Plain-clothed and uniformed police asked the restaurant manager and organizers to cancel the press conference, claiming that they were unaware of such a gathering.
The Police
on Friday blocked a press conference by three human rights
organizations that had been called to talk about the wave of abductions in the country.
Journalists
had gathered at 4R Restaurant at Centenary Park, but police arrived a
few minutes before the press conference could start and said it had not
been cleared. Plain-clothed and uniformed police asked the
restaurant manager and organizers to cancel the press conference, claiming
that they were unaware of such a gathering.
Police
further asked the journalists to leave the area before it takes further
action. “What is this gathering for; are you journalists? Personally,
as an individual, I like you people and I have always interacted with a number
of you, but what I don’t want is, this thing according to the
intelligence network was not sanctioned by the IGP, so we don’t
know why this gathering is here. So with due respect, I make a request to
you, to pick up our machines, and then we move away, kindly,” said
the police officer whose name tag read Igune.
Ronald
Katushabe, one of the organizers, said four Human rights
organizations including; African Justice Media,
Rubaga Social Justice Center, the African Libertarian
Union, and the Human Rights Defenders’ Union had joined efforts
to voice concerns over the new trend of abductions. He said that they are
against the kidnaps of people without trial.
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have been abducted”//
When contacted for a comment, Kampala Metropolitan Spokesperson Patrick
Onyango said he was not aware of the incident.
On Tuesday, the
Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa, sent Mityana
Municipality MP Francis Zaake to the House’s Committee on Rules,
Privileges, and Discipline for disciplinary action over what he
called misconduct. Zaake refused to sit down when asked by
Tayebwa and continued to raise his voice after he rose on a matter of
national importance concerning the recent arrests of a Muslim Cleric Sheikh
Yahaya Ramathan Mwanje and former presidential candidate Joseph Kabuleta and
other NUP supporters such as Jamshid Kavuma.
NUP, the
leaders of the opposition in Parliament have claimed since September that
security agents have been kidnapping and torturing their supporters.
