Police have Monday arrested a group of youths who carried a coffin to Parliament in protest of the rampant cases of kidnaps and killings that target women in Uganda.
The youth who are part of the so called ‘The Alternative’ dropped a coffin at Parliament on Monday morning. Two of these, identified as Lutta Ferdinand and Achom Beckie have been arrested.
They accuse Members of Parliament of doing nothing to safeguard the lives of girls and women who have recently been victims of kidnaps and murder. But Parliamentary Police rushed to apprehend them for holding a demonstration in disregard of the Public Order Management law.
Cases of kidnap have become predominant since the start of this year, the most prominent one being that of 28-year-old female, Susan Magara who was kidnapped and killed in February. Since her death several other women and young girls have also been kidnapped for ransom and others have ended up dead.
According to Police statistics, a total of 42 kidnap cases have been reported and investigated by Police in the last four months. Out of these, 7 cases involved murder with 8 victims. Eight people had been rescued as of May 3, while 7 victims were still missing.
Police say preliminary findings indicate that causes of these kidnaps are economic (including financing terrorist groups) while others are attributed to crimes for passion, ritual sacrifices, and self kidnapping.
Some political groups including the Women’s Leagues of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and Democratic Party (DP) are planning to hold mass demonstrations to protest the plight of women.