- In the recent days a number of reports have appeared in the media alleging that the Police has clamped down on some of the meetings organized by some members of the opposition. Particular reference is made to the meetings organised in Mbarara, Kabale, Mbale, Soroti and recently Kasese.
- These meetings were organized by the same people amongst whom are Mr. Mugisha Muntu President of FDC, Mr.Olara Otunu President of UPC and Bishop Zac Niringiye a political activist. The alleged reason for the meetings is to garner support for some electoral reforms in preparation for the general elections in 2016.
- This is to reiterate that the Police are not involved in any scheme to prevent people who would like to associate and express their views on any matter .Rather the Police continually insist that this must be done in accordance with the law. The meetings that have been organized in the towns mentioned have several distinguishing characteristics. In some of the meetings the police were duly informed while in others the Police was not informed at all. In Mbarara for instance where the Police was informed the meetings proceeded very well. In other areas such as Soroti, Mbale, Kabale and Kasese where the Police were not informed the meetings could not take place.
- It should be noted that the reason why the organisers were prevented from accessing the radio stations is because the purpose was to organize and mobilise for the attendance of meetings which were in their nature illegal since their preparation had not followed the procedure in the law. The claim that the Organisers informed the Minister for Internal Affairs cannot hold water because the person to be informed under the law is not the Minister but the Inspector General of Police or the authorized officer.
- This therefore is a strong call to any Organisers of meetings that fall under the provisions of the Public Order Management Act to ensure that they follow the procedure .In the press release that was issued last week, the release outlined the procedure. For those who were not there the procedure is as follows…
CP Judith Nabakooba
Police PRO
31.03.2014
