Opposition pressure group, 4GC plans to resume protests
SOURCE: THE DAILY MONITOR, 3 JULY 2012
4GC group coordinator Mathias Mpuuga says they have already filed a case against the Attorney General’s declaration banning their group and its activities
IN SUMMARY
The group says they will begin their activities on July 11 and also contest the AG’s ban of their group.
Kampala
“We have chosen to defy the ban since it is illegal. We shall contest the decision in court as we continue with our activities. We are going to launch the programme for the next phase on Wednesday,” Mr Mathias Mpuuga, the group coordinator, said.The banned political pressure group, For God and My Country (4GC), has announced a plan to resume activities on July 11. Following a five-hour meeting held at their offices on Katonga Road yesterday, the group resolved on a programme and agenda for a new phase of action for the next six months.
Police said it is investigating the meeting, which it said was illegal. “They know that what they are doing is illegal. Unless they want to operate outside Uganda but as long as they are here, we are going to follow them up, investigate and handle them accordingly,” Mr Asuman Mugenyi, the police spokesperson, said.
Mr Mpuuga, also Masaka Municipality MP, said they are contesting Attorney General Peter Nyombi’s earlier action banning Activists for Change, the group from which 4GC evolved. “We have already filed our case at the Constitutional Court, contesting the AG’s declaration,” he said.
After the meeting, Constitutional Court lawyer Peter Walubiri said: “The law under which the AG acted can be challenged since it is central to the provisions of the Constitution on freedom of assembly.” “However, this is not a legal matter and any attempts to define it in legal arguments is simplistic. Politically, 4GC and the AG are right,” he added.
Constitutional move
Mr Nyombi while declaring 4GC unlawful, quoted: “Where a society is an unlawful by virtue of a declaration by an order of the minister under subsection 2(C) and another society is formed after such a declaration, having been subject to section 61(5), any of the same office bearers as the unlawful society; having the name similar to that of the unlawful society; or having substantially the same membership as the unlawful society, shall also be deemed an unlawful.”
Mr Nyombi while declaring 4GC unlawful, quoted: “Where a society is an unlawful by virtue of a declaration by an order of the minister under subsection 2(C) and another society is formed after such a declaration, having been subject to section 61(5), any of the same office bearers as the unlawful society; having the name similar to that of the unlawful society; or having substantially the same membership as the unlawful society, shall also be deemed an unlawful.”
4GC was also faulted for the use of the National Motto “For God and My Country’, the National Flag and associated paraphernalia during their rallies, allegedly in contravention of Section 3 and 4 of the National Flag and Armorial Ensigns Act.
Seven members of 4GC have so farbeen summoned by police for questioning under the AG’s directive.
Seven members of 4GC have so farbeen summoned by police for questioning under the AG’s directive.
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