Rights abuse worsen amidst COVID-19 lockdown

By Rajab Yusuf Bwengye

All my schooling life, I have been told "Government" means People or there cannot be a government without the people.

Since the close of 2019, the world has been overwhelmed by the COVID 19 pandemic. The disease has caused fear and intimidation across the world's biggest economies forcing cities and all sorts of businesses, social services to close down. 

Even the mighty American, Russia, United Kingdom, and those economies in the same bracket have lost thousands and thousands of people and it is estimated to take around 18 months upfront to find the medicine for the pandemic. Uganda just like other many African economies has not been spared either. Since mid-March 2020, the government imposed a total lockdown and this was further tightened in April to present.

The orders are very clear i.e. Nobody is allowed to leave home, public and private transport banned, Bodabodas not allowed to carry passengers, all non-essential businesses must close, the sick, the pregnant mothers to seek permission from RDCs to access hospital, no movement beyond 7:00 Pm and so on and so on.

Whereas I highly appreciate the vigilance of the president, the Health fraternity, the work of the national COVID-19 task force to contain the dangerous disease to a reasonable degree, I'm totally displeased with the way the rights of the poor and vulnerable are being abused.

Trigger happy security forces, especially LDUs, have terminated innocent blood of those already facing poverty, hunger, and starvation in the name of enforcing the lockdown orders. Others have been severely beaten, while the elderly and those living with disabilities have been reported arrested for not reaching their homes before curfew time.

On Monday, April 13^th, the Daily monitor reported over 200 elderly, children, and mothers being arrested and bundled into security trucks, and remanded to Kitalya prison Wakiso until April 23^rd. As early as 26^th March, LDUs were captured on camera downtown Kampala beating up mothers selling fruits to be able to feed their children, while on 27^th match, media reported security shooting construction workers in riding a motorcycle in Goma Division Mukono Municipality.

Again, on March 23^rd, media reported locals being beaten in Mityana and many more stories have been reported of pregnant women who have faced life-threatening challenges while being denied to quickly access health facilities. 

I'm happy both the president, the Army spokesman, the senior members of the police, and even the Chief of Defense forces have always publicly condemned this criminality and said its out fashioned in Uganda of the present. Why would you beat up a person living with disabilities because he or she can't walk so fast to beat the 7 pm curfew time?

Why should you beat up a poor person who has just moved out of his home to secure food for his family?, Why would you block any person trying to rush a sick or pregnant woman to the hospital because he or she doesn't have a permission chit from an RDC? Why should you shoot and kill people because someone has failed to stop as if you are deployed to block a robbery or terrorist mission?? 

Mary Parker Follett a renowned management scholar defined management as "Putting sense where it does not exist" so let's be sensible when implementing the COVID-19 lockdown guidelines. Let's not just beat, torture or pull the trigger without really using sense because what a person does without applying sense is actually called NONSENSE and you must account for it.

The writer works with the National Association of Professional Environmentalists -NAPE