Opposition leaders have commended the United Nations on its positive stance towards defense of human rights in the country. The commendation came in the wake of the UN’s recent condemnation of actions of brutality that were meted out by the Uganda Police force on members of the opposition recently.
Forum for Democratic change (FDC) Spokesperson Ssemuju Nganda is one of the opposition politicians who welcomed UN’s recent active demand for respect of human rights when they confronted the police who blocked FDC women from matching to Parliament to present a petition to the speaker demanding explanations on the undressing of one of their colleagues.
“This is a welcome step in the right direction at a time of escalating human rights abuses by the state and its security agencies which have continued to suppress and oppress those who are opposing it, ” Ssemuju said.
“It is timely for them to start acting now or else we are destined for a bloody election period that is likely to lead to the loss of lives and property. Even if they can go as far as speaking to President Museveni to restrain from acting outside of the law, so be it, ” added Ssemuju.
The United Nations issued a statement condemning the way the police have ‘brutally’ handled the opposition leaders’ activities in the run up to the 2016 general elections.
The country representative of the United Nations office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OSCHR) Uchenna Emelonye warned while at Hotel Protea in Kampala that “human rights abuses may escalate into a violent election and post election period like it has happened in various countries worldwide.”
Like Ssemuju, Busiro County Member of Parliament saluted Emelonye’s condemnation of the repeated use of preventive arrests against leaders of the opposition including FDC flag bearer Dr. Kizza Besigye saying that it is both undemocratic and primitive.
“There is no justification whatsoever for turning someone’s home into a detention center simply because the sitting government is paranoid of opposition,” Ssegona said adding: “It is inimical to the values of democratic governance and it continues to undermine the picture of the Uganda Police which is the architect of all these injustices.”
Last week, Dr. Kizza Besigye and FDC chairperson Wasswa Biriggwa along with MPs Partrick Amuriat (Kumi) Paul Mwiru (Jinja Municipality) and Ssemuju Nganda (Kyaddondo East) were arrested by police en-route to Rukungiri to attend a mobilization rally.
