Campaign season brings the classic sugar bribe; cops find a councillor knee-deep in it. Police in Mukono District just nabbed seven people, including a district councillor, for allegedly packing sugar to sway voters ahead of tomorrow's election. The operation went down at the Happy Land Guest House in Katosi Town Council on Tuesday afternoon.
The arrested councillor is Nakito Moreen Birungi. The other six are local residents from various walks of life, even a seventeen-year-old student. Cops say they were caught red-handed packaging half-kilo bags of sugar. Each bag had a small campaign poster inside for a specific parliamentary candidate.
That candidate is Nsubuga Kenneth Ssegabayunga, the Democratic Party flag bearer for Mukono North. The alleged method was pretty straightforward. They first put the sugar in plain white bags, slipped in the poster, then packed those into larger black plastic sacks for distribution.
Authorities seized all the packaged sugar and the campaign materials as evidence. Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson SP Kawala Racheal confirmed the arrests. All seven suspects remain in custody while the investigation continues.
This sting is part of a broader crackdown on election offenses. Police have been issuing warnings against voter bribery for weeks. The incident highlights the blunt instruments still used in the final hours before polling. It is a depressingly familiar scene despite the constant warnings.
The implicated candidate has not made a public statement regarding the arrest of his alleged supporters. The situation underscores the tension between enforcement efforts and entrenched campaign tactics. As of Wednesday, the legal process is just beginning for those caught with the sugary propaganda.
The arrested councillor is Nakito Moreen Birungi. The other six are local residents from various walks of life, even a seventeen-year-old student. Cops say they were caught red-handed packaging half-kilo bags of sugar. Each bag had a small campaign poster inside for a specific parliamentary candidate.
That candidate is Nsubuga Kenneth Ssegabayunga, the Democratic Party flag bearer for Mukono North. The alleged method was pretty straightforward. They first put the sugar in plain white bags, slipped in the poster, then packed those into larger black plastic sacks for distribution.
Authorities seized all the packaged sugar and the campaign materials as evidence. Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson SP Kawala Racheal confirmed the arrests. All seven suspects remain in custody while the investigation continues.
This sting is part of a broader crackdown on election offenses. Police have been issuing warnings against voter bribery for weeks. The incident highlights the blunt instruments still used in the final hours before polling. It is a depressingly familiar scene despite the constant warnings.
The implicated candidate has not made a public statement regarding the arrest of his alleged supporters. The situation underscores the tension between enforcement efforts and entrenched campaign tactics. As of Wednesday, the legal process is just beginning for those caught with the sugary propaganda.
