Isabirye has been serving as the officer in charge of the newly closed Luzinga police post located in Kamuli district. At the time of his arrest, Isabirye had been recalled at Kamuli central police station headquarters, pending redeployment.
Paul Nyongesa, a fisherman says that school-going children normally play along the railway bridge whenever they are alone. He, however, says that no severe case has ever been reported in the area.
One of the UPDF officers, manning the Nile bridge checkpoint, who preferred to speak on condition of anonymity, says that they thoroughly checked Bave before they cleared him to access the bridge but he jumped into the river about 200 meters away from them.
However, the Kiira region police commander, Dauda Hiriga argues that the continued unregulated traffic flow between the two districts has created congestion and increases the risk of covid-19 infections if not controlled.
The residents, most of them casual labourers and market vendors say that security teams are demanding national and work identity cards, from every person who intends to cross the Nile bridge, yet many of them do not have documents and do not belong to the category of essential workers who are allowed to cross the district boundary.
Unlike usual operations where only two traffic officers are seen manning the Nalufenya check point, today there are scores of armed Uganda People's’ Defense Forces-UPDF personnel, general duty police officers and field force police unit personnel.
Kakiriho, clad in a brown striped shirt and a black trouser, stood at the pedestrian walkway of the bridge for close to 30 minutes. He had written a leaflet with his personal details and dropped some documents in the flowing river waters before attempting to drown himself
Boniface Thembo, a resident says that through community work, they decided to put poles across the river so that residents can access their gardens and businesses across the two sub-counties.
Wilson Agaba, a concerned resident says that the collapse of the bridge paralyzed has left them in miserable life with no motor vehicle accessing their area. Agaba says that energetic men had turned the bridge into a source of income by charging between shillings 2000-5000 per person to helping them to cross.
The Jinja Zone UPDF spokesperson, George Musinguzi says that they are conducting both day and night search for the body of their colleague. The main search area is around the Owen falls dam which has been cordoned off and restricted from fishermen, tourists, and other water users.
It is alleged that the two soldiers attached to the marine brigade have been engaged in endless arguments, after Ouma refused to grant Katusiime a pass leave.
The Wakiso District Engineer, Samuel Mwesigwa says although they had put up a temporary wooden deck at the section, there is need to construct a permanent bridge.
Fungaroo Kaps Hassan, the Obongi MP who led residents from his constituency to the proposed bridge site on Thursday said they decided to mobilise themselves to clear the bridge site after waiting for government response in vain.
