Lwengo District chairman George Mutaabazi was on Saturday ejected from RwandAir plane by Rwanda National Police officers over ‘disorderly behaviour.’
In a statement posted on their social media platforms, the flight company said: “In order to ensure the safety of today’s flight WB464 to Entebbe and of our passengers on board, this flight passenger, George Mutaabazi was disembarked from the aircraft due to his disorderly behaviour. He was later rebooked on WB452 that departed earlier today.”
The flight company did not give details of Mr Mutaabazi’s disorderly behaviour.
However, police spokesperson, Asan Kasingye said Mr Mutaabazi had insisted on seating in the business class whereas he had an economy ticket.
“He allegedly refused to vacate as advised because of his stupor condition. He was consequently, ejected,” he said.
After a video showing Mutaabazi’s arrest went viral on social media, he (Mutaabazi) came out to explain-in another video posted on facebook- that his ejection from the plane was a case of mistaken identity.
“I happened to have travelled to Bujumbura, Burundi for a two-day conference organised by the secretary Generals’ Assembly on East African Community. I travelled via Kigali, Rwanda and on my way back, I had five hours delay on transit. I walked out of the airport and I came back and checked in for my flight back to Entebbe, Uganda in time. While on the plane, there was a problem of probably mistaken identity and I was asked to get off the plane and in the process, I demanded to know why, because I would not just walk out like that,” he said.
According to him, there was a scuffle and he made an alarm to attract the attention of “my fellow passengers such that if anything happened to me, they would know. I talked to security officials and they realised I had no problem and let me go. I was put on the Nairobi flight and I came back home safely.”
