When Uganda women protested in bras: How did Uganda stoop so low?

The events leading up to demeaning arrest of opposition women’s league leader Ingrid Turinawe portend a worrying future for demonstrations in Uganda. On April 20, the members of the recently banned Activists for Change (A4C) formed a new pressure group called for God and my country (4GC) and Ingrid was one of the people at the launch. A4C is a political pressure group that has been at the centre of street protests in Kampala and other Uganda urban centres.

Ingrid was later arrested by police. During the arrest a man in police uniform was captured by cameras groping her breast in the name of arrest. This irked many women and human rights activists who condemned the act. They demanded an apology from the police.

Instead of apologizing the police kept a muted mood about the incident but only sent its junior spokesman to respond as public anger increased. The junior police officer made illogical statements claiming it was a female police officer who fondled Ingrid’s breast during the arrest. Was he suggesting it was okay for a policewoman to arrest a female suspect in such an embarrassing manner? Besides the camera footage shows it was a policeman who did the groping.

The public and women activists were not satisfied with the police statement and demanded to hear from the head of the police who happens to be an army general. Women threatened to demonstrate if they got no answers. 

After waiting for long, a group of about 10 women assembled at the Kampla central police station putting on skirts and with part of their breasts exposed but held together by bras. It was quite a scene. As expected the police arrested the half naked women. 

But the women had made their point that they are indeed disgusted with police brutality. Breasts are a private affair and when a woman chooses to expose them in public it is a pointer of disillusionment. In God Bits of Wood, a novel by Sembene Ousmane, women put up a spirited fight against the colonialists and their agents after their husbands had been rounded up by the colonial police. Could this be a parallel? 

The shameful arrest of Ingrid is not the first. In 2008, the same police nearly undressed Nabila Sempala, a female opposition legislator as they arrested her. The culprits have never been brought to book.

Some of the women protesting police brutal arrest of their colleague (Daily Monitor photo)

Since the A4C led Walk to Work protests the Uganda police has continued to be brutal in breaking up demonstrations. The police have even made it a point to attack journalists covering demonstrations. The common joke in my newsroom is that the police head Lt. Gen. Kale Kayihura is seemingly a chaotic man and that if he was brought to manage our newsroom fights would break out where they never existed.

While serving in the special revenue protection unit, a military outfit that fought smuggling in the country, Kayihura was the main man at the chaotic unit. Some commentators say the same character is now being exhibited the police force he heads. The Uganda police has to work fast to redeem its image and its relations with the citizens before the situation gets out of hand.

In all these circumstances, President Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for the last 25 years, praises his police chief as the best and doing a good job. At one point last year Museveni said Kayihura was a good cadre. Kayihura was with Museveni in the bush war that brought the President to power.Yet this is a leader of police force that is supposed to serve all Ugandans irrespective of political affiliations.

 By Mubatsi Asinja Habati