Police a necessary evil during elections, says Bushenyi DPC
Bushenyi DPC John Bosco Sserunjogi. PHOTO/COURTESY/FILE
The Bushenyi District Police Commander (DPC) John Bosco Sserunjogi has said police are a necessary evil, whose role is much needed during the electoral season.
According to DPC Sserunjogi “their role has always been misunderstood by the public, yet it is well spelt in the Ugandan constitution and electoral laws.”
“I don’t know why very many candidates mistake us to be partisan. Imagine what would happen in just a microsecond if police was closed across Uganda. We are very few, but we count a lot,” said Sserunjogi.
The DPC told a gathering that some poll participants, especially opposition elements, tend to disregard guidelines from Ugandan authorities leading to clashes.
“At times when you read for them these guidelines, they rubbish those guidelines. Remember our role is to keep law and order,” Sserunjogi noted.
Asked why the police force has been in the limelight for harassing the journalists and members of the opposition, Sserunjogi said the two groups “indirectly harass themselves by not observing the law.”
“If I tell you that this is not a concern of the media and you provoke, it is out of provocation that I also react appropriately and that proportionate force may also be misunderstood,” he responded during a consultation meeting on constitutional and political reforms in Bushenyi District on Friday.
“If I tell you that I am a law enforcement officer, and guide you on which route to take and you want to take the opposite, are you not forgetting the police?” he added at the The meeting organized by Western Ankole Civil Society Forum (WACSOF) in partnership with the Uganda National NGO Forum, and the Forum for Women in Democracy.
The Bushenyi Deputy Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Rosemary Atuhaire asked Civil Society Organizations to use their platforms to rally Ugandans into government programs.
During the meeting, a number of reforms including, but not limited to restoration of term and age limits, resizing of parliament, keeping RDCs out of elections, president stepping aside during the elections, were proposed by the participants.
