The Speaker Rebecca Kadaga has summoned Defence Minister Adolf Mwesige to appear before Parliament to explain government response to messages shared on social media platforms that Uganda is facing an imminent attack.
The messages claim that Uganda will be attacked between 15th and 16th July, 2018.
Kadaga summoned Mwesige after Aruu County Member of Parliament Odonga Otto and Gulu Municipality MP Lyandro Komakech raised the issue. The MPs informed the house that they had received messages on their phones warning them of planned attacks on Uganda. The messages were distributed through the social media platform of WhatsApp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDJ6SVpR8q8
MP Komakech informed the house that residents of Gulu were so terrified by the messages that they have started stocking up on food for fear the attacks may happen. Komakech claimed that fear for their security had even affected turn up in the Local Council elections in Gulu that were held nationally on Tuesday, July 10, 2018.
The MPs also informed the house that leaflets containing the same threatening message had been dropped in parts of northern Uganda. The MPs wondered if government was aware of the security threat and what it is doing about it.
The messages come eight years after Uganda suffered two devastating terrorist attacks in Kampala on July 11, 2010 that claimed at least 70 lives. The attacks occurred on the night of the FIFA World Cup finals. This year’s football World Cup finals will be on July 15, 2018.
