The Police have arrested two National Unity Platform (NUP) youth leaders over an alleged planned protest against the first regional Parliamentary sitting in Gulu City.
The suspects were picked up Monday morning from the party’s regional offices in Pece-Laroo Division in Gulu City.
Their arrest came just a day before the regional Parliamentary sitting scheduled to take place from August 28th to 30th at Kaunda Parade Grounds in Gulu City.
Police identified the suspects as Samuel Okello Sebbi alias Sebastian Ogoni 30, the NUP Mobilizer for Northern Uganda, and Brian Jakisa Mungu 32, NUP Coordinator in-charge of Acholi Subregion.
Aswa West Police Spokesperson David Ongom Mudong told this website that the suspects were arrested in possession of placards with inciting messages against the regional Parliamentary sitting.
Mudong says the suspects have been charged with incitement to violence.
He however notes that the suspect’s arrest where largely motivated by an old case in which they had been accused of committing assault and incitement to violence but had been on the run.
According to the charge sheet, the Police charged Ogoni with incitement to violence contrary to section 51 (a) of the penal code act reportedly committed in November 2023.
It’s alleged on a fateful day, the suspect and others still at large on November 8, 2023, while at Limo Cell, Pece-Laroo Division without lawful excuse used a public address system and made statements that “Balaalo must go” calculated to bring death, or physical injury to Balaalo community living in Acholi land.
Meanwhile, Jakisa Mungu was charged by the Police with assault occasioning actual bodily harm contrary to section 236 of the Penal Code act. The Police alleged that on April 8, 2024, while at Forgod Center in Gulu City assaulted Emmanuel Pacoto thereby occasioning actual bodily harm.
Mudong says the suspects will appear in court on charges that have already been sanctioned by the state attorney while the fresh charge is still under police investigations.
Caesar Lubangakene, the NUP Northern Region Spokesperson however says the arrests are politically motivated since NUP has been against the regional Parliamentary sitting with its leaders publicly boycotting the event.
Lubangakene says their party members were brutally arrested while preparing to address the press and notes that such actions erode public trust in law enforcement and undermine the principles of democracy, freedom of expression, and assembly.
The regional Parliamentary sitting which will be held in four traditional regions of Northern, Eastern, Central, and Western Uganda has attracted criticism from a section of Ugandans who describe it as an unnecessary burden to the taxpayers. It’s estimated that the sittings will cost a total of 20 billion shillings with each region spending 5 billion shillings.
Leader of Opposition in Parliament Joel Ssenyonyi early this month noted that the opposition members from NUP will boycott the regional parliamentary sitting citing it as an unjustifiable waste of public resources.
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