The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Jinja, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The National Unity Platform-NUP leaders from Busoga sub region on Thursday accused security operatives of brutality, while effecting arrests of protest suspects.
Following the remand of 67 suspects on Tuesday evening, police rounded up the trading centers of Namulesa, Mafubira, Nakabango, Lwanda, Wakitaka, Soweto, Kikalamoja and Danida, where several youths were arrested.
Led by the Jinja City Woman MP Manjeri Kyebakutika, NUP members say that the nature of these arrests has caused tensions in the different slums across Jinja city and some youths have opted to seek refuge in the neighboring districts.
NUP members further accused police and UPDF officers of conducting night raids, where an unspecified number of youths are arrested randomly.
They further say that prior to their detention at different police stations across Kiira policing region, the youths were whipped and stripped off their shirts before being loaded on waiting police trucks.
Kyebakutika stresses that inhuman treatment of suspects during the process of their arrest undermines the core principles of human rights.
She further notes that about 50 youths whose whereabouts are not yet established were on Wednesday evening arrested while returning to their homes after watching a football game and the police authorities declined to explain the circumstances which triggered these arrests.
Hussein Muyonjjo, the acting Jinja City NUP registrar alleges that former crime preventers who are known for collecting intelligence information on behalf of police authorities, were seen robbing valuables from unsuspecting civilians during the course of the protests, but security operatives are reluctant to expedite inquiries in the matter.
Muyonjjo further stresses that the unfairness exhibited throughout the execution of the ongoing arrests threatens to inflict both physical and psychological harm on the suspects.
Meanwhile, Busoga region’s NUP coordinator Andrew Muwanguzi accused police personnel of arresting a big number of youths with the aim of extortion.
Muwanguzi distances their political party from the Monday violence stressing that they are law-abiding citizens who opt for peaceful means of expressing their grievances.
Meanwhile, the Kiira regional police spokesperson James Mubi disputes the NUP leaders comments as baseless, stressing that the ongoing arrests are intelligence led and legally executed by professional police personnel.
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