Police block women of value event

Jinja, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT | Police have blocked the “Women of Value,” concert that was scheduled to take place at Jinja city’s based Kakindu stadium citing the failure of the organisers to comply with the security guidelines and the renewed COVID-19 restrictions.

The event which, was slated to take place this Saturday, was expected to attract 2000 women groups from different parts of the Busoga sub-region and the neighboring Kayunga and Buikwe districts.

However, police deployed this morning to block the event from taking place. Resty Nanteza, the Executive director of Nakapachu Foundation, says that they had partnered with Pride microfinance to sensitize women on financial literacy and small-medium enterprise setup.

Nanteza says that she applied for police clearance in early November and received a letter signed on behalf of the Inspector General of Police by Wilson Omoding on 14th, November 2022 instructing her team to liaise with Kiira Regional police authorities to ensure the smooth execution of the event.

She, however, says that she was surprised to receive information from the police on Friday evening indicating that her event could not be cleared because it contravened both health and standard security provisions. According to Nanteza, the cancellation of the event is a big setback since she had injected close to 300 million Shillings into preparations, which include running adverts, hiring artists, the venue, and other related logistics.

Edith Mpumwire, the Operations Supervisor of Pride Microfinance, Jinja branch says that they partnered with Napachu foundation in a bid to sensitize women groups on proper money handling before aiding them to access low-interest credit facilities, which is key in boosting their enterprises.

The Kiira Region police officials have remained tight-lipped on the matter. However, a police officer privy to the matter told journalists on condition of anonymity that there were a lot of inconsistencies in Nanteza’s application for clearance for the event.

He notes that Nanteza failed to clearly explain the nature of the event and her compliance with both the COVID-19 and Ebola preventive measures, which left the police leadership with no other choice but to stop the event.

“Nanteza stated in her application letter that she was slated to hold a charity concert with free entry. However, on assessing the activity, it is a paid-for event, with unclear agenda and it was canceled due to the inconsistencies involved,” the source said.

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