Amuriat faults Parliament over violent elections

Former presidential candidate Patrick Oboi Amuriat has called for amendments to the rules of procedure of Parliament to revisit the role of the legislature from a mere advisor to the executive.
Under the current provisions, resolutions and recommendations by Parliament to the executive are just advisory, and the law does not give Parliament any mandate to compel the executive to implement any of them. According to Amuriat, this waters down the role of Parliament in enhancing good governance and reducing excesses of the state.
Mr Amuriat was Tuesday appearing before the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee which is investigating cases of electoral violence that were witnessed and experienced in the recent general elections.  Amuriat, also the president of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party told the committee that he experienced untold humiliation and brutality, all through the campaign.
He narrated that the brutality on him started right after nominations until polling day, and during the two months period, he was arrested 41 times, and thoroughly beaten by security personnel. On one of the occasions, he says, he was punched to the stomach by a security officer. 

“I was arrested 41 times, sometimes more than once a day and was kept in police custody in Mpigi, Kakumiro, Mbarara and Gulu, three times of which I was arraigned in court, including appearing before a magistrate at 8pm in Kakumiro,” he said.
He recalls that oftentimes, his rallies were blocked, and movements restricted, even when there was no valid reason to do so and that sometimes, personnel used measures that were put in place to control the spread of COVID-19 as a reason for stopping his campaign activities.

"My campaign team and I had to brave doses of teargas and physical assault on a daily basis throughout the campaigns,” he added.

Amuriat faulted the Parliament and the President for going on with the elections, against the advice offered by scientists and various political players in the wake of a pandemic.
Ms Lucy Akello, the Amuru Woman MP acknowledged that there were injustices that were meted against certain candidates by virtue of their political affiliation. She said that while in Amuru district, Amuriat was stopped from using a venue, it was freely given to candidates from the ruling party.
Mr Abdullatif Ssebagala Sengendo, the Kawempe North MP said that Amuriat never had a successful day of campaigns.
Mr Isaac Ssemakadde, the FDC Legal counsel advised the committee to read, listen and investigate speeches by President Museveni, which, according to him, were a trigger for rights violations during campaigns. Mr Ssemakadde said that through the doctrine of command or superior responsibility,  Mr Museveni, who is the Commander in Chief should be answerable for abuses committed by security forces.
The committee asked Amuriat to bring a detailed list of officers that violated him. He named a few of them including Elias Twesigye the officer in charge of Mpigi Police station, Abraham Asiimwe of the Police Field Force Unit (FFU) and one Okiror.
Committee Vice chairperson Taaka Wejuli says that the committee will try its best to ensure that the executive is compelled in their report.