MP Sempala narrates ordeal
Jun 17, 2008
KAMPALA District MP Nabillah Sempala has said the Police roughed her up to scare away women from joining the opposition.
By Alfred Wasike
and Angela Ndagano
KAMPALA District MP Nabillah Sempala has said the Police roughed her up to scare away women from joining the opposition. “They don’t want me to mobilise other women since they are the biggest force behind the NRM,†a visibly emotional Sempala told journalists during the Forum for Democratic Change’s (FDC) weekly briefing on Monday.
The MP and seven others were arrested in Owino on June 10 and detained at the Old Kampala Police Station for allegedly assaulting a Police officer, inciting violence, holding an illegal rally and putting suggestion boxes in the market.
“I am saddened that my country has become a police state. That incident was a calculated move against women in leadership. What happened to me is a sample of what will happen to all women who stand up for their rights.â€
Sempala said an anonymous person, who claimed to be a security agent, rang her last year and warned her to wear jean trousers when visiting her constituents. “I should have listened to his advice. I needed jeans that day.â€
The MP said she was working with her party and women lawyers’ organisations to sue the Police and other security agencies.
Flanked by FDC spokesperson Wafula Oguttu and other party officials, Sempala revealed that the Inspector General of Police, Major General Kale Kayihura, had telephoned her to apologise.
“Kayihura wanted to apologise to me in person but I told him to apologise in court.â€
Narrating her clash with security, the opposition shadow information and national guidance minister said: “The policewomen held my hands while the men behind me tried to pull up my skirt. They beat me on the head. My blouse was torn. I was forced to sit on the dirty ground. I was thoroughly humiliated. They claimed that my skirt was too short.â€
She added: “It was the saddest day for me seeing women recruited as agents of humiliation against fellow women.â€
Sempala said she had gone to St. Balikuddembe Market (Owino) to distribute suggestion boxes to encourage feedback from her constituents. She had distributed the boxes to 27 markets in the city and its suburbs the night before the incident.
Oguttu accused the Government of harassing the opposition. “There is a deliberate move by the Government through Kayihura to harass the opposition.
“They are intimidating all political groups. We have plans to sue them as individuals. We shall take them to the ICC.
“The Police and CMI are NRM’s militia. They are trying to ensure that the opposition does not get access to the public.â€
He also claimed that the Speaker of Parliament, Edward Ssekandi, was biased.
“The leader of opposition and his group did not walk out because they did not want to listen to the budget speech. It was because Ssekandi blocked a motion to protest Police brutality,†Oguttu said.
and Angela Ndagano
KAMPALA District MP Nabillah Sempala has said the Police roughed her up to scare away women from joining the opposition. “They don’t want me to mobilise other women since they are the biggest force behind the NRM,†a visibly emotional Sempala told journalists during the Forum for Democratic Change’s (FDC) weekly briefing on Monday.
The MP and seven others were arrested in Owino on June 10 and detained at the Old Kampala Police Station for allegedly assaulting a Police officer, inciting violence, holding an illegal rally and putting suggestion boxes in the market.
“I am saddened that my country has become a police state. That incident was a calculated move against women in leadership. What happened to me is a sample of what will happen to all women who stand up for their rights.â€
Sempala said an anonymous person, who claimed to be a security agent, rang her last year and warned her to wear jean trousers when visiting her constituents. “I should have listened to his advice. I needed jeans that day.â€
The MP said she was working with her party and women lawyers’ organisations to sue the Police and other security agencies.
Flanked by FDC spokesperson Wafula Oguttu and other party officials, Sempala revealed that the Inspector General of Police, Major General Kale Kayihura, had telephoned her to apologise.
“Kayihura wanted to apologise to me in person but I told him to apologise in court.â€
Narrating her clash with security, the opposition shadow information and national guidance minister said: “The policewomen held my hands while the men behind me tried to pull up my skirt. They beat me on the head. My blouse was torn. I was forced to sit on the dirty ground. I was thoroughly humiliated. They claimed that my skirt was too short.â€
She added: “It was the saddest day for me seeing women recruited as agents of humiliation against fellow women.â€
Sempala said she had gone to St. Balikuddembe Market (Owino) to distribute suggestion boxes to encourage feedback from her constituents. She had distributed the boxes to 27 markets in the city and its suburbs the night before the incident.
Oguttu accused the Government of harassing the opposition. “There is a deliberate move by the Government through Kayihura to harass the opposition.
“They are intimidating all political groups. We have plans to sue them as individuals. We shall take them to the ICC.
“The Police and CMI are NRM’s militia. They are trying to ensure that the opposition does not get access to the public.â€
He also claimed that the Speaker of Parliament, Edward Ssekandi, was biased.
“The leader of opposition and his group did not walk out because they did not want to listen to the budget speech. It was because Ssekandi blocked a motion to protest Police brutality,†Oguttu said.