Africa-Press – Uganda. Voters in Bunyoro sub region have tasked their newly elected members of parliament to influence the amendment of the police act and remove sections causing unnecessary arrests of civilians.
“Some sections like preventive arrests because one is likely to commit a crime, should be removed because they are misused and in the end, innocent civilians are arrested,” Mr Tibenda Jackson, a ‘boda-boda, cyclist in Kiryandongo told Daily Monitor in an interview.
Muyonjo Ibrahim a taxi driver on Kiryandongo-Kigumba road said, traffic police laws should also be amended by the new members of parliament as some vehicles of people working in government are not impounded when they flout traffic laws.
“Some vehicles of big officials in government are not impounded, but instead they arrest ‘small people’,” Muyonjo said.
Bunyoro National Unity Platform party co-ordinator, Kanti Rogers said he has been on target to be imprisoned for opposing ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) in the region.
“‘They have arrested me 20 times and found me with no case which I regard as useless arrests,” Kanti said.
But Julius Hakiza the Albertine police spokesperson said police arrests suspects and hand them to court to prove if one is guilty or not.
Hakiza said there is no section in police act which leads to arrest of innocent people.
“‘We arrest after making investigation or as suspects and handover to court,” Hakiza said.
According to police act section 24, a police officer who has reasonable cause to believe that the arrest and detention of a person is necessary to prevent that person from causing physical injury to himself or herself or to any other person; from suffering physical injury; from causing loss or damage to property; from committing an offence against public decency in a public place; from causing unlawful obstruction on a highway; from inflicting harm or undue suffering to a child or other vulnerable person, may arrest and detain that person.
Mukasa Abubakari, a law student at Makerere University said parliament can change the act basing on citizens’ wish but the misinterpretations of the articles by both security personnel and public should be considered first.
“Largely, some sister forces help during police deployments. I don’t know whether crime preventers and LDUs can interpret it the same way as amended,” Mr Abubakari said.
