Blazer News Reporter.
Some ex National Resistance Army (NRA) combatants that participated in the 1980- 86 bush war armed struggle that brought the current National Resistance Movement (NRM) government to power, have spoken out on what has famously come to be known as criminal electoral violence by the serving uniformed military and police officers to the Ugandans.
The violence in question which has played out in various forms including brutality, torture, electrification, frogging, tear gas and pepper spray, have been very common during the opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine campaign rallies in Mbarara, Iganga, Mukono, Kawempe, Nakawa, Kayunga, Buikwe, with Gulu city and Fort Portal being the latest scenes of action.
Nine people have ever since been confirmed dead. In Kawempe south near the rally venue (“Ku Growers”), many people were seen pouring down into adjacent wide drainage channel for failure to identify escape routes when tear gas was fired into the gathering.
In Gulu city, uniformed and none uniformed police and military personnel were seen frogging the Bobi Wine supporters in the procession with him on streets with a barrage of long sticks while hiding faces with either balaclavas or cloths and masks coverings.
Some were also filmed concealing the UPDF car number plates, which sparked concerns among some electoral observers to question their intention. Those notable incidents are the reason some former war guerilla fighters have come to speak.
In an exclusive interview with Blazer News Times, Al Hajj Abdul Nadduli described the acts as a violation of the law, human rights and the cause that took them to the bush to liberate Uganda from the passed regimes that had no longer honored the rule of law.
According to mzee Nadduli, the security personnel are time and again acting with biasness, which is a bad sign to the governance of the country. “I saw the IGP Byakagaba on TV speaking portraying mistakes by one opposition side, leaving out the NRM” Mzee Nadduli said.
Nadduli commended Gen. Kahinda Otafire one of his former comrades in the struggle and the current Internal Affairs minister, for always boldly speaking out against mistakes by the NRA/ NRM government actors. “He has shown that what they are doing isn’t the reason that took us to the bush”
However, the out spoken former minister without portfolio tasked the interior minister Otafire that supervises the police and prison services, to use his office to prevail over the perpetrators of the violations.
It is on that note he called for immediate arrest of all officers who were in the deployment as a deterrent measure. “Screening them can be done later. The claim that we didn’t know them doesn’t arise, how did they become part of the operation,” He questioned.
The same actions have seen the Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Nobert Mao strongly condemning them, saying there is over whelming evidence in the public domain for Electoral Commission as the manager of the electoral process, to act.
The police administration had also in the statement urged its officers to stop acting outside the law, before it could ask them and the opposition political actors to exercise restraint.
The same actions were condemned by the Uganda Human Rights, calling for an end against the same.
