Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine has spoken out on the ordeal he suffered during his arrest on Wednesday and justified his conduct and other Opposition MPs. The singer-cum-politician who together with other MPs opposed to the constitutional amendment of the Presidential age limit defied the Speaker’s order to vacate Parliament, says their behavior was called for under the circumstances.
In a message posted on his Facebook on Friday, Kyagulanyi said “gentleness has its place” and that “humility has its time” making reference to the fist fighting and chaos that Opposition MPs engaged in with security operatives moments before their arrest.
The drama began during Wednesday’s sitting when Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga suspended 25 MPs on the opposition side for defying her call for order in the session a day before. However Bobi Wine and the other suspended MPs refused to exit the chamber which prompted plain clothed SFC operatives to enter the Parliamentary chamber and drag the defiant legislators out.
But for close to an hour, the chambers had turned chaotic as the suspended legislators and other Opposition MPs physically fought Special Forces Command (SFC). MPs swung microphone stands at the security personnel while others whipped them with and belts and hurled chairs.
Kyagulanyi said that MPs in the ruling party had no moral authority to lecture the Opposition on Parliamentary decorum, civility, good manners, and morality.
“They wanted us to look on and cheer them as they raped the constitution! They wanted us to be gentle while some soldiers dragged elected representatives of the people out of the Parliamentary chamber like grasshoppers,” read Bobi Wine’s Facebook post.
“They wanted us to sing melodies for Kibuule and thank him for defiling the sanctity of parliament when he entered with a gun.”
He instead questioned the morality behind selling one’s conscience in an attempt to ‘rape’ the constitution which he said is a betrayal of constituents
“We shall not be spectators while our country is being killed, plundered and destroyed. We owe it to the present people of Uganda and the generations to come,” the Kyadondo East MP vowed.
“Gentleness has its place. Humility has its time. Decorum has its season. None of them is applicable in situations of injustice. I shall never fail ‘to do all in my power’, to defend and protect the constitution,” he added.
Quoting South African freedom fighter Nelson Mandela, Bobi Wine said that “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.”
In liberating Uganda from tyranny, President Museveni used guns and led a war in which more than 800,000 Ugandans died, Bobi Wine said.
“Are we wrong therefore to throw a few kicks and punches in self-defence and in defence of our country’s constitution? I don’t think so.”
The legislator says he is still nursing muscle aches, disclocated joints, neck pain and terrible pain following his arrest on Wednesday.
