Don’t erode Uganda’s democratic prospects

What befell supporters of People Power Movement and residents of Kasangati township when police used teargas to disperse their planned meeting at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Gayaza yesterday, is regrettable.
Residents abandoned their houses with everyone running to catch breathable air as it rained bullets and tear gas. A one-day old child was taken to hospital in critical condition after inhaling teargas. Several journalists were arrested and some sustained injuries in the ensuing chaos.
According to police, the planned meeting was illegal because it was about to take place in an open playground yet the Public Order Management Act and Electoral Commission guidelines that were spelt out to the Opposition group say such meetings are supposed to take place in closed premises such as hotels and meeting halls.
While clearing the planned consultative meetings, Electoral Commission (EC) chairman Justice Simon Byabakama warned the aspirants to desist from turning the consultative meetings into campaign rallies or processions. People Power spokesperson Joel Ssenyonyi said they were ready to abide by the EC guidelines.
What Uganda’s political players have to know is that democracy is fragile and any attempt to flout the rule of the game erodes the essence of democracy and the rule of law. After acrimonious past electoral cycles, Ugandans and the international community were gaining optimism that Uganda police and sister security groups had overcome the brutal tactics they always employ to maintain law and order.
The arrest of People Power leader, Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, is reminiscent of what other Opposition politicians like the former leader of Forum for Democratic Change, Dr Kizza Besigye, have endured for decades. Security groups should not tempt people to speculate that there is an unwritten law that whoever announces plans to contest against President Museveni and attracts support, has to be terrorised.
Ugandans need the assurance that it’s possible to have lawful platforms and non-violent methods to contest for the leadership of this country.
If the trend continues, it will be a clear signal that the constitutionally granted right for Ugandans to campaign for the top office of their country is impossible.
And this could lure some groups to believe that since all democratic avenues to political power are closed, violence is the only option.
And given Uganda’s post-independence political, social and economic upheavals, such options should not be sprout because they are extremely disastrous.

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