Seven youth linked to former Uganda Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi have been arrested in Kampala.
The youth, under their umbrella, the ‘NRM Poor youth’, were arrested on Monday by police for holding an ‘illegal’ assembly.
Among those arrested is their national coordinator, Mr Richard Kirekyankuba.
Others include Mr Vincent Kaggwa, Mr Godfrey Mumba, Mr Mubarak Senteza and a one Mr Semakula.
They had just finished addressing the media about their plans to walk to Kenya to petition US President Barak Obama upon his visit next month.
The gesture, dubbed “the long walk to freedom”, is meant to coincide with President Obama’s visit to Kenya.
Illegal assembly
The youth also unveiled some of Mr Amama’s plans, claiming his presidency would distribute hoes and seedlings to each farmer to boost agriculture.
They pointed out that they would further distribute seedlings for coffee, mangoes and oranges.
“We want Uganda to go back to the level where we were better than Brazil in producing coffee in the whole world, which pride we have lost under this regime,” Mr Kirekyankuba said.
The youth said they would soon embark on a countrywide programme of distributing books and geometry sets to primary and secondary schools.
However, the police said the youth were arrested because they were holding an illegal assembly, contrary to the Public Order Management Act 2013.
Since early last year, the youth have been involved in running battles with the police over ‘unauthorised’ protests and illegal assemblies in Kampala.
The youth blame the government for the increasing unemployment, poverty and corruption.
Africa Review
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