Political party officials should be inviolable

The armed forces this week raided the offices of the National Unity Platform (NUP) party, making off with a number of items. The forces say they were searching for red berets, which they say belong to them and are not to be used by civilians. They further accuse NUP of using military insignia on their red attire, which they say may confuse members of the public on who is a serviceman and who is not.

On Wednesday, and without warning, a combined force of soldiers and policemen raided the offices of NUP located in Kamwokya, Kampala, and forced their way into the premises as the day’s business progressed.

It was a busy day as the party members arranged for the onset of nominations for parliamentary candidates on Thursday. Party spokespeople have alleged that apart from apparels that were taken out of their offices, the invading forces also took away money and signatures that had been solicited from Ugandans to support the nomination of their presidential candidate, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine.

Mr Kyagulanyi has suffered harassment by the armed forces and the police since he emerged on the stage and declared intention to challenge for the presidency. On the orders of the political leadership, Mr Kyagulanyi has been banned from holding music concerts, the trade that made him. This has gone on for well over two years. President Museveni has in the past said Mr Kyagulanyi would not be allowed to sing because he uses his concerts t campaign.

When Mr Kyagulanyi declared his intention to run for president and informed the Electoral Commission that he would carry out countrywide consultations over his prospective presidential bid, the police stopped him.  And there have been many other similar such incidents involving Mr Kyagulanyi, the police and the political leadership of the country.

Before Mr Kyagulanyi became the main preoccupation of the country, there was Dr Kizza Besigye, who suffered as much under the authorities. His political party, the Forum for Democratic Change, was attacked by the armed forces on a number of occasions. On one occasion, as the country waited for the declaration of results after the 2016 election, the headquarters of the FDC were turned into a warzone when the police attacked the place and disrupted what the party said was tallying of results.

It has now become a common practise for the armed forces to storm the offices of registered political parties under whatever pretext. The attacks result in the confiscation of materials from the offices. And when the forces attack the offices of political parties, they pay no attention to due process, and don’t even care to get court orders for the purpose.

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