Dear Rugunda, police do not use POMA, they abuse power

Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, the Prime Minister of Uganda has directed the Uganda Police Force to stop disrupting activities of political parties. Ottyo…! Daily Monitor quoted Dr Rugunda as directing police to stop imposing their own guidelines while implementing the Public Order Management Act (POMA).
“It is the responsibility of security agencies, especially police, to ensure that we (political parties) have a peaceful environment and hold meetings without clashes with the wananchi (citizens) who want to sit down and listen to their leaders without disturbances,” Dr Rugunda said. Na wutawuliza: Tango lini (and you ask: Since when).

I really didn’t know whether to laugh or cry over this statement. Was the respectable premier conceding that the Uganda Police Force was operating outside the guidance and direction of the political leadership of the State? Was the good old man conceding that we could really be dealing with a classical case of a Police State?
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In the main, The Public Order Management Act of 2013 (POMA) is not a bad law. If the Uganda Police Force were doing things in the traditional police way, there would be no problem.
For starters, there are other legal and constitutional instruments that would moderate the bad sections of the Public Order Management Act of 2013. However, even with the stricture of the legal and constitutional regimes, there is a always the basic and natural law: It is called common sense.
And in addition to that common sense, a trained police officer (executing the traditional and constitutional mandate of the Uganda Police Force), would still have a fallback position in: Cognitive operational command dynamics, tactical field operations tools and the general administrative architecture of the Ugandan Police Force.

The problem we have is that the Uganda Police Force we see in action on the streets is different from what was written in the Constitution of Uganda and the Public Order Management Act of 2013 (POMA). So, I am still wondering whether the good old Premier Rugunda was directing the Uganda Police Force as envisaged and provided for in the Constitution and Public Order Management Act of 2013 (POMA) or what we used to call ‘the Kayihura Police’? When I saw police invading a meeting of FDC local leaders taking place in a hotel hall in Kasese, I revolted. I called someone senior enough to impact the operation and command structure of the Uganda Police Force.

After the pleasantries, I told him that ‘if police blocked a procession or a rally in town, some people would understand (painfully though)… But denying members of a registered political party to meet in the privacy of a hotel conference hall is unacceptable. Your people are just ruining their country…’
So, dear Ruhakan Rugunda, clearly the Uganda Police Force is not using its own interpretation or guidelines to implement the Public Order Management Act of 2013. Police are actually abusing power; the power of the gun. And as Ugandans old enough in 1980, one would know what abusing the power of the gun means. Attegedde kubira Katonda engalo ezamanyi…

We may review the admin, operational and command structures of the Uganda Police Force, but we would still not have a force that was written in the Constitution of Uganda. Which means, the problem lies elsewhere…; which is where the good premier should direct his orders.
Whereas the re-constitution of command and administrative structures of the Uganda Police Force was welcome, the unsettling actions of the Uganda Police Force points to one thing: That a mere change of guard at police headquarters was not enough. The deep state doesn’t meet the expectations of the deep people.