THE RIGHT TO PROTEST IS NOT AN NRM/PLU PRIVILEGE, STOP THE SELECTIVE JUSTICE
The 1995 Constitution of Uganda is clear. Article 29 guarantees every Ugandan the freedom of assembly, demonstration and peaceful protest. It does not say this right is reserved for the NRM or its new appendage, the PLU. It says every citizen.
Last week, We all witnessed the state-sponsored PLU protest at the Turkish Embassy in Kololo with police escort, no teargas and no arrests which exposes the double standards in Uganda, because the same police that cordons off Najjanankumbi, Katonga and Kavule and criminalizes every FDC/NUP/ PFF protest as unlawful assembly now facilitates NRM/PLU demonstrations; this proves that the right to protest under Article 29 is no longer a constitutional right.
The right to demonstrate is now a monopoly exclusively enjoyed by those in yellow and their PLU cousins.
When the NRM and PLU want to march, the police escorts them. Roads are closed for them. They are given teargas protection, not teargas. They sing, dance and insult the opposition on the streets with full state cover. That is their version of “freedom of assembly”.
But let the FDC announce a peaceful protest over the high cost of living, over the giveaway of Constitutional Square, over abductions or over electoral theft, the response is predictable: a military deployment, preventive arrests, beatings, teargas, and trumped-up charges of inciting violence, unlawful assembly and public nuisance.
There is now a naked selective application of the law in this country. Two sets of laws; one permissive law for NRM/PLU, and one repressive law for FDC and all voices of dissent. This is not policing. This is political persecution.
The criminal justice system has been fully weaponized to harass and cripple the political opposition. Our comrades are arrested for merely wearing FDC colors, detained without trial, paraded before the courts, and then cases are adjourned endlessly to punish us through the process itself. The aim is not to secure justice, but to exhaust us, to bankrupt us, and to keep us away from the people.
If Uganda desires to be a democracy, the right to protest cannot be rationed by the IGP or by State House. A protest by FDC is as lawful as a march by PLU. A demonstration by FDC is as
constitutional as a procession by NRM youth.
We condemn in the strongest terms this double standard. We call upon the Uganda Police, the DPP and the Judiciary to stop being partisan tools in overalls of justice. You swore to uphold the Constitution, not the NRM manifesto.
The struggle for good governance will not be stopped by teargas and handcuffs.
BALAAMU AND MUSEVENI’S MINISTER’S DISTRICT TOURS; A THEATRE OF DECEPTION, NOT ACCOUNTABILITY.
The FDC has watched with concern the recent so-called anti-corruption crusades championed by Local Government Minister Hon. Balaam Barugahara and Minister Justine Nameere, and the latest cabinet recess where ministers have been paraded inspecting districts.
We wish to state categorically: This is not a fight against corruption. This is a political circus, a PR stunt, and a mockery of the institutions mandated to fight corruption.
We ask simple questions:
Where do those people arrested on orders of Hon. Balaam Barugahara end? He has moved throughout the country, arresting Parish Chiefs, CAOs, Town Clerks and RDCs on camera, handcuffing them for the cameras. But how many have ever been prosecuted? How many have refunded the stolen money? Zero. The cases die the moment the cameras are switched off. It is populism, not justice. A minister has no power to arrest. Under what law is he ordering the arrests?
Government does not need to close Cabinet and move to districts to fight corruption. We already have institutions and reports gathering dust on shelves while ministers act as police.
We in the FDC believe that if government was serious, it would do the following practical things:
- Implement the Auditor General’s Reports: Every year, the Auditor General profiles the grand corruption heist in every District, Ministries, Department and Agencies. Names are mentioned, billions are queried. Let the government prosecute those named instead of chasing Parish Chiefs for 5 million shillings and leaving the big fish at large.
Auditor General reports are tabled yearly and shelved – Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa told Parliament that when adopting the Auditor Generals reports for FY 2023/2024 admitted that only 31% of recommendations of AG were adopted, 35% partially and 34% not at all, meaning 69% ignored; examples include the AG 2021 Uganda Airlines rot where no one was prosecuted, the AG 2024/2025 PDM report showing Shs 1.1 trillion released to 10,500 SACCOs with unaccounted funds and Shs 4.9bn parked in closed accounts, the AG 2023/2024 finding Shs 1.49 trillion warranted but unspent while 51% of MDA outputs were only partially done and Shs 52.39bn in 45 Local Government projects delayed 32 months, the 2011 PAC recommendation to prosecute Khiddu Makubuya and Syda Bumba over Hassan Bassajjabalaba compensation that never happened, and the AG 2025 finding of Shs 8.04bn expired medicines at NMS plus Shs 2.648bn at facilities – proving ministers need not tour districts for cameras but should implement AG reports already gathering dust.
- Implement IGG Reports: The Inspectorate of Government has investigated and recommended prosecution of big fish. Why are those reports ignored?
The IGG’s own reports prove over 70% of recommendations are ignored annually: a case in point is in 2017, then IGG Irene Mulyagonja reported 50 instances dating back to 2009 where punishment of corrupt officials was recommended but never implemented, citing the Katosi-Mukono road and OPM scandals as syndicate fraud; in the Tourism Ministry, PS Doreen Katusiime failed to sack Commissioner Rose Mwanja Nkaale despite a 2016 IGG audit finding she illegally outsourced Uganda Museum to her son’s company Fainax Services and embezzled collections; and the IGG’s own statistics show implementation was only 45.8% in FY 2016/17 (207 of 452), 23.5% in FY 2017/18 (390 of 1657), and 27% in July-Dec 2025 (378 of 1392).
- Implement Parliamentary Accountability Committee Reports: COSASE, Local Government Accounts Committee, Public Accounts Committee, Government Assurance Committee have all produced damning reports. The culprits are named in Hansard. Why are they not apprehended?
Accountability reports are investigated then shelved: COSASE under Joel Ssenyonyi investigated AG 2021 rot at Uganda Airlines and proposed reforms but the report was never debated after the Speaker called for an audit of COSASE, the Haba Group scandal recommended by PAC in 2011 for prosecution of Khiddu Makubuya and Syda Bumba for dubious compensation mutated into a Shs 140.487bn Bank of Uganda exposure unresolved for 9 years without security, flagged again. Accountability committees reports are frustrated and never listed on Order Paper of the plenary sessions of parliament because they are always treated as business to follow.
So Balaam’s camera arrests of Parish Chiefs are mere drama while the big fish named in IGG, Auditor General and COSASE reports remain untouched.
Fighting Corruption in Uganda should be a top-bottom approach. It doesn’t start in the villages rather at the center.
You cannot fight corruption with microphones and cameras. You fight corruption by strengthening institutions, prosecuting the big thieves named in official reports, recovering stolen assets, and ensuring political will from the top.
What Hon. Balaam and Hon. Nameere are doing is diverting attention from the real corruption eating up this country.
We condemn in the strongest terms Government’s blatant double standards and hypocrisy. While Museveni parades Balaam and his ministers on a hollow anti-corruption publicity tour in the districts, his own government cannot account for hundreds of billions poured into the phantom Lubowa Specialized Hospital – a ghost project that has swallowed taxpayer money with zero work on ground.
To this day, Government has blocked MPs, including members of accountability committees and LOP, from accessing the Lubowa site to verify value for money. What are they hiding if not grand corruption?
You cannot claim to fight corruption in Nakasongola and Gulu while protecting the biggest corruption in Wakiso and Kampala. This selective fight is not accountability; it is political theatre and interference with the work of independent institutions like Parliament and the Auditor General. You cannot be the thief and the police at the same time.
We demand an end to this drama. Let the IGG, DPP, CID and Auditor General be facilitated to do their work without political interference.
THE USE OF TREASON AND MILITARY CHARGES AGAINST POLITICAL OPPONENTS BY THE NRM
We are concerned how the NRM Government has continued to use treason, unlawful possession of firearms and possession of military stores in cases involving political opponents and citizens exercising their constitutional rights.
In 2005, Dr Besigye and 22 others were charged with treason and concealment of treason before the High Court. While they were on bail proceedings, armed security agents entered the High Court premises and prevented their release. The following day, they were taken to the General Court Martial and charged with terrorism and unlawful possession of firearms based on the same or related facts. Since then, there are many Ugandans who are being charged with treason and possession of fire arms. Hon. Kyagulanyi was also once charged with Treason and many other Ugandans who have suffered the same treason cases.
But there is one interesting thing about all these cases, Government has never proved any of these cases, instead they continue to use the same cases to fight political battles.
In this recent case of Dr. Kizza Besigye, prosecution witness Andrew Wilson, during cross-examination, testified that two pistols and alleged fake currency were already in the Nairobi apartment before the accused arrived. He confirmed that the weapons had been placed there to implicate Dr. Besigye, he also confirmed that he was working for the Ugandan government and was paid to implicate Dr. Besigye for treason.
This confirms that weapons and military equipment have always been advanced as exhibits to implicate political opponents.
This is very unfortunate for our country, just imagine someone being charged with treason, denied bail and spends more than two years in prison on trumped up charges.
Why should citizens spend years in detention and under the shadow of the most serious criminal charges. If it’s politics let the NRM come down to the ground and we sort out the politics not using such a serious case and courts of law against political opponents.
The FDC therefore calls for:
- An immediate and transparent review of all political cases involving treason, treachery, firearms and alleged military equipment.
- The release of persons who have been detained without sufficient evidence to justify continued detention.
- Respect for the jurisdiction of civilian courts and the constitutional right to a fair and timely trial.
- An end to the use of prolonged detention and repeated criminal charges as substitutes for evidence capable of securing a conviction in a court of law.
We are not protecting criminals but if a citizen has committed treason, the State must prove it in an independent and competent court. If a citizen unlawfully possesses a firearm or military equipment, the State must produce credible evidence and prove the charge beyond the required legal standard.
The FDC therefore calls for an end to the use of criminal prosecution as a substitute for political competition and demands justice, due process and equal protection of the law for every Ugandan.
Finally, the state should stop the weaponization of the carinal Justice system to harass we in the political opposition.
Thank you for your kind attention.
One Uganda One People!
Mulindwa Walid Lubega
DEPUTY SECRETARY FOR PUBLICITY – PUBLICATION AND DOCUMENTATION