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Follow guidelines on your tours, police cautions Bobi
Mr Moses Lyadda, the ex-NUP flagbearer for Bunyole West Constituency in Butalejja District, stands shirtless next to Police in Mayuge led by the District Police Commander (DPC), Ms Agnes Aanyu, ahead of the visit to the area by NUP party President, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, on September 4, 2023. PHOTO/PHILIP WAFULA
What you need to know:
- The police spokesperson Fred Enanga said they are simply sending a reminder to the leaders of the NUP party to ensure that they adhere to the set guidelines.
- NUP Secretary General Lewis Rubongoya yesterday said they are complying with the police guidelines and are addressing their people in the designated places.
The police have sent a reminder to leaders of the National Unity Platform (NUP) to adhere to the earlier set guidelines as they carry out their nationwide tours.
This follows guidelines that the police issued last week for the NUP party members as they carry out national mobilisation events, to ensure security so as to see that there is no breach of the peace or any other form of violence in the areas where NUP is opening the offices in the different regions and also see that the activities are done peacefully and lawfully.
Addressing journalists in Kampala yesterday, the police spokesperson Fred Enanga said they are simply sending a reminder to the leaders of the NUP party to ensure that they adhere to the set guidelines.
“We have noticed that in some of the mobilisation campaigns, they have been working outside the framework that we agreed upon, like carrying out the campaign in a town hall, which they are not doing,” Mr Enanga said.
“We are aware that as a political party, they have the mandate to carry out their activities within their party premises without any hindrance or restrictions. But we advised them that the police under the Police Act under section 32 (1) have powers to regulate assemblies, public meetings etc,” he said.
The Act states that: “Any officer in charge of police may issue orders for the purpose or regulating the extent to which music, drumming or a public address system may be used on public roads or streets or at the occasion of festivals or ceremonies directing the conduct of assemblies and processions on public roads or streets or at places of public resort and the route by which and the times at which any procession may pass.”
He added: “We are simply coming out to tell them that they need to conduct their activities in a peaceful manner, adhere to law and order and work within the framework that the territorial commanders have agreed with them.”
Mr Enanga said from past experiences, unregulated public events have resulted in serious public disorder, property damage and serious disruptions to the lives of the communities.
“So if we say that please this road is not proper, let’s use the other route that will still lead us up to your party offices and you want to defy that, then that is not in order,” he said.
The Public Order Management (POMA) Act, 2013 provides that an organiser shall give notice in writing signed by the organiser or his or her agent to the authorised officer of the intention to hold a public meeting, at least three days but not more than 15 days before the proposed date of the public meeting
It adds that the notice referred to in subsection (1) shall include the full name and physical and postal address of the organiser of the proposed public meeting and his or her immediate contact, where applicable indication of the consent of the owner of the venue where the proposed public meeting is intended to take place, the proposed date and time of the public meeting, which shall be between 7 am and 7 pm but this time limit shall not apply to a town hall meeting; (d) the proposed site of the public meeting, the estimated number of persons expected, and the purpose of the public meeting.
NUP Secretary-General Lewis Rubongoya yesterday said they are complying with the police guidelines and are addressing their people in the designated places.
“Now like today [yesterday] in Mayuge District, after opening our offices, there was a security alert, so we didn’t do a rally from there and we didn’t address people from there, we moved out of that place and went and addressed our people from the venues that we had booked. So, police and other agencies are aware of where we are working from,” Mr Rubongoya told this publication by telephone.
This is the first peaceful countrywide tours or mobilisation campaigns that the Opposition has had and people are now wondering if the police now respect the rights of Opposition party politicians.
Ms Sarah Bireete, a human rights defender and the executive director of the Centre for Constitutional Governance (CCG) said the peaceful rallies by Mr Robert Kyagulanyi could be because the police is now respecting the political rights of Ugandans.
She, however, said it could be because the government does not want to violate the rights of the people as it negotiates with the World Bank.
“The red flag raised on Uganda’s conduct and human rights violations by the UN Human Rights Commission, European Union and the United States of America after the 2021 elections, the cases filed against President Museveni on human rights violations and the move by World Bank suspending funding to Uganda, although they are specifically saying it is because of the anti-gay Bill but they are also looking at human rights and inclusive development. These could be some of the reasons the police are respecting the rights of politicians,” Ms Bireete said.
She added: “But it is a shame that for us to enjoy our rights as citizens, we need foreigners to raise red flags yet these are inherent rights that we are born with as people.”
