Tuesday, August 9, 2011

The Leading Ugandan Human rights Defender is a Kid

Vincent Nuwagaba

On Saturday 28 May, I was watching a programme on NBS Television which I was told is NBS Kids. I was not following keenly but I got interested when the presenter of the programme interviewed a kid who happens to be around 5 years old. The presenter asked the kid what annoys him most and the answer was the Police. When the kid was asked why the Police irk him, the young boy said, “They are bad because they torment innocent people with bullets and tear gas”. When asked what the police should do, he said, in Luganda, “Bave ku masasi ne tiya gasi bakole emirimo gyabwe” meaning “They should do away with bullets and tear gas and concentrate on their job”.
I was thrilled that a young boy of around five years understands very well that the police are bad people and that he knows that the job of the police is not to mete out violence and torture onto innocent civilians. Under Article 212 of the Constitution the functions of the Uganda Police Force include - (a) to protect life and property (b) to preserve law and order; (c) to prevent and detect crime; and (d) to co operate with the civilian authority and other security organs established under the constitution and with the population generally. I am sure to the amazement of the kid; the police have arrogated themselves Powers to threaten life and property and to provoke lawlessness and disorder. This is why I strongly assert that they are the ones provoking riots hence earning themselves a bad name – Provocation Officers not Police Officers and the institution now, Uganda Provocation Force, not Uganda Police Force.

The boy clearly stated that the bullets are meant to kill. I was left with nothing but maximum admiration for the young man. I admired him because he speaks my language and at his tender age he has already cut himself into a human rights defender and peacemaker.
But I also learnt that his primary agent of socialization – his family must be a noble family that cherishes justice. I would call upon the family and teachers of this young man whose name unfortunately I didn’t get, to continue shaping this young man into an unwavering defender of social justice. I also learnt that the educated and grown up people are not the monopoly of knowledge and I further learnt that anything that is illegitimate is discernible even to those we deride for not having attained formal education. In the court of public opinion –including toddlers the police has lost the case. The IGP and his superiors who undoubtedly sanctioned what the police have been and continue to do are also losers in the court of public opinion. This brings me to another issue of concern: the looming constitutional viruses with which the Fountain of Honour intends to infect our Constitution will be loathed by many including those who don’t know that we have in place a constitution. I borrow constitutional viruses and infection from the two leading constitutional law professors, Justice George W.Kanyeihamba and Joe Oloka-Onyango.
The words of the young boy reminded me of two things – the first, the statement attributed to Pope John Paul II that, “Man is born to live; war is meant to kill” and the second is the song by students while we were at Makerere University. During that time, whenever students, especially from the Mighty Empire, Lumumba (no pun intended if you are/were not a Lumumbist) would see the Police, they would sing, “Police, our murderers, we shall never forget you”. This was because of the brutality the Police often meted out on students. I am told, these days, they have substituted forget with forgive and they thus, sing “Police, our murderers, we shall never forgive you”. This shows how terrible the situation is. For the years I spent in Makerere, I often witnessed the police flushing out students in their halls and hostels in case there was a demonstration and flog them and take some to the cells. To the Police, I am happy; it is the children who have now blacklisted you. Please, be good Police Officers and not provocation officers and to the IGP, be an Inspector General of Police and not Inspector General of Provocation. I call upon MPs not to become Museveni’s Parliamentarians but Members of Parliament. Accordingly, they must enact laws for the good of Uganda not for the regime interests. Short of that, they will also be blacklisted by children akin to what has happened to the Police. To me, the NBS kid is the leading Ugandan human rights defender and I welcome him to the human rights family.
Mr. Nuwagaba is a human rights defender
vnuwagaba@gmail.com

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