NEWS EDITOR MEDIA
ALTHOUGH Rubaga North legislator Abubaker Kawalya fulfilled all conditions put by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) for him to clear netball and Football finals, today morning, a forest of police men armed to teeth were deployed at Lungujja Young Flat Playground in Lungujja parish, the venue for the Kawalya Abubaker Easter Cup.
By press time, police had blocked all roads to the play ground and none of the officers tells the community why they deployed on the match day.
“The Uganda Police Force, whose core mandate should be protecting and serving all Ugandans despite their political affiliations has over the time depreciated into a total NRM Political Wing, hence using only political lenses to judge or interpret situations as witnessed today morning at the venue of MP Kawalya Abubaker Easter Cup.” Reads a statement from Hon. Kawalya’s office.
According to the statement, they sense about a plot by owers that be to halt, disrupt and disorganize all Opposition activities within Buganda especially those linked to Kunga, NUP mobilization campaign, in order to deny the Opposition any chances of consolidating their support.
In a letter dated April 14, 2023 under the reference MP209/012/066/102 , which we have seen, Hon. Kawalya Abubaker addressed the Inspector General of Police to this fete, to which the IGP responded by requesting the MP and organizers to avail proof of clearance from FUFA, Local Authorities, and also clearance for the venue, which conditions were fulfilled.
For the past one month, the youths within Rubaga North have been competitively engaging in an inter-parish football tournament code named Kawalya Abubaker Easter Cup as one of Hon. Kawalya’s agenda to identify and develop talents among the youth.
The competitions were so peaceful, and the youths within the five (5) parishes of Rubaga North which includes; Lungujja Parish, Lubya Parish, Kasubi Parish, Namirembe Parish and Nakulabye embraced it.
Lubya Parish and Lungujja Parish are the two (2) teams that managed to reach the finals, which were supposed to be played on Easter Sunday, but Police disrupted the the same, forcing organizers to postpone the activity to today at Young Playground in Lungujja after engaging various stakeholders.
Rubaga District Football Association maintain that, “As mandated by FUFA to oversee all football activities with Rubaga do acknowledge Kawalya Abubaker Easter Cup and enjoy a good working relationship with Mr. Kawalya’s office.”
It should be noted that Section 5 and Section 10 of the Public Order Management Act (POMA) that used to empower police to regulate public gatherings were eliminated by the Constitutional Court, not once but twice.
Statement says, this has not stopped police, which should enforce the Law from crushing gatherings, including football matches as long as they are linked to the Opposition
The two sections came under contestation in 2018 when Hon. Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, alias Bobi Wine with four others were arrested and charged with staging unlawful assembly after participating in a protest against the government’s move to tax social media.
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