Woman who saw Bobi Wine driver killed speaks out

A woman nursing injuries in a Kampala hospital has said she witnessed the shooting of Ugandan MP Bobi Wine’s driver earlier this month.

Wine’s driver, Yasin Kawuma, was shot and killed by Ugandan security forces while inside a vehicle in Arua on August 13.

In her first account of the incident, the woman who request to remain anonymous for safety reasons, said she was in the vehicle with the driver when he was shot dead on the last day of Arua Municipality by-election campaigns.

'CLOSE SHAVE'

She said she was seated on the backseat of the vehicle and that the bullet that killed Kawuma grazed her head as it exited the man’s body.

Contrary to earlier reports, the woman said Kawuma had not been driving Wine’s vehicle on the fateful day.

Another man, according to her, chauffeured the musician-turned-politician.

At the time of the shooting, the day’s chauffeur had gone into Pacific Hotel to drop some stuff.

“I was in the back seat while Kawuma was in the co-driver’s seat. The driver got out to take phones and other things to Bobi [Wine] or another person,” she said.

“I was showing Yasin [Kawuma] something on the phone when all of a sudden, I was hit on the face. I looked and there was blood on Yasin’s body.”

The woman said she jumped out of the car to flee to safety, but a plain-clothed security offices grabbed her almost immediately and pinned her to the ground.

The officers kicked and shoved her.

Another female activist (name withheld on request) tried to help her but both women were overpowered and beaten to near-death.

The next thing she saw, when she slightly regained her consciousness, were soldiers and police pulling people, including legislators out of the hotel.

Both women said they acted dead as a ruse to escape being arrested.

“They must have forgotten about us or thought we were dead,” they said.

The woman who is currently recuperating at a Kampala hospital said some Good Samaritans who took her to a nearby clinic for first aid.

She was later transferred to the Ugandan capital for specialised treatment.