FROM THE ARCHIVES

Museveni needs protection of foolish laws?

By Muniini K. Mulera

July 10, 2000

Dear Tingasiga: 

News that the police had laid charges against a group of Makerere University students for allegedly annoying the President was another reminder that the bumpy road towards democracy is fraught with many challenges.

Perhaps I have missed something, but I do not see how annoying someone, even a Sabaggabe, should be considered criminal.

As I understand it, when President Yoweri Museveni went to Makerere University to campaign for the Movement in the run up to the June 29 referendum, he did so in his capacity as chairman of the Movement and not as President of Uganda. Not that this distinction should matter to you and me, but it does matter in the nitpicking world of lawyers and police.

It so happened that a group of Makerere students who did not share Museveni's political views took advantage of his visit to express their opposition to the referendum and the Movement. According to friends who were present at the rally, the students did their thing, including inviting the President to resign and singing the usual songs of praise for Milton Obote.

To his credit, the President was quite patient and, for a while, urged the protestors to give him a chance to speak. But after about twenty minutes, Museveni got "annoyed" and ordered the police to remove the protestors.

Whatever his reasons, the President was right to ask the police to escort the students out of the place. After all this was his gathering, and if the students did not understand that democracy required that they give their political opponents an opportunity to say that which the students disagreed with, then the Sabaggabe had little choice but to have them removed.

Museveni's response to the students was very much in line with standard practice at political gatherings even in the most liberal democracies. As a matter of fact, the President's restraint was quite admirable, compared to how such protestors would have been treated here in Canada and the USA.

For example, back in 1995 Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien was verbally challenged by a French Canadian man who disagreed with his federalist position on Quebec.  Without wasting a moment, Chretien, whose street-fighting skills are the stuff of legend, grabbed the fellow by the neck, gave him an upper cut and was about to follow-up with a punch on the nose when the police saved the hapless protestor from the prime minister!

A couple of years later, when some students protested the presence of then Indonesian dictator Suharto at a conference in Vancouver, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police used highly irritating pepper spray to disperse the peaceful protestors. It turns out that the police had been encouraged, if not ordered to do so, by the Canadian prime minister's office.

More recently, US presidential primary campaigns were punctuated by protestors who would pop up in the audiences to harangue the candidates about their failure to protect the whales, the Jacaranda tree or whatever cause was dear to the protestors' hearts. Without even waiting for these protestors to launch into song and dance, security officers would hustle them out of the buildings sending them on their way to the next meeting where the same chaps would be sure to disrupt the proceedings once again.

So, forcing the rowdy students to leave Museveni's rally was no big deal. However, my benign attitude changed after I read a letter by Assuman Mugenyi, writing on behalf of the Inspector General of Police, in which he tried to "rationalize" the charges against these harmless students. (See "Yes, Annoying The President Is A Crime!" The Monitor, July 3.)

Responding to a letter to The Monitor by Dr. John Clark, a visiting professor at Makerere University, who had wondered whether annoying Museveni was a crime, the Inspector General of Police wrote:

"Ten students were charged under section 26 (a) of the Penal Code Act (PCA) which says, 'any person who, with intent to alarm or annoy or ridicule the president...commits an offence and shall be liable to imprisonment for life.'

"One student was charged with being idle and disorderly under S. 162 (d) of the PCA. A distinction should be made between the person of the president and the president. The students committed the offences against the presidency and not the person of the president. The professor should read the provisions of section 26(a), (b) and (c) of the PCA to discern whether or not statements made by him in class [were criminal].

"It is surprising that a whole professor cannot distinguish between the Movement and police. It is the constitutional role of the police, not the Movement, to enforce law and order. Acts of hooliganism cannot be equated to voices of reason. Much as these students have the constitutional right to air dissenting views, the Constitution also limits fundamental and other human rights and freedoms (article 43(I)).

"It is amazing that a whole professor can applaud persons engaged in the commission of a crime! For his information, in African tradition, a child is expected to give due respect to the father or the head of the family."

Now Tingasiga, you'll forgive me if I begin to agree with Charles Dickens' timeless observation that "the law is an ass, an idiot." How, pray tell, does annoying anyone - even the Sabaggabe - become a crime? Who decides whether the president is annoyed or not?

The letter by the police chief highlights some of the deep systemic problems that hinder the process of democratization in Uganda. The view that in "African tradition, a child is expected to give due respect to the father or the head of the family," no longer holds - certainly not in the context of public leadership.

Respect is earned, and to receive respect one must give the same to one's colleagues and subordinates. A father who demands respect without reciprocating it or one who does not listen to his children's opinions but simply dictates how they must live and behave will soon learn that deep down the kids have no respect for him. They just fear him.

From what I have read and from what I have been told by friends who were present at the rally, the students did not engage in any acts of physical violence. Apparently all they did was express their opinions in a peaceful, albeit annoying and inconveniencing manner.

Does Museveni, who used to relish locking intellectual horns with the brightest debaters on any subject, need such foolish laws to protect him from Makerere students?

The President's recent announcement that a Constitutional Review Commission will be appointed soon was very welcome news. However, I would suggest that a Penal Code Review Commission is even more urgent, to look at these silly laws.