Arresting a goat is the lowest of the Uganda police!

By Abbey Semuwemba

Kitalo nyo! I heard the Uganda Police arrested Ingrid Turinawe's goat too just because it had a red ribborn(symbol for agelimit) on one of its legs.This kind of incident just makes me want to throw up. Its a terrifying time in Uganda at the moment. It is not a surprise that tourism is way down in the country and it is only going to get worse once the age limits have been removed.It appears that police are given carte blanch to do as they please against humans and non-humans,we better buckle in. It's gonna get worse. But we must not lose hope, we must stand strong on behalf of our humanity, our compassion and our morals. Its the first time for me to see an animal arrested over political charges.

Imagine what the police are thinking of a human being who opposes Museveni in any way. The police institution is being abused, and this is unacceptable.The idea of trying to create crimes just because one disagrees with chairman Museveni politically, and target him or her or in this case the poor goat, really endangers democracy. It reminds me of what Lavrentiy Beria, the head of the KGB, said to Joseph Stalin. He said, ‘show me the man and I’ll find you the crime...’”

My point is that we should not stretch existing criminal laws to fit political opponents with whose actions we disagree. I also suspect that after the removal of the age limits,the state may be tempted to form fake rebel organisations as a way of trapping its opponents. All dictators use these methods after realising that the population no longer supports them, but these methods aren't sustainable. In the 1920s and 30s, Stalin (a Crypto Jew whose all three wives were Jewish) too founded resistance movements abroad against himself to control and kill Russian opponents in exile. It worked for a while but it was unsustainable. If people are tired of you as their leader, please just leave. Whatever you do when the population is not behind you, is unsustainable for so long. In the end, I think good will win out over evil. Identifying the real processes that create reality is the key to understand the past and present.

By the way, I read somewhere on UAH that Museveni has 'privatised elephants' in Uganda too........'Apparently, he is inviting investers to come to Uganda and take over the elephants and tourists from America can come in to kill them for sport'.

I dont know the truth of it but I think it is high time that the animal rights groups start lobbying for rights of animals in the country. In the USA,a new law in Connecticut, enacted Oct 1 2016, called Desmond's Law, gives an animal an advocate in court and thus a voice in court.

We should also heritage list all buildings or properties constructed by the government before Museveni came to power. Atleast, they will have some international protection before they are all sold out. Let me hope its not late for the National theatre!