As we could predicate like clockwork is that the Police Force would enforce the banning and interim orders of the Constitutional Court from Deputy Justice Stephen Kavuma yesterday. So since the clock is ticking… the IGP Kayihura had to speak his peace, and his Peace is not peace for anybody else then the NRM regime and the NRM cronies. As proven with his rhetoric today. Take a look yourself!
Kale Kayihura says this today:
“We were able to have peaceful elections contrary to what had been anticipated by many people. It was a big achievement and something you cannot take lightly because had we not done it, it would now be a different story” (…)”We can’t allow something similar to what happened in 2011 during the swearing in ceremony. Our main mission (of securing elections) was done but we can’t stand down until the country is safe and secure with the new government” (…)”There were predictions of violence before, during and after elections but thanks to the security forces that ensured this did not happen. The future of our country is very bright as people live in peace and happiness” (Kazibwe, 2016).
This is might what he is afraid of:
“Cheers of excitement turned to eerie silence as the police fired tear gas to disperse the crowds. Protesters scattered and made their way to a soccer field, where they held a mock swearing-in of Mr. Besigye” (…)”But in recent weeks, the protests’ narrative and political momentum have built as the government has mounted a brutal and at times fatal response, making many Ugandans rethink the extent of the nation’s democracy” (…)”On Tuesday, the police used water cannons to disperse a group of six people, some of them political leaders, who were huddled against a building. Another opposition leader was whisked away in a police van” (…)”Lots of this anger is being vented at Museveni as he is sworn in, both because of widespread belief of fraud in the election and because of the way the government has handled Besigye,” said Elliott Green, a specialist on Uganda at the London School of Economics. “The next question is where things might go from here.” (Kron, 2011).
But last time it was the Police who came with brutality and used all force, dispersed and detained the opposition. Therefore Dr. Kizza Besigye had to go to hospital in Kenya before arriving back in Uganda. The Post-Election violence was massive in the last go-around.
This just had to happen the day after the Deputy Justice Stephen Kavuma who made the Interim Order of banning the Defiance Campaign. So that he comes with warnings is just a sensational as the sunrise every morning. It just have to occur; the issue is with the favour and extent he goes in. As he claims that the FDC and their campaign is to destroy the peace and the happiness of the country. That says that in his mind only NRM can bring peace, and if other disobey then they creating havoc and chaos. Initially saying so, but the words of non-violence during, under and after the elections of 2016 is a lie. He must have forgotten the pre-election violence of Rukungiri, Jinja and other. During the Campaign trail of Bukwo district, Ntungamo and the state of the violence before the Makerere Rally in February; then after that there been steady violence in the country. Something that IGP Kayihura knows as the army has been deployed in Kasese and Rwenzori. The Bundibugyo and Kapchorwa killings combined with the Kasese and Rwenzururu Kingdom killings proves the levels of blood that have been taken after the election. So a real it is not.
Combined with the connection of the Police Force enforcing preventative arrests, detaining, stopping demonstrations, applying detaining for unlawful behaviour even when they just trying to do party work. The other is the monitoring and spying on the opposition even when they have to comply for their actions to the Police as the POMA act says. And the Parties have obliges with that, even when he ruling party together with the Police have used all force to oppress them.
So I have trouble with the simplistic view of the acts of his Police Force towards fellow country-men and how he target fellow citizens who happens to be Opposition as enemies and with Anti-Riot Police Force. So the Peace he speaks is a forced peace. A Peace that is forced by fear and by tear-gas and detaining the opposition, not creating a space for dialogue or real peace in the country; because the Police Force does not hesitate to act upon the men and woman who might counter to the NRM, as they did to the people who closed their shops as a demonstration to the rigged election.
So his precaution of the 2011 Walk To Work is the statement as he has moved certain men who was involved like Andrew Felix Kaweesi and I am sure others are moved to the Kampala Metropolitan. Because they want to be sure that they can dissolve any demonstration as they want the perfect day for the 7th Term of President Museveni and his NRM that the Police Force is loyal too!
So we can be assured that the Police Force is ready to follow the words of the interim orders of the judge of 29th April 2016. Because he will use any excuse to extend the Police State of NRM and their thieving of power. Since the legitimate leader is not in the NRM, if it was so then they would not need to threaten the public. The Legitimacy is certainly bubbled down and cracked, therefore the silence and non-celebration except for the people of Uganda Media Centre who is paid men of the Ruling Party. So long behold the Swearing-In at Kololo Independence Ground on the 12th May. The reality is that the Police Force will use force on the 5th May, but if the Opposition able to mobilize as they did during campaign and Nomination day of the November 2015. Something I hope, and pray for, because if so the Police Force will be a small minority who should not hurt that big of a crowd and certainly that amount of people would monitor and share footage of the havoc so the media of the world would condemn the violent actions of the Police as they harass the Opposition with a steady pace. Peace.
Reference:
Kazibwe, Kenneth – ‘Gen. Kayihura Warns FDC on Inauguration Demo’ (30.04.2016) link: http://www.chimpreports.com/kayihura-speaks-out-on-fdc-inauguration-demo/
Kron, Josh – ‘Protests Overshadow Inauguration in Uganda’ (12.05.2011) link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/world/africa/13uganda.html?_r=0