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Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago has, in a televised interview, denied meeting Presidential Special advisor Gen. Salim Saleh in his entire life.
“I have never met Saleh in my life and never even shaken hands with him. When people are dirty, they always want to also make you look dirty and that is the irony,” Lukwago said while appearing on NBS this morning.
This interview comes at the backdrop of a letter that was purported to have been written by Gen Saleh demanding an apology from the deputy president of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
“Dear brother Erias Lukwago Lord Mayor Kampala City, I am very offended about what you have said about me and the power that am misusing. I have withdrawn all the support I have been giving you in your fights (political) until you apologize,” the leaked handwritten letter to Lukwago indicated on December 31, 2022.
Lukwago, days later attacked and filed a suit against the media house that picked up the letter on grounds of what he called defamatory statements.
Shortly after his public denial on meeting, reports of 2013 remerged which at the time of his impeachment from Town Hall as Lord Mayor Lukwago is said to have met with Gen Saleh to bargain a way out of this conundrum. These allegations were however never confirmed at the time.
Replying to our Tweet, former Makerere University Vice Chancellor Prof Venansius Baryamureeba said, “But it’s on record you, @EriasLukwago_ held one meeting with Gen Saleh in the open regarding your salary arrears and even the media covered it. Even without talking about your other meetings held at night, so how do you defend yourself? I am sure even the @DailyMonitor knows it.”
It is alleged that Mr Lukwago who has been the Kampala City Lord Mayor since 2011has been receiving substantial financial support from Gen Saleh. The figure to this claim is not known.
While responding to questions from journalists about his relationship with the general, Mr Lukwago he would drag the parties involved to the High court.
“That is crap that I have taken to court. I don’t want to comment on their fabricated stories. From today, I want to put you on notice that as you continue fabricating stories, prepare to pay me,” he said in response.