganda’s most respected politicians and military men.
Gen. Wamala was previously a police chief as well as an army commander.
At the time of Tuesday’s attack, he was travelling in army vehicle that was then sprayed with bullets from the sides and front.
His daughter Nantongo and his driver, Kayondo, did not survive.
Video footage from the scene in Kisaasi shows the former army chief visibly shaken and covered in blood – being rushed to hospital on the back of a motorbike.
Over the last few years, the country has been rocked by such shootings by armed men riding on motorcycles, our correspondent says.
In June 2018, Ibrahim Abiriga, a politician and ardent supporter of President Yoweri Museveni, was shot and killed near his home.
Former police spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesi was assassinated in a similar manner in April 2017.
A magistrate and several Muslim clerics were killed in the same way.
None of the assassinations has ever been successfully investigated or prosecuted
