By Flavia Ajok
The Uganda Police Force has dismissed as baseless, social media reports that the force provided a firefighting truck during the protests in neighbouring Kenya.
Last Friday, several social media bloggers in Kenya and Uganda shared, images of a Uganda Police Firefighting truck registration number UP9596, reportedly taken amidst protests in Nakuru, Kenya.
Addressing a weekly news conference at the police headquarters in Naguru, Kampala earlier today, police spokesperson Fred Enanga clarified that the online writers he calls propagandists, only captured footage of the truck in transit and falsified its presence, as part of the ongoing protests in Kenya.
He added that the firefighting truck belonging to Masaka CPS Fire and Rescue Department was transported to Nairobi-Kenya for mechanical repair.
Enanga says on June 21, 2024 while in transit the driver of the truck encountered protesters in Nakuru, who surrounded it on assumption that it was involved in the recent protests.
“The accusations that the Uganda Police, deployed a fire fighting truck, in the recent spate of protests in Kenya is false and misleading. Our counterparts the Kenyan Police, know that we have nothing to do with the protests. We respect the sovereignty of Kenya and its decisions”, Enanga told journalists in Kampala.
“Mutual respect and understanding continues to be the basis of our cooperation with the Kenyan Police”, he added
Police in Kenya have over the past few days responded to protests over a controversial tax bill that is expected to raise $2.7 billion in additional taxes. The protests have led to more than 100 hundred arrests and at least one confirmed death.
