President Yoweri Museveni has ordered police to release all suspects on the charge of idle and disorderly. He also ordered the forces not to arrest any Ugandan on such charges again.
The development comes just one year to the 2021 presidential elections and has been seen by many as a move to impress idle youth in the opposition who were being arrested by authorities for being idle.
With several youths accusing police of harassment through trumped up charges, many stopped supporting the ruling NRM government and instead joined the opposition pressure group People Power. In an October 1st letter, the Inspector General of Police Martin Okoth Ochola instructed all police officers to with immediate effect, release all suspects in custody under the same charges and desist from making any more arrests.
“I hereby instruct all police officers to fully comply with H.E the president’s instructions on the above subject matter” he wrote.
Adding that; “all the people arrested by KCCA enforcement personnel in Kampala and are in prison for failure to pay fine of 1 million Shillings be released immediately but warned not to repeat the sale of merchandize on the pavements.”
However, the move by president Museveni to impress his potential voters could result into more thugs returning to the streets and communities where they have been terrorizing people.
As 2021 draws near, more of such drastic moves are expected to be taken by the president in order to impress the ordinary Ugandans into voting him.
