Bishop Niringiye: Uganda's jails are for immortals

PRIESTLY ENDEAVORS

I was overjoyed to see the picture of Bishop Zac Niringiye emerging spiritually unscathed from Wandegeya Police post. I am no stranger to Wandegeya Police station.

As a student leader back in the late 90s and early 2000, we often posted police bonds for our colleagues who would get arrested arbitrarily from Makerere University Halls of residence or hostels for all sorts of trivial accusations.

In Uganda, prison is not used for the purpose for which it was made. Prison and confinement have been used for purposes of demoralizing the righteous people. Real hard core criminals are never kept in jail. They get bail and they remain at large.

But to even think that a very devout religious man like Bishop Niringiye can be humiliated or demoralized by confinement is a joke that is an award winning. Do Policemen really know how rigorous, both mentally and physically, the priesthood training is?

When I completed my education at Mulago, friends of mine tried to persuade me into enlisting into the Uganda Police Force. They argued that the Museveni had mooted a master plan to overhaul and transform the UPF into a vibrant, modern and efficient civil force that would have state-of-the-art equipment and modus operandi. They even convinced me that specialists like myself would get front row treatment, be accorded special treatment and commissioned at a higher rank.   

Certainly, those offers were very enticing, safe for one encounter with a colleague who is now at very high rank. He had just completed his Masters studies in international relations and enrolled into the Uganda Police. The fellow, then in his sixth month of Police training, narrated to us how they would be turned upside down, inspected thoroughly in between the legs to ensure that all was well. He described many more strenuous and rigorous physical regimes, but with less mental work. Nonetheless, I was never convinced that Police was my destiny. I value social justice, rule of law and I could not imagine serving in the NRM police, given its current public profile.

The Police training is something that cannot pass for priestly endeavors.  Priests, by nature of their training and indoctrination are people who are prepared and used to solitary confinements already. Taking them to jail and confining them only fulfills their own purpose. It is like their absolute end, a struggle for which they deliberate. True Christians are very prepared to endure all sorts of suffering and humiliation, including living in the worse conditions of poverty or standing up for a belief they hold dear. I wonder whether some members of the Uganda Police read the beatitudes in the Bible.

Now, in detaining Bishop Zac, the Police were creating something beyond their imagination. The Bishop could easily become a living saint or a Martyr as such.

Seriously, in most times, the UPF is not serious. According to the media reports, the Bishop and his associates were arrested while distributing anti-corruption pamphlets at Makerere University to students. The content of the pamphlet has long been published in many dailies and there has not been any provocation of violence.

In Uganda, it is a tradition that when the powers that be, decides to waste taxpayer’s money on junk helicopters, planes, tanks or strange military uniforms etc, journalists and media houses try to break down the waste amounts in terms of social services.

What the anti-corruption group – Black Mondays have done is not exceptional at all. What is true and very surprising is that the Police find that the anti-corruption groups are capable of inciting violence using pamphlets and not the media houses, despite of their wider audience.

The Police have abrogated the constitution and deprived Ugandans of the fundamental freedom to associate, assemble and hold free speech. These acts of impunity reflect a condescending and spiteful attitude that the regime holds against Ugandans, generally. The notion of tolerance, rule of law and democracy are pricy commodities now.

The overall implication, and something that we must fear, is that restriction of public spheres narrows both the personal and communal efficacious growth. People will still resort to violence and mob justice as means of attaining legitimate justice because they have lost faith in existing institutions.

This is my advice to Bishop Nigirinye and his troupe. The next time the police arraigns you, carry the Bible. When they begin to interrogate you, take your time to read from the bible, those passages from revelations to a corrupted world.

END