I am tearing as I write this blog, many people have died, imprisoned, and injured since the political season began. My heartfelt condolences to the families that have lost their loved ones. Today on the 18/11/2020 was worse than you can ever think as riots went out in the whole of Uganda. I am not in any way encouraging people who use unlawful means to show their discontentment. There is always a peaceful way to resolve issues and I AM ALL FOR PEACE.
As an activist for peace, I cannot sit around and watch without talking about it. Police brutality has increased so much and so many innocent lives have been lost. This has to stop, teargas and live bullets have been used in the wrong way. Why do you shoot at people? What happened to shoot in the air to disperse the crowd?
We all know that Uganda has one of the youngest populations where 75% of the population is composed of youth and children, these are the ones being killed on a daily and in most cases, the innocent ones like the street vendors who are not even part of the demonstrations. I have seen pictures and videos that I cannot post here because they are case sensitive. All I can tell you is that they are really brutal.
My question is, how long will this go on? When will there be justice in this country especially for youth and women? We need to be human and treat people with equality and dignity even the ones you think are criminals. As the law states that no one should be labeled guilty until they are tried in the courts and proven guilty. Shooting the youths shouldn’t be your first option but dealing with rioters or anyone found in wrong in a lawful manner.
I need to let you know that COVID-19 is real, observe the SOPs put in place by the ministry of health, and wear your mask anytime you are leaving your home. However, police need to know that coronavirus is not only there for the opposition as it has been perceived during this campaign season. We have been observing that when the opposition is campaigning and has the crowd, they are teargassed and dispersed while it is not the same for the ruling party. There is a need for equality. Discrimination is not an option and should be avoided at all costs because the role of the police is to protect the citizen and not to put them in jeopardy. I would like to assert that COVID-19 kills and it is real and no one should play games with it, whether you are the opposition, the ruling party, or the police so it must be avoided at all cost.
To the youth, I feel so sad every time I see you using unlawful means to put your ideas across. There is a better way to resolve things like peaceful demonstrations. You have a great future ahead of you and it starts with your present. You need to think about how your life is more valuable than anything else. Riots are never good, beating up people leads to injuries and sometimes death. Unfortunately, many youths have been imprisoned because of these riots and they are rotting in prison with no one to follow up on them. I know that you love your politicians but you need to apply wisdom on how you support your candidate. When you are killed, imprisoned, or wounded, you won’t be able to vote for your candidate whom you love so much which means that they won’t go through due to lack of your vote. There is nothing wrong with peaceful ways to express yourself. Learn to value your life, your neighbors, and your future because the decisions you make today will affect your tomorrow.
Finally, police need to know that these are sons and daughters of someone out there, they have families and dependants who are orphaned due to your brutality. Please take the necessary steps and put measures to secure people and not to become the cause of insecurities. If one is in wrong handle them as humans and respect their rights, take them in and present them to the courts of law for trials. Throwing teargas in shopping malls, people’s residents should be avoided at all cost. We are all human beings and we should all be treated with dignity.
Lastly, the #StopPoliceBrutalityIn Uganda is the hashtag trending please join in as we call for peace in this country.
Also, the Christian influencers on Twitter have decided to run the campaign of praying for Uganda #WePrayForUganda, you can join in as we pray for the peace of the country.
