Africa: The Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, has criticized how security operatives arrest opposition politicians in the country.
The speaker was reacting to how security personnel handled the leader of the People’s Front for Transition (PFT), Dr Kizza Besigye, while arresting him last Thursday.
Besigye was arrested, and then he was kept under house arrest for planning to mobilize demonstrations against the increasing cost of living in the country.
While chairing the House on Tuesday, Among stated she disapproved of how security officers conducted the arrest of a former opposition presidential candidate, saying it breached his human rights.
According to Anita Among, “I watched how Dr Besigye was being arrested; it was not the right way to arrest someone. I am strongly against the way; we need to talk to our people, especially while handling people who are not armed.”
She further directed the Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka, to guide security agencies on the right manner of detaining not only leaders but everybody despite their political alliances.
However, he is an Opposition leader; we are the same; today it might be Dr Besigye, but tomorrow it might be you, she said.
Among makes these remarks after Bukonzo Country West Member of Parliament Atkins Katusabe described Besigye’s arrest as violent, brutal, inhumane and degrading.
Dr Besigye is national leader, a parent as well as a brother to someone who served this government as a Minister of Foreign Affairs, but his arrest was violent; he was locked up and jerked around the trousers like a chicken thief, said Katusabe.
Invoking Article 24 of the constitution, which bans any form of torture, is inhumane. Cruel or degrading treatment, Katusabe urged legislators to fight for the observance of human rights.
According to Katusabe, “Are we as the August House proceeding well if we keep ignoring ugly scenes tainting the country? It is within our power and mandate as MPs to protect and preserve this constitution; it is clear that nobody is above the constitution, including those commanders that tortured Dr Besigye.”
Kiira Municipality MP Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda slammed the police officers for arresting Besigye without any court order, a practice he said is becoming rampant.
Last week, the United Nations (UN) reported violations of human rights that affect all of us. As I speak, Dr Besigye is under arrest even without a court order; you cannot turn his house into a prison, said Ssemujju.