Residents name road after slain Arua Municipality MP, Col. Abiriga

Locals at Kaayi village, Nansana Municipality in Wakiso district have named a road after slain Arua Municipality Member of Parliament, Col. Ibrahim Abiriga.

Abiriga was on the evening of June 8 shot dead together with his bodyguard who was also his brother, Saidi Kongo by unknown assailants as they returned home.

He was killed over 200 metres from his home.

On Friday, residents organised a procession in remembrance of the deceased legislator who was one of their village mates but the efforts were frustrated by police in the area.

They later gathered at Masjid Community Mosque, from where the deceased used to say his prayers from before honouring him for the good deeds he made for the village.

“He was generous and kind .In a bid to remember him, we decided to name this road after him and also pay him back for his services to the village and country at large,” said Casmoto Mutebi, who led the group.

The locals would later install a signpost showing the road named after Abiriga.

Speaking during a special parliamentary sitting to honour Abiriga, Members of Parliament described him as a uniting factor and one who loved his country.

“I remember at the state of the nation address, Abiriga told me, come and we sit here together. I told him, ah your yellow is too much, I will have to first dress you in blue. He told me, my sister let these colors not separate us,” Leader of Opposition Winnie Kiiza said.

She described Abiriga as being a hard to annoy person who never took anything personal and he joked with everyone even when you abused him.

“For us, he was a uniting factor,” she added.

The first lady Janet Kataaha Museveni said Abiriga was a very humble person but   wondered whether the killers were trying to tell Ugandans that serving one’s country with love is a crime.

“Abiriga spread love the country. That’s why many people didn’t know him as a person but as a person who puts on yellow, loves NRM, straight and honest,” she noted.

President Museveni wondered why people would come after Abiriga who only expressed his views freely before asking the rest of the country to accommodate each other’s views instead of eliminating them because of disagreements.

Abiriga was laid to rest at his ancestral home village of Lukudu, Eramva Parish in Lower Madi County in Arua District on June 12.