Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) Solidarity Statement with the People of Uganda on the Promulgation of Uganda’s Public Order Management Bill
The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition would like to express its solidarity with the people of Uganda following the move by the Museveni-led Government to institute the Public Order Management Bill (POMB) into law on 6 August, 2013.
We note the disquieting similarities between the POMB as promulgated in Uganda and Zimbabwe’s Public Order and Security Act (POSA) which has been used by the Zimbabwean authorities to thwart freedom of expression, association with dire effects on a wide range of other freedoms in Zimbabwe since its inception.
Such legislation (Zimbabwe’s Public Order and Security Act and Uganda’s Public Order Management Bill) follow in archaic tradition of repressive laws passed by colonial governments in Africa as Zimbabwe’s POSA is a colonial relic, born out of the Law and Order Maintenance Act (LOMA) which was used by the colonial administration in pre-independence Zimbabwe, to thwart nationalist efforts at self determination and freedom. It is our contention that both POMB and POSA are throwbacks to that period, dusted and blackened by our governments ostensibly to serve the same purposes as their colonial predecessors.
We fully concur with the views of the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) and other Human Rights Defenders from Uganda who have correctly argued that, such laws are “prone to subjective interpretation which could lead to restriction of citizens’ rights to political participation, association and freedom of expression and opinion”.
We note that the Bill has not been made public after allegedly being passed into law, and share concerns around the ‘communication vacuum by government who are the initiators of the original Bill and Parliament which is in possession of the passed Bill.’
The Coalition recalls, with nostalgia Ugandan President Museveni’s 1986 characterization of the African Union (then OAU) as “ a trade union of Dictators”. It notes with regret that as the years have passed, with repression of the Media, crack own on the LGBTI community, and now with the POMB, President Museveni himself, seems to have transmogrified, from the new promising democrat from 1986, into a full member of
the trade union of Dictators, judging on past and current form.
The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition urges the people of Uganda to remain strong and committed in pursuit of their rights, which invariably means a strong resolve in checking its governments Authoritarian tendencies as well as building an alternative democratic culture. With regards to POMB. We urge the respect of citizens’ right to know the contents of the piece of legislation, and encourage the legislature to ensure that these contents do not obfuscate or limit fundamental rights of citizens.
As we express our solidarity, we are cognizant of the similarities between the plight of the Ugandan people and ours in light of the long-serving national leaderships, which seem to have lost their pulse and understanding of people’s interests and their pursuits of freedom as denoted by respective records of undemocratic governance.
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Issued by: Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
Contact Persons: 1. Thabani Nyoni, Spokesperson, Mobile: +263 772 779 880 /+263 712 642 932, Email: matshelela@gmail.com 2. MacDonald Lewanika, Director, Mobile: +263 772 913 418, Email: mlewanika@gmail.com ; mcdonald@crisiszimbabwe.org Email: info@crisiszimbabwe.org ; publications@crisiszimbabwe.org Website: www.crisiszimbabwe.org