On the night of Monday 8th at around 10pm, musician Pius Mayanja alias Pallaso and four of his other friends got beaten up by a big number of Policemen together with the security men at Nakumatt, a supermarket at Oasis mall.
Pallaso narrated the whole story during a one on one at his place in Makindye Luwafu. Read it in full below.
On that night, I had prepared to celebrate my birthday at Laftaz Comedy lounge in Centenary Park with my family most especially my mother. Before going for the birthday, I went to Nakumatt where I always buy my groceries; this was at around 10am. After buying everything that we needed, as we made our way out, the floor was very wet because the workers where cleaning the place, there was a sign that cautioned people about the wet floor but none of us bothered to see it .
As we walked out, one of the guys I was with called Joel mistakenly slipped and fell and knocked the exit glass door forcing it to break and he fell on the other side of the door.
The glass cut his chest and lips, he was continuously bleeding, in the process of helping him so that we can rush him to the hospital, the supervisor of security at Nakumatt called Nurdin Aydin came. When he introduced himself as the supervisor of security, I told him to help us call Ambulance so we can go to the hospital.
Nurdin told us that was none of his business and all he wanted was us to do was pay for the damage.
Joel was continuously bleeding; Nurdin who was so furious said no one was going to enter the car before paying for the broken glass. When I insisted, he said I should stay back and be detained. Just because my friend was still bleeding, we forcefully entered the car and we headed for the gate because we were rushing to the hospital.
When we reached the gate, it was locked and Nurdin had raised alarm, over 20 Policemen flocked the place. They didn’t want us to explain ourselves, in the process of explaining, one of the officers shot a bullet in the air.
The injured guy was then pulled out of the car; he was beaten by 6 policemen. When I stepped out of the car to help Joel, another Policeman who was being called commander came, his name is Mr Murere.
When I approached him, he was smelling liquor but I won’t say he was drunk, instead of helping me, he said that I am Chameleon’s brother, that because we have dreadlocks, we are trouble causers.
Murere also started beating me with a metallic pipe; he was beating my knees and arms. During that whole time of beating us, no one knew what we had done apart from Nurdin and one security officer who saw the whole incidence.
We were then locked up in one of the cells at Nakumatt, they removed our shoelaces and that is what they used to tie us. They refused us to make calls; they also took away my phone. One of our colleagues who managed to run away from the police went to Laftaz where he called my brother AK47 Emma Mayanja and my Manager Jeff Kiwanuka.
When they came at the scene, they didn’t find us. They put us in a car which wasn’t even a Police car. They took us to Jinja road Police station, my knees where badly hurting, Joel was still bleeding and helplessly crying.
While at the Police station, one of the officers there asked what we had done. Nurdin said we were arrested for malicious damage. The officer then asked what they wanted us to do so we can be left to go. We were then told to pay Shs500,000 for the glass. I who didn’t even break the glass immediately paid. We then found out later that the cost of the glass was Shs300,000.
We were then freed a few minutes to midnight, Jeff Kiwanuka came to the station where they picked me and took me to Laftaz for the birthday party. Even with the pain that I had, I had to go for the party because I had invited my mother who was celebrating her birthday on the same day with me.
The other colleagues of mine went back to Nakumatt to get the car inorder to take Joel to the hospital, they found the car broken into by the Policemen and they had stolen all my things, these included chains, the groceries, watches and some clothes.
The next day, which was a Tuesday, I went back to Jinja road Police station where I filed a case of assault. I was handed over to Detective Florence Auma. She followed up the case and they had to call the commander Mr Murere, Joel spent 3 days in some hospital in Makindye where he spent 3 days on drip.
We failed a case of assault; hours, when Mr Murere was asked about what happened, he said he didn’t know exactly what happened but he just beat me up and he apologized, he was then detained for 48 hours at Jinja Road Police station.
I haven’t closed the case, I am in a legal process to sue Nakumatt for negligence, and they can’t just beat up people before following up on what exactly took place.
When D/CPL Florence Auma a detective at Jinja Road Police station was approached about the case, she didn’t want to let out too much information including the other name of Mr Murere. “I can’t give you access to the file because it’s confidential” she said, adding that Pius Mayanja is going to sue Nakumatt for negligence but as Police, that is none of our business.”