President Yoweri Museveni recently commended the Special Forces Command (SFC) forces for acting professionally when they were provoked by Kyadondo East legislator, Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu alias Bobi Wine in Arua back in August 2018. The legislator, together with others, was arrested for allegedly throwing stones at the presidential motorcade while returning from a campaign rally to replace former Arua Municipality MP, the late Col. Ibrahim Abiriga.
During the confrontation in perspective, the defiant legislator and some of his friends incurred injuries as they resisted being subdued by the soldiers who usually do not step out of regular formation unless there is a viable risk in the vicinity as was the case in Arua.
While passing out police trainees at Police Training School in Kabalye, Masindi, Museveni maintained that the SFC officers acted in self defence and beat Bobi Wine ‘in a good way.’ The president said that following the incident, he was briefed and told that an MP had been beaten. He studied the incident and found that Bobi Wine had been “beaten properly, in the right way”. The president went on to explain, in a clip which went viral, and which I am sure that the MP and his camp watched over and over again, that SFC are used to “doing other things” but managed to act properly.
Museveni reported that earlier, Bobi Wine fought (by boxing) the soldiers but they subdued him and he was surprised that they acted with so much restraint (in self-defence). In reality, Museveni, a very kind hearted and rational individual, had feared something worse may have befallen the MP whose ignorance, recklessness and violent tendencies are on record. Had SFC not acted with maximum moderation, the MP had put his life and that of his entourage in immediate danger. As it happened, an innocent life of Yasin Kawuma was lost after he was exposed in the high risk zone. It could have been anyone including Bobi Wine, or even the President, and that’s why people should never risk provoking security personnel since they work to protect everyone under very risky circumstances.
When security personnel talk of “beating properly”, they mean “not excessively”; that is, not fatally. Nobody would be surprised to be roughed up by security personnel in the course of enforcing order anywhere in the world.
Interestingly, while Bobi Wine is posturing with legalism, he is on record boasting that he beat up the SFC soldiers. This he has stated on a number of occasions, including during his Kyarenga Extra concert at Busabala late in 2018. His counterpart, Mityana Municipality MP, Francis Zaake also boasted to that they had given the SFC men a good beating. Zaake’s admission came two years before Museveni’s.
While nobody doubts that SFC was in action on the day in question, was what done by SFC out of the range of their job in protecting their principal? Did Bobi Wine expect to be served tea and bacon? What is SFC’s record in regard to handling civilians? Did it have to be Bobi Wine caught in the melee? Was it a coincidence? Not exactly!
The same Bobi Wine was among ringleaders of a siege on Parliament of Uganda when MPs opposed to the lifting of the “age limit” from the Constitution put the House under lockdown and failed normal business from going on. When security came to restore order, Bobi Wine was among those who staged a fight against the men, resulting in damage to Parliament property and a scuffle that almost cost life and was seen worldwide. In his earlier life, the Kyaddondo East MP was often involved in scuffles and physical confrontations, at one time hammering musician Jose Chameleone (now aspirant for Kampala Lord Mayor seat) and giving him a swollen face.
Bobi Wine was not an innocent participant in the Arua incident and is likely to be involved in more such incidents in future if not counseled well. He uses the incident to win sympathy from the public and donors. Why didn’t he sue earlier and receive redress and compensation from Government?
While planning to sue, the MP should also come clean on the injuries he claims to have sustained, including a cracked skull, broken spine, broken left or right leg, crushed testicle and lost manhood, to mention but a few.
He should submit the medical report he went to secure from US experts where he went soon after the incident. Two years after the incident, the medical report is missing and denying the “victim” a chance for ample compensation and incontrovertible grounds with which to buy sympathy-that he was tortured.
Further to that, thinking of going to ICC, a biased, imperialist institution is a shame for anybody claiming to have the interests of Uganda and Africa at heart. It is bad calculation for any leader worth his salt when should be aiming to resolve our internal issues ourselves.
The author is a Presidential Assistant in Charge of Media Management
Contact: kirundaf2@gmail.com
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