Nude demos bad for Uganda

By Patrick Katagata

The memories of naked women activists’ demonstrating at CPS may be slowly dissipating, but the image it created on the international scene about Ugandans is here to stay.

Just a day after the incident, a friend of mine called from Greece saying: “So Ugandan women have decided to go naked following Ingrid Turinawe’s brutal and humiliating arrest by the Police!”

She told me she had also been told by a Greek friend. I have continued to receive similar comments following some Facebook posts of the naked women’s picture and online news. Uganda’s image is affected!

It is said hell has no fury than a woman scorned and that emotions rage, reason is affected.

Truth be told, human beings are rational beings by virtue of possessing intellect and advanced reasoning compared to other animals. Possession of such enviable endowments as free will, conscience, sense of creative imagination and self- awareness make humans special. But it is these attributes that ought to guide human conduct.

Honestly, I hate the way Turinawe was arrested; and I also know her as a rather stubborn and unrelenting woman! But by now the Police should know how to handle her gimmicks.

I suggest the Police employ more of emotional, psychological and social intelligence than physical force while dealing with unarmed civilians. I am aware in security operations virtually anything and everybody is suspect hence the likes of Turinawe cannot be taken for granted but this is no justification for such an unnecessary impasse.

Was posing nude the best way to demonstrate the women’s grievances? If the cop could squeeze Turinawe’s breasts when they were covered, wasn’t it more risky for these women to display their bare breasts before the cops? Do these women think about the people they hold dear?

Do they know how much embarrassment they could have caused to their kin and kith? Is it ethical to have women (or anybody for that matter) expose their nudity in public?

Fellow countrymen, let’s face it: two wrongs don’t make a right! True, demonstrations may be justifiable, but to use such inappropriate approaches was inexcusable.

If human rights advocacy should disrupt people’s businesses, cause more misery and dent morals and national image, I fear for our country!

Human beings are naturally responsive and their behaviour is largely a consequence of their reactions to the provocations of nature and the environment but behaviour at its best should flow from and be accompanied by reason.

I condemn poor leadership but at the same time urge Ugandans to desist from perpetuating evil in the guise of averting evil. Should we expect the same women, for example, if one time these women find their spouses cheating on them to show their disgruntlement by sleeping around with all sorts of men?

Logically, it is pointless to tarnish the image of a country you claim to cherish and clamour to lead.

The Opposition should stay cautioned that it may be difficult to correct the errors should they, at one time, seize power!

The nude demonstration was not only a blunder but also a national embarrassment. At the end of the day, whether Opposition or otherwise, we are all Ugandans and that’s what the world fundamentally knows.

May God uphold us and heal our bruised image and inspire an impeccable national character.

The writer is a leadership critic, trainer and consultant