Lwengo District Chairman George Mutabaazi was today thrown off a Rwandair aircraft in an odd and embarrassing manner.
The flamboyant politician who was traveling from Kigali to Entebbe was filmed being dragged off the plane before departure, by Rwandan airport police.
“What have I done,” he wailed at the police officers as fellow passengers watched in silence. “Do I deserve this really? Why is this happening?
Uganda Police, who have good working relations with their Rwandan counterparts, on Saturday evening released information about the bizarre incident.
The Police spokesperson Asan Kasingye says Mutazaazi was thrown off the aircraft because “He insisted on sitting in the business class whereas he had an economy ticket,” said the police publicist.
“He allegedly refused to vacate as advised because of his stupor condition. He was consequently, ejected.”
Other accounts said Mr Mutabaazi was visibly inebriated, and was making a lot of noise, prompting other passengers to complain to the flight attendants.
As they tried to calm him down, he continued shouting, asking them if they knew who he was, which forced the cabin crew to call in police that dragged him out.
The Rwandan carrier later on corroborated the accounts in a string of tweets, terming Mutabaazi’s behavior as ‘disorderly.’
In order to ensure the safety of today’s flight WB464 to Entebbe and of our passengers onboard this flight, 1/3
— RwandAir (@FlyRwandAir) June 24, 2017
the passenger George Mutaabazi was disembarked from the aircraft due to his disorderly behaviour. 2/3
— RwandAir (@FlyRwandAir) June 24, 2017
They said, he was later on re-booked on another flight to Entebbe which left on the same day.
Mr Mutaazi has more than once been in the news for controversial reasons. In 2014, he was filmed by media beating up residents of his district who he accused failing to join in community work.
He later on defended his act of caning people including young children, saying that he didn’t care about his reputation or elections, but the development of Lwengo.