The police in Masaka have arrested Lwemiyaga County Member of Parliament Theodore Ssekikuubo over failure to respect the government quarantine on the movement of cattle in Sembabule District.
The legislator was arrested after a scuffle between police led by Enoch Abaine the Greater Masala Regional Police Commander and a group of herdsmen this morning.
Ssekikubo led hundreds of herdsmen and cattle dealers who were resisting a blockage of movement of cattle to the market in Lwemiyaga town council.
Earlier, the MP accused Sembabule district security authorities of enforcing an unjustifiable quarantine on the sub-counties of Lwemiyaga and Ntuusi despite the areas being free from Foot and Mouth Disease-FMD.
He would later mobilize farmers and dealers in the area to defy the quarantine and forcefully open the closed Lwemiyaga market, something that prompted the police to intervene and block their attempts.
On Friday morning, Abaine led an operation together with anti-riot personnel and engaged rowdy herdsmen in running battles and fired teargas and rubber bullets before arresting Ssekikubo and whisking him away.
According to Paul Kangave the Greater Masaka Regional Police Spokesperson, the legislator is introuble for inciting violence and resisting lawful orders by ignoring instructions from the Ministry of Agriculture for the enforcement of a total quarantine in Sembabule district.
