Unjust Laws
For many months, we waited for
the Public Order Management Bill (POMB) to be passed into law. Considering the
numerical strength of the NRM MPs, this event was long overdue. When Hon.
Oulanya bulldozed the parliament to vote on it, many of us who have come to understand
the inherent flaws within the NRM regime never dropped a jaw. Every sane
Ugandan, including Hon. Oulanya himself knows that this POMB is a major deterrent
to democracy. The passing of this bill illustrates that Uganda is no longer a
democracy, rather, a country slipping into another painful episode of its
political life.
There is a big problem with our
leaders. The NRM people claimed that they have ushered in democracy and peace.
But here, the Public Order Management Bill is yet another draconian law which
strives to stifle the very democracy. It is a bill passed in total neglect of
the Muwanga Kivumbi vs Attorney General of Uganda; it is a total violation of
all human rights provisions – the right to associate, to assemble, to free
speech and that of individual liberties – all, as enshrined in chapter 4 of the
1995 Constitution and international human rights charter.
POMB is intended to usurp the
provision of Chapter 4(23)(6)a, b and c of the 1995 Constitution which enumerate bail eligibility among
others. However, a look at POMB clauses six through eight attest to the point
that the bill is insensitive to the rule of law. The basics of the Muwanga
Kivumbi vs Attorney general were the recognition of the limitation of the
powers of the police especially from interfering with civil liberties. This
bill trashes that ruling and reinstates enormous powers for the dispensation of the
militarized and politicized Police to trample upon rights of Ugandans.
But the real purpose of this bill
is to limit dissent and yet it does not create alternative and credible options
for the masses to get engaged politically. The culture of dialogue is alien to the country. Every group of
people or individual now realizes that civil processes have been replaced by
strikes and demonstrations. This is not because Ugandans do not want to
negotiate and seek mediation through existing institutions for amicable
resolution of their issues. It is precisely because of patronage of the state –
and more so, unequal distribution of resources to the crooked political elite.
The ease with which President
Museveni can release billions of shillings to bribe MPs to pass for him a
repressive bill reveals how the President has become egocentric. But when it
comes to teacher’s salary, the money can never be found. One would never see or
hear that an MP, Minister or Statehouse employees have gone home without a
salary for a month or missed an allowance in that case.
The passing of the POMB has hurt
many people and has truly dented the public image of these MPs. Some of these
people may think that they are in power forever and therefore, they are
untouchable. One can only predict that one day; these very laws will turn to
bite them. But most importantly, Ugandans are continuously getting disengaged
from the political realms for the very same reason, that politics has become
the dumping ground for mediocrity.
Reading the tempo on social
media, one can gauge that many Ugandans are persistently aggrieved by the
conduct of the MPs. They have truly denigrated the legislative branch of
government by being complacent to self interests. What they are doing, is to
place Uganda in the same path as Zimbabwe!
Which Ugandan would like to be denied
bail if I may ask you? We all know how trivial the police have become in
regards to manufacturing political crimes and preventive arrests. This bill is precisely intended to narrow down
political participation by restricting human movement; intellectual development and
to greater extent, inculcating a sense of fear among the population in light of
being critical to the establishment.
When Martin Luther King said that
the hottest places in hell are reserved for people who, when in moral crisis,
tend to keep their neutrality, he was not far off sending a warning shot to the
elites of Uganda. But Malcolm X minced no words when he observed that “the
moment someone lays a hand on you unjustly, make sure that he never gets the
chance to touch another person”. This was a clarion call for us all to indulge
in personal reflection to prepare for the brutality with which the police will
implement this law.
As we come to 2016, the
opposition groups must know clearly that the POMB has severe implications for
them and their grassroot mobilizers. It is possible that during elections any candidate
from the ruling party can revoke clauses of this law against organized
opposition activities for agents of the opposition to get arrested and detained
without bail thereby crippling opposition elections machinery.
END
No comments:
Post a Comment