Teargas, live bullets rock Jinja as motorists protest skyrocketing fuel prices
Territorial police in Jinja have used teargas and live bullets to disperse motorcyclists who had staged protests in Jinja over the skyrocketing fuel prices.
The motorcyclists staged protests within trading centres of Mafubira, Namulesa, Wakitaka, Nakabango, Nsuube, Muguluka, and Buwenge among others along the Jinja-Kamuli highway, where they placed and lit logs and old car tyres in the middle of the roads.
The protestors also attacked their colleagues who had failed to join the protest forcing a number of them to abandon the main road for feeder roads. They also pelted stones at police officers who had been called in to quell the protests.
Jimmy Wekesa, a motorcyclist operating in the area accused legislators of failing to address the issue affecting their constituents adding that many of them cannot earn enough to support their families with the current cost of fuel.
“Our area MPs have not come out to educate us on the abnormality of fuel prices and they have also not used the parliamentary platform to raise this issue for debate,” said Wekesa.
James Mubi, the Kiira regional police spokesperson revealed that intelligence reports indicate that a section of individuals are employing motorcyclists to fuel the protests over yet to be identified reasons.
Mubi noted that the footage retrieved from their Highway CCTV cameras captured a saloon car without number plates that was issuing whistles, vuvuzelas, and old tyres to motorcyclists at different points along the Jinja-Kamuli highway with the aim of fueling the protests.
Across the country, fuel prices have skyrocketed in recent months going as high as UGX 6,300 per litre of petrol and UGX 6,200 per litre of diesel at pump stations in major towns.
