The Police
may be drunk with POMBE
By Zahra Abdul
For starters, I do
not know much about this Public Order Management Bill and don’t lay any claims
on how it operates as a law. My colleagues chide me about it, some crazy ones
who indulge in the bitter, have even gone so far as naming it POMBE (name for
local brew). While I have read inexplicably negative reviews about it,
intellectual parliamentary discourse has never been my thing, until POMB hit me
in a recent incident in Mengo, which had me transformed ...well, you could say
“POMBE-CALLY”.
You would think I
must be certifiably insane for even renaming this POMB, but yesterday I was
arrested by the police for sitting down with a friend in a public place
opposite a church in Mengo. At that point it didn’t occur to me that, sitting
next to a highway would incur us the wrath of the police. Yet in this case, we
were faced with an unwavering policeman whom we tried to explain to that we had
no ill-will with anyone, and anything. Yes, you guessed right. He asked for
50K, we jammed.
That refusal earned
me and my friend a stint on the “holy torture” rack of a police station in
Mengo. They threatened to detain us overnight and take us to court the next
day. POMB-E was really in force here. But we stood our ground and refused to be
hoodwinked, and we were released after 20 minutes. Those 20 minutes of hell,
turned me literary almost pink. I intimated to a friend about this, and he
pointed to POMB, like “gal, which rock have you been living under lately,
didn’t you know?” Rightly or wrongly, I was shocked by what for me was a
revelation, my first experience at a police station, and with this POMB thing,
probably many more to come. Perhaps it’s just me. Maybe I am just paranoid.
Perhaps the rumours I have heard of heavy government hand if you were found
seated in twos or threes eating your chicken is not true.
 |
| Even simple gatherings like this one will be enough to provoke the police |
Maybe the rumour of
a heavy government hand if you were found whispering to someone is really a
myth. Eh... the lugambo in Uganda,
especially on social media has gone off the rails. You could easily debunk this
myth, until it happens to you. And while POMB gives the police instant
gratification, the buzz on social media shows otherwise, and suggests it has
left the nation wheezing and riddled with this lugambo. In fact while the police could see in Deputy Speaker,
Jacob Oulanyah (who helped pass this law) a super-hero, critics out there see a
law that was passed recklessly. I am not sure it was, but I surely witnessed
its potential to be abused, in fact I am on bunkenke
(tenterhooks) now. Yet, on the other hand, I am not sure if my arrest had
anything to do with this POMB thing. Maybe I appeared idle and disorderly? Yes,
when it comes to my yoghurt, I can be overly protective, and show certain
ferocious signs, but folks...I was in Mengo, and the nearest “yoghurt” or
semblance of one as far as my eyes could see, was a cow mowing nearby.
 |
| Such actions by police will no longer be news |
So next time you sit down to eat your much
prized fried cassava, think twice. You never remember these things but the
crapulence this POMB could bring to your life, makes it worth considering every
time you walk out. Personally, I would remove this POMB thing instantly,
because “Pombe-cally” it’s getting into the heads of the police. Keep your eyes
peeled folks. Pop some popcorn as you watch this POMB saga unfold. Sit back and
watch the end of Kaboozi-cating on a bench as we know it. Would it be “prosaic”
of me to suggest that with this law, the police have the potential of getting
drunk with power? Well, over to you Afande Kayihura
No comments:
Post a Comment