[Sexual Assault of Uganda’s Iron Lady]
The
mandate of the Ugandan Police Force is to protect the life, property
and other rights of the individual; maintain security within Uganda;
enforce the laws of Uganda; ensure public safety and order; and, prevent
and detect crime in the society.
However it is this very
Police Force that is wreaking havoc upon the life, property and rights
of the individual in a blatant attempt to instill fear upon the people
and curtail the upraising that is gaining momentum and international
coverage.
Countless Ugandans have been harassed, arrested on
trumped up charges and ferried from police stations to Court and their
lives and livelihood disrupted. Even the judiciary has been corrupted
either by greed or fear.
Countless others have been
disappeared, secretly murdered or enslaved in the many “safe houses”
reminiscent of the Idi Amin era. Ugandans are being held hostage in
their own country by their U.S.- and U.K.-backed President, General Yoweri Museveni and his
instruments of brutality who indiscriminately use excessive force and
live ammunition to quell the voices of dissent.
Physical
assaults on civilians by caning, spraying large quantities of tear gas
and deaths of innocent Ugandans, whether it be peaceful demonstrators or
bystanders and people going about their business has been widely
reported by the Ugandan media and in various social networking sites.
The
brutality of the Police Force is alarmingly on the increase because
they abuse with impunity. Simply following orders, if you will. This is
endemic of a leadership that is losing its grip on power. General
Museveni is a drowning man clutching at seaweed.
Uganda’s
attorney General Peter Nyombi recently declared A4C, an organization of
peaceful civil activist, an “outlawed society,” accusing its leaders of
perpetrating an era of political violence in different parts of the
country. Activists however state that they are merely sensitizing
Ugandans on the deeply entrenched corruption in government, poor public
service delivery and suppression of civil liberties.
The
Inspector General of police, Kale Kayihura also accuses the opposition
activists of stirring political violence with the view of bringing down
the government of President Museveni.
Opposition pressure group
“Activists For Change” (A4C) members have changed the name of the
outlawed political association to “For God and My Country” (4GC).
The
transformation was announced April Friday 13th at a press conference
along Katonga Road, Nakasero, Kampala. The group’s coordinator Anne
Mugisha said the new group’s activities are nonviolent and peaceful in
nature.
“We act within our constitutional rights and
responsibilities. We are guided by the desire of the majority of
Ugandans to exercise their democratic right to elect a government of
their choice,” Mugisha posted on the 4GC Facebook page.
“Political
leaders, activists and civil society will act together to implement
programs in a non-partisan space in order to raise awareness of ordinary
Ugandans to their rights, responsibilities and duties as citizens,”
stated Mugisha.
Meanwhile on April 19th April there was drama in
Nansana, an area in Kampala City as Forum for Democratic Change (FDC)
“iron lady” Ingrid Turinawe was arrested at ‘Ki Block’ where the new 4GC
was slated to hold a rally.
Police however tactfully blocked
Besigye, Leader of the FDC before he could make his way to the rally.
Ingrid was accompanied by other activists. Police officers’ attempts to
violently arrest her was captured by NTV, and one in particular was seen
to repeatedly and deliberately grab and squeeze her right breast.
The shock and
pain of this sexual assault is clearly visible on Ingrid’s face. I
wonder does this police officer have any female kin? This is someone’s
mother, daughter, sister, wife, niece, aunty and friend. Imagine
watching your female relative brutalized in this manner.
This is a
human being subjected to such depravity in broad daylight with neither
fear nor shame. One begins to wonder what these police officers subject
their prisoners to in the privacy of police and prison cells and safe
houses.
Sadly, Sexual Assault is a weapon of war and political
intimidation previously used in the northern part of Uganda by Gen.
Museveni’s National Resistance Army (NRA) against both men and women and
even children.
This police officer committing sexual assault must
be punished. He must be taught to respect a woman’s body and indeed
that of every citizen that he swore to protect. The face of this
officer must be plastered on every placard, his name uttered by every
activist seeking to restore peace, prosperity, democracy, freedom,
liberty to all Ugandans.
“Speaking Truth To Empower.”
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