Humanist

Why is it the case that every time a ‘big person’ is arrested you hear things like “the Police arrested him or her like a chicken thief” being said?  

For example, according to Katuntu, Mr Walubiri’s lawyer, his client was arrested at Uganda House, the seat of the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) party, on Friday evening like a chicken thief.

And Katuntu went on to reportedly lament that arresting a very senior lawyer in the country in such a manner is sickening.

(Source: Daily Monitor in “Police arrest UPC’s Peter Walubiri).

Which got me thinking, how does the Uganda Police Force arrest chicken thieves in your village? In my village I doubt highly that the Police ever arrests chicken thieves.

By the time they arrive, in their characteristic snail pace response to places they are actually needed, the fellow residents of the chicken thief, village mates, will have already meted out the punishment.

By the time the Police arrive, if ever, the chicken thief will have been beaten senseless or even sometimes to death; or even tyre-burnt to ash.

I clarify, I do not condone police brutality or abuse of human rights.

Nor do I condone citizens taking the law into their own hands and meting out punishments not proportional to the crime. But my question is valid.

Do ‘big people’ in Uganda expect other ‘lesser people’ to be arrested different?

If the ‘big people’ think that the way the Police arrests them is humiliating and not befitting them, should this sentiment not be extended to all citizens of Uganda – as in every Ugandan should be arrested with dignity?

This post was first published in 2016.