<\/p>\n
Prior to his entry into the meeting, the Minister sent a message to the conference Convenor requesting details of the meeting.\u00a0 The program and all the training materials relating to the conference were sent to him, and the Minister asked to sit in on the proceedings.\u00a0 There being nothing to hide, the Convenor invited him to attend the meeting.\u00a0 Little did we know that the Minister would flare up in anger, make baseless accusations about the gathering and order the meeting closed.\u00a0 I was personally shocked by the action of the Minister, and the level of violent infuriation and intolerance he displayed.\u00a0 For a man of God, I saw no compassion, a great deal of prejudice and an utter unwillingness to listen.\u00a0 The Minister was too angry to hear good sense and simply failed to respond to any pleas for reason, ignoring both myself and Hope.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Reflecting on what happened on Tuesday, it is quite clear to me that the Minister over-stepped all boundaries of rational behavior.\u00a0 But more importantly, he blatantly violated the Law.\u00a0 In the first instance, every Ugandan has the right to assemble, speak freely and to have an education.\u00a0 This was a workshop convened to conduct training in skills that every citizen is entitled to.\u00a0 Secondly, although the Minister even went so far as to make the laughable claim that the gathering could have been planning a military coup or was plotting to disrupt national security, there is not an iota of evidence to support either claim.\u00a0 But I was most shocked that the Minister asserted that the government had all the right and the power to stop any kind of gathering that was taking place anywhere in the country; what a statement of arrogance and unbridled power!\u00a0 I find this wholly unacceptable and unsupported by any provision in the law.\u00a0 It is well known that if a gathering is to be stopped, there must be reasonable grounds to do so accompanied by the relevant legal documents, such as a court instruction or a Police order.\u00a0 The Hon. Minister was in possession of neither.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s actions by the Hon. Minister do not have any support in the 1995 Constitution of Uganda, or in any law known to me.\u00a0 Indeed, as I look ahead to the future Uganda that I want my grandchildren to live and thrive in, it is not the one I witnessed on Tuesday.\u00a0 Impunity comes in many guises; while the fascist actions of that day focused on a small group of activists, there is no telling who the target will be tomorrow.\u00a0 Autocratic government officials like the Rev. Simon Lokodo belong to an era I thought we had left far behind.<\/p>\n
By: Dr Hilda Tadria<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.africlub.net\/awdf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/workshop-scene.jpg\" "\\"workshop")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At a hotel in Entebbe this week, I was subjected to an experience that I would not wish upon my worst enemy.\u00a0 I am a recently retired (but not tired) almost 70 year old married mother of two and grandmother of seven. \u00a0For many years, I have trained and mentored young people in leadership skills […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[596,91,597,439,598,180],"class_list":["post-2161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-ethics","tag-leadership","tag-morals","tag-rights","tag-sexual-minorities","tag-uganda"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n