Leisure returns to City Square

Residents at the City Square on Kampala Road yesterday. The place has for long been a no-go zone for civilians and has been occupied by police officers. Photo BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA

What you need to know:

  • Currently, the country is facing waves of kidnaps and murders of women and children, so such has been seen as the area where the police have diverted their efforts to avert a vice that has since been linked to terrorist groups.

Kampala. In most major towns in Uganda, there are known open green spaces where people often converge for a common cause.
Such green spaces, as big as a football field, are known as Boma Grounds. For Kampala city, the most known such place is City Square, which is literally meant to host all public events in the city.

However, for many years now, City Square, located in the heart of the city, has not hosted public activities, especially political and religious gatherings, as was the case before, save for a few trade shows and sales promotions.
Most preachers have opted for sports arenas such as Mandela National Stadium, Namboole, and Kyadondo Rugby Grounds.

Attempts by politicians to access the City Square for their meetings or rallies have in the past been quelled by the police and other sister security agencies.
As a result, City Square has for a long time become a no-go zone for civilians and has been left to police officers.

No-go zone
Armed police officers, a patrol car and sometimes armoured vehicles have for close to 10 years been seen deployed at the open ground, keeping guard during day and night.
The heavy deployment started in 2009 during the infamous Kayunga riots and was stepped up during the Walk-to-Work demonstrations in 2011. The deployment intensified last year during the process of amending the Constitution to lift presidential age limit.

But for nearly two months now, it has been observed that the police deployment has slowly been wound out by the Kampala Metropolitan police authorities.
A visit to the green open space throughout this week showed that there is totally no armed or uniformed deployment there. Daily Monitor could not verify whether uninformed men and women are taking care of the security there.
However, since the place is just within sight of the Central Police station, it is likely to be under watch.

Residents are back to the open space and at times, some couples can be seen sitting in pairs without any fear.
“This is one of the most beautiful places to relax from around the city. You are not on pressure to make an order for a drink or food like it is the case in most restaurants. So, we are again enjoying time here because there is no more scare. I see no police officers,” said one of the people found there.

The relaxed or no deployment has also been observed at the Jinja Road junction where a police mamba vehicle that was stationed for a long time is a no-show at the moment.
This is the same situation in other parts of the city that were being patrolled during the day.
Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Luke Owoyesigire said deployment at the City Square and other strategic places in the city is driven by particular need.

Police justification
He said in most cases, they deploy at the City Square when they receive intelligence reports that some people are planning to use the place to commit crime.
“It was always a normal deployment and there is no need for cause for alarm since it is no longer there. We in most cases deploy after getting information that some people are planning to hold an unlawful assembly. So, what we do is to prevent crime by deploying there,” Mr Owoyesigire said in an interview.
Since Public Order Management Act (POMA) was passed in 2013, police have been stopping what they call unlawful assemblies.

The law, seen by many analysts as seeking to stop the growth of the Opposition, requires that an organiser of any gathering to inform the Inspector General of Police (IGP) in writing before the meeting is held. This includes seeking clearance for the venue.
Mr Owoyesigire said detecting crime is part of the police work of keeping law and order, adding that such deployments can return to City Square anytime there is intelligence that unlawful activities are being planned to be staged there.

He also revealed other deployments are sometimes at the request of KCCA.
“We used to deploy because of a lot of people who aimlessly come to City Square. It is sometimes used at the request of KCCA if they want to keep the place clean. At the moment, there is no deployment but if there is need, we shall deploy,” he said.

Opposition speak out
However, the spokesperson of opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Mr Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, laughed at the police for withdrawing the deployments at City Square and other public places in Kampala.
According to Mr Ssemujju who is also the Kira Municipality Member of Parliament, such deployments ceased after Gen Kale Kayihura was fired as Inspector General of Police because he had been running police as “a business” by exaggerating threats to get more funding”.

Kayihura accused
“Security in Uganda was made a business under Kayihura and every threat was exaggerated. If a Somali was seen boarding a bus in Nairobi, they would say a terrorist has entered the country, heading to Kampala. So they deployed everywhere, including City Square. This was a business scheme so that the President releases more money,” Mr Ssemujju said.
He added that withdrawal of the police deployment is because the Opposition has changed approach from organising campaigns to more calculated dialogues and trainings.
He said that at the moment, FDC especially is carrying out trainings on how to coordinate civic campaigns.

“There is no threat for the police to deal with. Opposition know there is no government at City Square and since there are no political campaigns, the police have also gone on holiday. But when we come back in style, they will fail to catch up with our new tactics,” he said.

Currently, the country is facing waves of kidnaps and murders of women and children, so such has been seen as the area where the police have diverted their efforts to avert a vice that has since been linked to terrorist groups.