A Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) enforcement officer is said to have died after being stabbed by a mask vendor operating from the New taxi park in downtown Kampala.
The vendor also stabbed two other KCCA enforcement officers and they sustained serious injuries.
According to sources, one of the injured officers passed on as they tried to rush them to Norvik hospital in Kampala.
According to eyewitnesses, a scuffle ensued when KCCA officers together with some police officers stormed the New taxi park to arrest vendors.
“The vendor pulled out a knife and stabbed the three officers several times as they tried to arrest him,” an eye witness said.
The incident happened at about 12pm at the Masaka- Kampala stage.
Another eyewitness who identified the vendor in question as a one Gaba Ali, the chairman of vendors in the old taxi park, told us that the vendor kept asking the officers not to rough him up, but his pleas fell on deaf ears; “he asked them not to use force, he told them he wasn’t a criminal, but was just looking for something to eat; but they used quite a lot of force, so he pulled out a knife and stabbed them in self defense,” the source said.
Kampala metropolitan Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango confirmed the incident, and said the suspect was due to be produced in court.
However, Onyango said he was waiting for more details and also said he wasn’t aware of the death of one of the KCCA officers.
With malls and arcades closed, many traders resorted to setting up stalls on the streets to be able to earn some income.
Other traders have been displaying and selling items from their cars.