Police on Monday arrested and temporarily held three members of parliament from Eastern Uganda for staging a demonstration to protest the poor state of the Mbale-Tirinyi road.
The troubled legislators are Pamela Kamugo Nasiyo, the Budaka District Woman MP, John Baptist Nambeshe, the Manjiya County MP and their Kumi Municipality counterpart, Silas Aogon.
According to the MPs, Police intercepted them on Monday as they led protesters in a procession from Budaka town along the Mbale-Tirinyi Highway, it however did not engage, until after the protesters blocked the busy Tirinyi road.
Budaka District Police Commander, Michael Ongica, denied the arrest of the legislators but confirmed their presence on the road. He told the press that he had only asked the legislators to engage Uganda National Roads Authority-UNRA over the state of the road.
Ongica says, they couldn't allow the legislators to hold the demonstration since the Inspector General of Police declined to clear their demonstration.
Kumi Municipality MP, Silas Aogon said that police arrested them and bundled them into a waiting van and drove them for a long distance along Iganga road before they were let go.
He says although they were arrested, they had already expressed their dissatisfaction about the poor state of Mbale-Tirinyi road. "For People to enjoy their rights we the three had to stage a demonstration because of the bad Mbale-Tirinyi road," he explained.
Aogon faulted government for remaining silent on the poor state of the road since terminating the contract of Dott Services, which was fixing bridges on the road. Aogon says that although President, Yoweri Museveni overturned the termination of Dot Services contract, nothing has changed on the Mbale-Tirinyi road.
"We the MPs in Eastern region are tired of repairing our vehicles caused by the bad Tirinyi road," he said. He said it was wrong for police to stop their demonstration, saying it is for the good of every person using the road including the officers.
Some of the parts of the road that had already been worked on have developed huge potholes and gullies