{October 13 is a day very few Ugandans who watched the news that night will forget. The footage of a lady struggling against officers, who restrain her and tear off her clothes while she desperately screams: “Why are you undressing me?” repeatedly in the video, will make a grand chapter in the 2015/16 elections history.}
Zaina Fatuma, the subject in the video and member of the Forum for Democratic Change’s (FDC) National Executive Committee, was stripped and manhandled while being arrested by police at Kanyaryeru in Kiruhura.
The police had blocked the party’s presidential flag-bearer Dr. Kizza Besigye along the Masaka-Mbarara highway from proceeding to Rukungiri where he was expected to hold a rally.
The party members were ambushed by police, roughed up and detained for hours by the Uganda Police Force.
Besigye who was moving in a convoy with a number of party officials was later carted off to Kaguta Road Police station in Kiruhura district where he was interrogated. Others including lawmakers Ibrahim Semujju Nganda, Paul Mwiru, Geoffrey Ekanya, Patrick Amuriat and FDC Party Chairman Wasswa Birigwa were also brutally arrested.
Fatuma’s pictures quickly spread like wild fire on social media, dominating discussions for days on end, and sparked anger against the police from both the opposition and human rights defenders.
Ugandans expressed fear over what lies ahead as the country moves closer to the 2016 presidential election, human rights activists shuddered, while Uganda Law Society branded the episode “unacceptable, unfortunate, unnecessary and outlandish.”
This Tuesday, during a forum to foster peaceful general elections in 2016 under the theme: “Fostering a Peaceful, Free, and Fair 2015/16 General Elections,” John Mary Odoi, Chairperson Human Rights Network Uganda HURINET expressed worry over what happens to opposition members. Considering police’ brutality, you wonder whether people know what elections are.
“It is just choosing leaders but there is never a sweet election especially considering the past three general elections,” he settled adding that HURINET is concerned about what has been happening and continues to occur. “We are required to makes sure the society is free from human rights abuse.”
“An election is anything but a war, so when I see groups of militias in the guise of crime preventers, it makes me doubt the pending elections will be peaceful at all,” he reasoned.
He said HURINET is interested in finding out the role of various security agencies in the election process; their impact on the outcome of the elections. “It concerns us that so far police has been very brutal, yet the same opposition members they have victimised have proved very peaceful as witnessed during the presidential nominations. This means police brutality has not been justified whatsoever.”
“We need to allow people to vote their leaders without intimidation. Unfortunately the sight of machines scares local citizens into electing people they should not have elected. This undermines democracy.”
Professor Ndebesa Mwambutsya, Political Don, Makerere University, said there is no way the run up to the 2016 elections is conducive for peaceful elections citing a number of irregularities.
“We are still making and amending laws governing elections even when elections are already underway.”
He a=further said that some laws such as the Public Order Management Act are being enforced in spite of no consensus about them.
“The EC is not neutral from what we have clearly observed. That is why it ordered aspiring candidates to desist from campaigning, and then let the incumbent do exactly that in Kololo. Neither the EC nor the police showed up at Kololo when president Museveni campaigned publicly and badmouthed his opponents.”
He further added that it is hardly the case that a government can lose an election it organised
He also articulated his reservations on the neutrality if the judiciary considering that the Chief Justice and his deputy were once upon a time NRM diehards
He however expressed glee over the fact that ethnic and religious identities aren’t as prominent as they were in the 60’s. He added that the use of ICT and especially smartphones is a =n effective way of exposing the ills going on.
“Increased urbanisation and private media is making sure that people are more informed than in the past.”
Irene Ovonji, chief executive officer of Uganda Association of Women Lawyers, said there is a high possibility that many voters will be disenfranchised because using the National ID register to determine the voters’ list leaves out a great number of people. “It was never communicated that the National ID list would also act as the voter’s list,” she argued.
She later described the election climate as a major challenge citing the police stripping of Zaina Fatuma among other misconducts by the police.
“We need to speak up much more as civil society and act more,” she suggested.
SOURCE:THE NEW VISION:[Human rights activists criticise Electoral Commission->http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/676779-human-rights-activists-criticise-electoral-commission.html]
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