Teargas for public peace
Feb 08, 2007
SAYING IT WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOUR<br><br>IN 1957, a Japanese journalist asked Nikita S. Khrushchev of the Soviet Union why the superpowers were still expanding their nuclear arsenals when they had won World War II. Khrushchev replied: “If you live among dogs, keep a stick because hounds have teet
SAYING IT WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOUR
Ofwono Opondo
IN 1957, a Japanese journalist asked Nikita S. Khrushchev of the Soviet Union why the superpowers were still expanding their nuclear arsenals when they had won World War II. Khrushchev replied: “If you live among dogs, keep a stick because hounds have teeth to bite whenever they like.â€
There are people asking why the Police still use teargas against some political elements as if there was no “democracyâ€. The answer is, the State must be well trained and armed to preserve public peace.
Yes, democracy and rule of law exist in Uganda but there are political hounds and anarchists, especially in DP and FDC, who are undermining and even threatening to overthrow the constitutional order. They use blackmail, open sabotage, violent disobedience to courts of law, Police directives and stage forceful and criminal actions on public roads. They must be restrained while there is still time.
Take violent demonstrations, demands by FDC that the Chief Justice should resign over alleged failure to release PRA treason suspects and opposition MPs’ attempt to filibuster Parliament with a walkout over the same issue even when they know the Constitution prohibits interference in matters that are before courts of law.
Police must however improve intelligence and operations in rowdy crowd prevention, control, and management to avoid hurting innocent people during these scuffles.
Police need to ensure that criminal and political activists within its ranks do not undermine and isolate the Government from the public during law enforcement. This is not far-fetched, seen against records elsewhere like in Northern Ireland where the British police and the Royal Constabulary went reckless, tortured and killed innocent people during the IRA insurgency.
And while press and public opinion binds every reasonable government, it ought to be informed and well intentioned to serve useful and legitimate purposes. Unfortunately, the anarchist factions believe that well or ill founded public opinion cannot be safely disregarded anymore in Uganda, and are trying to exploit that loophole to achieve what elections didn’t.
It is a delusion to think that public opinion of the moment alone instead of leadership of fortitude, honesty and belief in right and necessity can direct national progress. From last year when the prospects for the combined opposition getting to state power became grimmer although they had sold political lies about their fortunes in Ankole, Buganda, Bunyoro and Busoga and bought in Teso as fool’s day promise, they turned desperate.
Now disappointed by their own false promises to topple the NRM in a “political tsunami,†and selling more lies on domestic politics, economy, security, corruption and social welfare to alienate the Government, they are desperately turning to and hyping alleged abuse of human rights and rule of law as the last hope, silver-bullet.
Although the opposition accuses the NRM and President Yoweri Museveni of using force and violating the Constitution, it is actually they and Kizza Besigye of FDC in particular who are tying to use force to get the presidency although it is just an adventure into the wilderness.
It is the FDC that has been blackmailing courts of law trying criminal suspects in rape, robbery and treason cases by mobilising goons and supporters who often turn unruly at court premises. It is the FDC that mobilised white-faced diplomats to literally ‘invade’ the General Court Martial and High Court during the Besigye alleged rape case and built pressure on courts to grant him bail.
Now again it is FDC with Besigye menacingly turning the trial of the PRA suspects, some of them captured in Pandroma in the D.R. Congo, into a political case, yet at the time of their capture there was no political party called FDC.
And so when they take these distant and complex legal issues to public rallies, demonstrations and on radios for populist propaganda, the truth suffers a considerable and radical distortion because they are simplified and the hypothetical turned into the dogmatic and the relative into an absolute.
However, as Museveni told the recent NRM NEC meeting at Munyonyo, “Mr. Besigye and the opposition don’t control anything or Government and can go on shouting or running up and down. All authority is with NRM, which must implement its manifesto by being vigilant, innovative, creative and mobilise people around core issues of the day to remain relevant.†And so far, Besigye is goofing on all the so-called major issues he raises like the recent economic trends, MPs’ car scheme, UPDF Somalia mission, or even the threats to forcefully secure the release of his treason co-suspects.
In Parliament, the opposition, aided by former PAFO remnants hiding in the NRM caucus, is abusing NRM’s magnanimity and bipartisan folly and their walkout is part of the game, which makes them a legitimate target to flush down the political sewage as was done during the CA and Sixth and Seventh Parliaments to ensure institutional stability.
Ofwono Opondo
IN 1957, a Japanese journalist asked Nikita S. Khrushchev of the Soviet Union why the superpowers were still expanding their nuclear arsenals when they had won World War II. Khrushchev replied: “If you live among dogs, keep a stick because hounds have teeth to bite whenever they like.â€
There are people asking why the Police still use teargas against some political elements as if there was no “democracyâ€. The answer is, the State must be well trained and armed to preserve public peace.
Yes, democracy and rule of law exist in Uganda but there are political hounds and anarchists, especially in DP and FDC, who are undermining and even threatening to overthrow the constitutional order. They use blackmail, open sabotage, violent disobedience to courts of law, Police directives and stage forceful and criminal actions on public roads. They must be restrained while there is still time.
Take violent demonstrations, demands by FDC that the Chief Justice should resign over alleged failure to release PRA treason suspects and opposition MPs’ attempt to filibuster Parliament with a walkout over the same issue even when they know the Constitution prohibits interference in matters that are before courts of law.
Police must however improve intelligence and operations in rowdy crowd prevention, control, and management to avoid hurting innocent people during these scuffles.
Police need to ensure that criminal and political activists within its ranks do not undermine and isolate the Government from the public during law enforcement. This is not far-fetched, seen against records elsewhere like in Northern Ireland where the British police and the Royal Constabulary went reckless, tortured and killed innocent people during the IRA insurgency.
And while press and public opinion binds every reasonable government, it ought to be informed and well intentioned to serve useful and legitimate purposes. Unfortunately, the anarchist factions believe that well or ill founded public opinion cannot be safely disregarded anymore in Uganda, and are trying to exploit that loophole to achieve what elections didn’t.
It is a delusion to think that public opinion of the moment alone instead of leadership of fortitude, honesty and belief in right and necessity can direct national progress. From last year when the prospects for the combined opposition getting to state power became grimmer although they had sold political lies about their fortunes in Ankole, Buganda, Bunyoro and Busoga and bought in Teso as fool’s day promise, they turned desperate.
Now disappointed by their own false promises to topple the NRM in a “political tsunami,†and selling more lies on domestic politics, economy, security, corruption and social welfare to alienate the Government, they are desperately turning to and hyping alleged abuse of human rights and rule of law as the last hope, silver-bullet.
Although the opposition accuses the NRM and President Yoweri Museveni of using force and violating the Constitution, it is actually they and Kizza Besigye of FDC in particular who are tying to use force to get the presidency although it is just an adventure into the wilderness.
It is the FDC that has been blackmailing courts of law trying criminal suspects in rape, robbery and treason cases by mobilising goons and supporters who often turn unruly at court premises. It is the FDC that mobilised white-faced diplomats to literally ‘invade’ the General Court Martial and High Court during the Besigye alleged rape case and built pressure on courts to grant him bail.
Now again it is FDC with Besigye menacingly turning the trial of the PRA suspects, some of them captured in Pandroma in the D.R. Congo, into a political case, yet at the time of their capture there was no political party called FDC.
And so when they take these distant and complex legal issues to public rallies, demonstrations and on radios for populist propaganda, the truth suffers a considerable and radical distortion because they are simplified and the hypothetical turned into the dogmatic and the relative into an absolute.
However, as Museveni told the recent NRM NEC meeting at Munyonyo, “Mr. Besigye and the opposition don’t control anything or Government and can go on shouting or running up and down. All authority is with NRM, which must implement its manifesto by being vigilant, innovative, creative and mobilise people around core issues of the day to remain relevant.†And so far, Besigye is goofing on all the so-called major issues he raises like the recent economic trends, MPs’ car scheme, UPDF Somalia mission, or even the threats to forcefully secure the release of his treason co-suspects.
In Parliament, the opposition, aided by former PAFO remnants hiding in the NRM caucus, is abusing NRM’s magnanimity and bipartisan folly and their walkout is part of the game, which makes them a legitimate target to flush down the political sewage as was done during the CA and Sixth and Seventh Parliaments to ensure institutional stability.