{UAH} What is happening with Uganda Police?

I am at a loss again. This is not because Hajji Nasser Sebaggala has again 'given his behind' to the ruling party, but that four presidential candidates were nominated in peace, with no police clobbering them or their supporters.

I must be missing something here. For Kololo, yes, we expected peace and harmony to reign. But I am shocked that police stood by and let Amama Mbabazi and Kizza Besigye get nominated in Kampala. There must be a mistake somewhere.

We expected some chase games between police and these two candidates and their supporters. Instead, the police, out of the blue, stood by and did nothing.

It is not patriotic at all to allow peaceful nominations. If this trend goes on, the unexpected might happen. Mbabazi and Besigye might miss arrests and tear gas that had come to define what the opposition should expect.

And this trick might work. Because these opposition guys had planned for the worst, they may not be prepared to handle peaceful campaigns. And we might end up with elections with less violence than we had anticipated and planned for.

You see, on Tuesday and Wednesday, I wandered through routes that were not closed, and realised that actually there can be peace in Kampala on a nomination day! How can you allow Dr Besigye to ride from Namboole to Nakivubo?

I thought part of police duties was to throw tear gas canisters and tow his vehicle and beat whoever is seen cheering him on. You, actually, allowed the man enter downtown Kampala? Unheard of!

How did this come about? I was surprised even to see a police officer standing and guarding former prime minister Amama Mbabazi. I thought that anyone who opposes the ruling party cannot be protected by Uganda police. What happened? Has there been a change of heart or leadership in Naguru?

Or this has got something to do with the sudden realization that even former International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo is keeping tabs on what is happening in Uganda's political life? Or, by extension, people holding certain offices have started to style up?

Suddenly, police conforms to what I read in primary school that the work of police is to keep law and order. You see, we are used to beatings, tear gas and arrests. So, when such things cease to happen, we worry that something is probably amiss.

On the eve of such an important day as a Besigye nomination, all police officers on duty are supposed to get proper instructions on who to beat and who to spare. How can you allow calm to happen in the city? For us, we are used to running battles where police is battering civilians for expressing themselves.

I am now wondering whether the police run out of tear gas. But that is unlikely. Surely, Uganda must be having a steady supplier. Are the batons too old and can no longer clobber people properly? What is happening?

And even police spokesperson Fred Enanga – I like his surname – gives a clear map that Dr Besigye would follow for his nomination? This is not good; I think someone is spoiling the good name of the Uganda Police Force by diverting it from doing what it was set out to do.

You see, gone are the days when one felt safe being near a police officer. These days, you have to run away as quickly as possible when you see police officers or their pickup truck. That is what we have come to believe and live with, if the recent past actions are anything to go by.

Many Ugandans must have been astounded that they went to for nominations and they returned to their homes without injuries inflicted by police.

I am even more shocked that Dr Besigye was allowed to move out of his home in Kasangati. I don't get it. Where is officer Sam Omara or Andrew Felix Kaweesi? Do we still have "preventive arrests"? Is Naggalama no longer a police station? It was still open the last time I checked.

The ever-enthusiastic police trained to deal with political crimes must be bored watching all this unravel before them. These nominations would have given them the required gusto to do what they have come to master.

I hope someone wakes from this slumber and allows police to do its thing; lest these campaigns will be very boring.

nkundad13@yahoo.co.uk

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*A positive mind is a courageous mind, without doubts and fears, using the experience and wisdom to give the best of him/herself.

 

 We must dare invent the future!
The only way of limiting the usurpation of power by
 individuals, the military or otherwise, is to put the people in charge  - Capt. Thomas. Sankara {RIP} '1949-1987

 *"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent

revolution inevitable"**…  *J.F Kennedy

 

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