Age limit debate: Police ban on joint Opposition rallies illegal
The Constitution Amendment (No.2) Bill, 2017 that proposes to amend Article 102(b) and remove presidential age limit to free up President Museveni to contest for a sixth elective term in 2021, has sent the country into a frenzy and exposed particular State institutions to a litmus test.
The Uganda Police Force finds itself in a not-very intricate catch-22 situation; should the police follow the law to the letter or should it pander to the whims of the establishment? As things stand now, the Force has elected to go with the latter.
Events in the past weeks have left no shadow of doubt that the police will pull all the extra-legal stops to ensure that the Magyezi Bill is forced through.
In effect, this will allow President Museveni, if he so chooses, to contest as many times as he wishes.
First was the police director of operations, AIGP Asuman Mugyenyi, who issued an order banning Members of Parliament opposed to the amendment of the Constitution to remove the presidential age limit, from holding joint consultation rallies.
AIGP Mugyenyi did not bother to quote any law to back his orders.
Article 29(2) states that every Ugandan shall have the right to move freely throughout Uganda and to reside and settle in any part of the country.
Of course, the default defence from the police will be that such freedoms are not absolute, which is a no-brainer.
Restrictions on such freedoms must be reasonable and based on fact, but police have not come up with any plausible explanation.
In referring the Bill to the Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, the Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, principally put MPs on notice to carry out comprehensive consultations about a proposal that has put Uganda on the precipice.
Will AIGP Mugyenyi now stop members of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, who have drawn a road map for traversing the entire country, from convening joint consultation meetings?
Sections 31, 32 and 33 of the Police Act that generally deal with how the police should regulate assemblies and processions do not give the Force power to determine which person can participate in an assembly.
It is ludicrous that AIGP Mugyenyi wants to determine which MP should go to which consultation rally.
The police can also not afford to hide behind the rightly-maligned Public Order Management Act as it mainly deals with regulation and the duties and responsibilities of police officers and organisers for such gatherings.
AIGP Mugyenyi should tell us which law he relied on to ban MPs opposed to the removal of age limit from holding joint consultation rallies.
Suffice to note that AIGP Mugyenyi is the police officer who led the raid on the Rwenzururu Palace that left many people dead.
No wonder, therefore, that President Museveni and the Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, have chosen Mugyenyi as the man to crash any voices against the removal of presidential age limit.
As Ugandans were still smarting from AIGP Mugyenyi’s overzealous order, the Kampala Metropolitan Police commander, Frank Mwesigwa, came up with another farcical directive - banning artiste-cum-Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi from performing at music concerts.
Reason? Mwesigwa told NBS TV that: “Music is not supposed to be partisan. One cannot use music to push their political ambitions.”
Perhaps Mwesigwa’s memory needs to be reminded of a group of artistes who composed President Museveni’s campaign anthem during the 2016 elections.
Museveni himself mutated into a rapper of sorts with his Mpenkoni rap for the 2011 campaigns. Where was Mwesigwa? Can he now tell us whether Museveni offended any laws of Uganda by rapping during his campaigns?
History is replete with examples of music being used as a rallying call for socio-economic and political causes and Mwesigwa will not succeed in turning the wheels of history just for short-term gain.
Mr Arinaitwe is a journalist
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