The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
🟥Does History Repeat Itself? The Independent looks back 10 years by reproducing a COVER STORY from 2015 that illustrates the mood of the time. How much has changed since then? What does it tell about the future for Uganda? You can find out if you read on, in this bi-monthly #Uganda10YearsAgo series, that started yesterday. Merry Christmas, Happy New year. 🎇
One year after it rebranded, the force gains notoriety
🟢 COVER STORY | Issue 398 – 2015 | By Flavia Nassaka | ‘We come in and disperse them: Violations of the right to freedom of
assembly by the ugandan police ’. This is the title of the report launched on Dec. 07 by Amnesty International, a global nGo. The report shows how people have been manhandled and their rights violated by the police, an institution that is supposed to protect them.
The report found that the police arbitrarily arrested political opposition leaders and used excessive force to disperse peaceful political gatherings, making it hard for the public to receive information and engage with politicians in the leadup to elections next year.
Among the key incidents noted is when presidential candidates John Patrick Amama Mbabazi of the TDA Go-Forward pressure group and Forum for Democratic Change (FDC)’s Dr. Kizza Besigye were arrested.
On July 09, the two were put under preventive arrest to sabotage their plans to hold consultations with voters in Eastern Uganda. They were arrested at the time when opposition political parties under The Democratic Alliance (TDA) were engaged in discussions about the possibility of fielding a single candidate against incumbent President Museveni, who is seeking a fifth elective term.
In a statement, Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East Africa says members of the opposition have been repeatedly put under preventive arrest and the police have indiscriminately fired tear gas and rubber bullets at peaceful demonstrators.
To come up with the report, Amnesty International conducted 88 interviews with torture victims, eyewitnesses and senior police officers in addition to analyzing video footages taken at different scenes between the months of July and October. But, even without this report, the security institution has engaged in several misdeeds with impunity.
For instance on Nov.16, supporters of the Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago su昀昀ered the wrath of the police when they tried to defy the Electoral Commission’s move to halt their candidate’s nomination awaiting guidelines from government. Though Lukwago was arrested near his home in Wakaliga others suffered serious injuries that ended them in hospital.
Isaac Kugonza, a young journalist with a new television – Delta TV is one of them. When The Independent visited him in Mulago hospital on Nov 17, the 24 year old who had a swollen eye was still in severe pain that he struggled to sustain a conversation or keep his eyes open.
Kugonza who doctors said was injured by a blunt object couldn’t tell what exactly hit his head. He said the police was firing tear gas yet the rowdy crowds were throwing stones. ” I also saw a police man shoot in the air. Everything happened so fast. I found myself bleeding but I don’t know who beat me”.
Kugonza’s case represents myriad instances in which police operations have left civilians and members of the opposition political parties injured. Some people are treated in the most demeaning way opposed to principles of good policing.
One of the scenarios that has attracted wide spread condemnation with a social media hashtag #SomeoneTellKayihura, a reference to the inspector general of police, is when Fatumah Zainab Naigaga, a member of FDC was humiliated.
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