By Spy Uganda
The Uganda Police on Monday violently arrested Makerere University Research Fellow Dr Stella Nyanzi for allegedly staging protests against the Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown.
Stella Nyanzi, a government critic, was arrested by police officers as she organised a protest for more food distribution by the government to people struggling with measures imposed to control the spread of the new coronavirus in Uganda.
We have established that Nyanzi has since been charged for allegedly inciting violence after she led a group of protesters against what they called “slow distribution” of food and other relief goods to vulnerable people affected by coronavirus-related restrictions.
Stella Nyanzi, a vocal critic of President Yoweri Museveni, together with a small group of activists, was arrested as she was marching towards the office of Prime Minister, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, in Kampala.
In a petition on Monday, Nyanzi and others had urged the government to revise anti-coronavirus measures that have benefitted the rich and “created an apartheid state and occasioned avoidable suffering upon many vulnerable Ugandans, especially women and low-income earners.”
Through the petition, the activists also called for food distribution for those in need and free face masks for everyone, as well as for the release of political prisoners and those held for violating measures meant to contain COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
However, Police spokesman Patrick Onyango said Nyanzi had been arrested “for inciting violence”.
“She is exploiting the COVID-19 situation to advance her political motives,” he told Reuters News Agency.
Nyanzi earned a huge following on social media for her bold attacks on President Yoweri Museveni over his crackdown on political dissent.
Uganda has implemented one of Africa’s strictest lockdowns, including a dusk-to-dawn curfew. It has also closed businesses and schools, banned public gatherings and the use of private and public vehicles other than those of essential workers such as medical staff.
To date, the country has recorded 260 confirmed coronavirus cases and no related deaths according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University,
In August last year, a magistrate’s court convicted Nyanzi on charges of cyber-harassment and sentenced her to 18 months in jail.
She subsequently appealed her sentence and a judge in February quashed the ruling.
