Serere by-election: MP Elijah Okupa arrested

With just hours left for the people of Serere county to cast their vote for their next Member of Parliament, Kasilo county MP Elijah Okupa has been arrested.

According to East Kyoga police spokesperson, Oscar Ageca, Okupa was arrested in Ochapa for bleaching the electoral laws after finding him conducting campaigns beyond the official campaign dates. He is being detained at Serere Central Police Station (CPS).

However, the legislator has denied the campaigning allegations, noting that he was training polling agents of Emmanuel Okabe one of the independent aspirants in the race.

“Today I was in Ochapa doing the training of the agents for Emmanuel Okabe and the DPC Serere came with three 999s and asked me to get out and said I’m under arrest. So now I’m at Serere CPS,” Okupa said before adding “This is the level of intimidation which I think should not be tolerated.

The voting is expected to be conducted tomorrow Thursday, February 23 in a race that has attracted five candidates including; the Alliance for National Transformation’s Alice Alaso Forum for Democratic Change’s Emmanuel Eratu, and National Resistance Movement’s Phillip Oucor among others.

The Serere county parliamentary seat fell vacant after the death of area MP Patrick Okabe in a road accident in December last year.

Written by Prossy Kisakye