Kasese returning officer arrested

News Updated at E-Society Kasese

The Kasese District Woman MP elect Winfred Kiiza chats with the Kasese District returning officer Kanzira Vally Tumwesigye(L), during her nominations. Mr Tumwesigye has been arrested over alleged fraud in the recently concluded by-election. File Photo. By Francis Mugerwa (email the author) Posted Saturday, August 11 2012 at 15:53 The Kasese District returning officer has been arrested over alleged fraud in the just concluded District Woman Member of Parliament by-elections in which the opposition chief whip, Ms Winnie Kiiza, retained her seat as Kasese woman MP after defeating her closest challenger NRM’s Rehema Muhindo. Mr Kanzira Vally Tumwesigye was arrested at about 4:40pm, Saturday, by a team of detectives from the Political and Media Crimes Unit based at the police headquarters and Criminal Investigations Directorate. This comes a day after President Museveni accused electoral commission officials of accepting bribes and conniving with opposition politicians to defeat candidates of the ruling NRM party in parliamentary by-elections. The police spokesperson Commissioner Simon Kuteesa confirmed the arrest. “Investigations have commenced after Kasese police station registered complaints about the manner in which the by-elections were conducted” he told this newspaper on Saturday evening. He however did not reveal who had registered the complaints, but said they are about the legitimacy of the polling process. Share This Story Asked on whose orders the official has been arrested, Mr Kuteesa declined to give details. “He is helping us in unraveling issues received in the complaints. Being an officer who was at the helm of the exercise, we feel he has a lot of valuable information which is critical for police to conclude the investigations” Kuteesa revealed. The ruling NRM party has lost six out of seven by-elections since the 2011 general elections. The hotly contested Kasese by-elections saw FDC’s Kiiza beat ruling party NRM’s Muhindo by close to 40,000 votes.