How caning changed from crime to solution

Kampala- It was written in the scriptures in the book of Proverbs 13:24; “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes”, while Proverbs 23:13-14 states: “Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beateth him with the rod, he shall not die.”

Right from African traditional societies, to contemporary societal times, the cane has been used to instill order and reprimand a child when it errs. Local council and clan meetings today, upon adjudging a member of society to have transgressed, still use the cane to deter recurrence of the misdeed.

Local leaders have been seen and even made a mark in their communities for using the cane to instill sense in members of the community.
Mr Musa Ecweru, the State minister for Relief and Disaster Preparedness, a few years ago raised eyebrows, as Resident District Commissioner of Soroti then, for caning errant pastoralists Teso Sub-region.

The Lwengo District LC5 chairperson, Mr George Mutabazi, in 2014 used stroke of the cane to whip his community for failing to do communal work while his counterpart in Gulu, Mr Martin Mapenduzi caned herdsmen in a bid to protect forests from illegal charcoal burning.

When challenged by the press, Mr Mutabazi said, “Many community residents said I used a small cane. I should have used a big one,”
In several primary and secondary school in the country, caning remains an accepted disciplinary tool. Sometimes the results have been gross, causing near fatal consequences and paralysis among children who get reduced to wheelchairs for life and fuel parent-teacher animosity.

However, the Constitutional Court has outlawed caning following a challenge by a concerned citizen, Simon Kyamanywa, who was tried and convicted by the High Court for robbery.

Mr Kyamanywa’s conviction was quashed and the death sentence set aside and Court of Appeal sentenced the him to a term of imprisonment of six years and six strokes of the cane.

The Supreme Court referred the case to the Constitutional Court for interpretation, whether corporal punishment, in light of article 24 of the Constitution, had a place in our legal dispensation. Article 24 provides that, “No person shall be subjected to any form of torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.”

Parents too, especially in urban schools, are likely to receive news of teachers whipping their children with consternation. Uganda Police Force, has however, over the years, normalised what is a violent and tortuous method which was witnessed during the return of Kyadondo MP, Robert Kyagulanyi on whose supporters caning was used.

Demonstrators beaten
In June 2010, the Forum for Democratic Change warned it would fight back, in self defence, against the ‘Kiboko squad’ if police did not stop the group from harassing Opposition supporters demonstrating on the streets of Kampala.

The stick-wielding civilian men had first entered appearance on the political scene in 2007, having emerged from the Central Police Station (CPS) in Kampala and whipped demonstrators protesting a government decision to cut down part of Mabira Forest for sugarcane growing.

Police denied links to the group but President Museveni said then, that they were, “well-meaning civilians protecting their property from looters.”

The same group would in 2015 deploy similar tactics to disband a gathering protesting against the Electoral Commission at Clock Tower in Kampala. Four-time presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye and his blue-eyed-boy Arthur Turyijuka were not spared of a thorough beating by canes and gun butts.

FDC officials at the time claimed that the groups of stick wielding men consisted of demobilised soldiers, an allegation the State did not respond to.

“There are many Opposition leaders like Cecilia Ogwal (FDC), Norbert Mao (DP), UPC and others but I have not heard them being involved in these conflicts with police. The whole thing is with Besigye because of his lawlessness and indiscipline,” the President said at a press conference in a story published by this newspaper in 2016.
Explaining the use of shields and baton charge, the President said: “These are short and heavy sticks which they (police officers) can use to defend themselves because they are used even in other countries but I am told police here have used some other sticks….”

Addressing journalists in the aftermath of the 2016 brutal events, Gen Kale Kayihura said the police had replaced use of tear gas with baton charge (use of sticks), and indicated that the beating of Dr Besigye’s supporters was sanctioned by the Force’s top command.

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