Outgoing Entebbe Municipality Mayor Vicent Kayanja De Paul was absent on Tuesday as his successor, Fabrice Rulinda, was sworn in as his successor.
Kayanja was supposed to hand over the mayoral office report to Rulinda but he did not turn up and instead the Entebbe town clerk, Mr Charles Magumba, stood in for him at the handover.
Kayanja said in an interview that he could not hand over to “a thief.”
“There’s no way I can hand over the report to a thief. My victory was robbed. I remained with the report because it is mine since I am the one who won. So the report has to be mine,” he said.
Kayanja, who served two terms as mayor of the municipality, said he has already dragged Rulinda to court over what he described as a fraudulent election.
Earlier, security personnel had been deployed outside and inside Entebbe Municipal Council offices and areas around State House and on some sections of the Kampala-Entebbe highway ahead of the swearing+.
The deployment followed reports of protests by supporters of the former Democratic Party-DP Mayoral candidate Vincent DePaul Kayanja.
On January 26, supporters of the National Resistance Movement- NRM and DP held joint protests after Wakiso District Returning Officer Tolbert Musinguzi declared Fabrice Rulinda Brad, an independent candidate the winner.
The protests resulted in the killing of Eric Kyeyune, an NRM leader in Katabi-Busambaga village while three people sustained injuries. Kayanja has since petitioned against Rulinda’s victory in the High Court.
Meanwhile, Rulinda was sworn in alongside Entebbe Municipal councillors by Entebbe Grade one Magistrate Naomi Sikoyi.
Mr Rulinda pledged to transform Entebbe Municipality during his five-year term.
“I am under no illusion that I can do this alone. I am but one. We have seen the spirit of togetherness during the campaign and during the pandemic. We saved lives, we comforted others. We pulled through together. As such, I am reaching out to friends, and loved ones. I am reaching out to institutions, both local and international to join us in succeeding with our vision,” he said.
