Parliament piglets protesters rearrested
Jul 09, 2014
Two men who sneaked two piglets into parliament to protest against corruption have been rearrested.
By Grace Amme& Mary Machocho
KAMPALA - Two men who sneaked two piglets into parliament to protest against corruption have been rearrested.
Norman Tumuhimbise and Robert Mayanja were arrested from their offices at City House in Kampala shortly after addressing the media on Wednesday.
Their re-arrest comes just a few days after they were granted bail by a court in Kampala.
Last month, Tumuhimbise and Mayanja beat security at Parliament and took in the piglets, painted yellow, in protest of what they called corruption and extravagant spending by MPs.
Their action attracted three charges including;
- interrupting parliamentary activities
- criminal trespass, and
- conspiracy to sneak piglets into parliament
They denied all the charges.
In the latest incident, a group of about ten security personnel stormed the offices where the two men held a press conference and arrested the activists before whisking them off to the Central Police Station (CPS) in Kampala.
‘Envelope to package our message’
Earlier, the duo told journalists that they were planning to organize youths across the country and that the plan was to start in Kampala.
“We plan to share, mobilize, organize and disorganize if need be, together as one block. We are the determinants of how we will lead us” a highly-charged Tumuhimbise said.
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The two men spoke of their plans to mobilise youths across the country. PHOTO/Mary Machocho
They also spoke of their choice of animal (pig) to use as a protest symbol, saying: “aside from the hyena, the other greedy animal we know is the pig. They [pigs] are unbothered, selfish, and dirty and cursed”.
On how they managed to worm their way into Parliament – a move that brought to question the security at Parliament – they maintained they could not disclose how they pulled it off . . . just yet.
“These pigs are the envelope we use to package our message to the MPs and they have done us proud. In fact they deserve another term,” said Tumuhimbise.
They said they are planning to send some youth to find out the condition of “their friends”, in reference to the two piglets which they named “sleeping constituency” and “corruption constituency”.
The men, now under police custody, belong to the Jobless Brotherhood, an association which umbrellas all the unemployed, semi-employed and other disgruntled youth in the country.
Tumuhimbise is the national coordinator.
By press time, Isaac Ssemakade Kimaze, the duo's lawyer could not confirm their new charges but said they are still under police custody.
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