Kampala — James Tamale

In the wake of armed robberies and murders in and around the city, President Yoweri Museveni commissioned Col. Kayanja to head a swoop code-named Operation Wembley.

Much as its intention of getting rid of a bunch of armed thugs off Kampala streets is good, controversy surrounds the legality of extra-judicial killings employed by Kayanja's uniformed boys.

At the risk of sounding anti- Operation Wembley, let me state that I'm strongly opposed to the draconian shoot-on-sight method even for offenders caught red-handed.

Reason? Our Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Right provide for the presumption of innocence until proven guilty or one pleads guilty (see article 21(3)(a)).

Otherwise, Museveni's loyal servant is breaching the Constitution.

Article 22 (1) of the Constitution 22(1) says:

"No person shall be deprived of life intentionally except in execution of a sentence passed in a fair trial by a court of competent jurisdiction in respect of a criminal offence under the laws of Uganda and the conviction and sentence have been confirmed by the highest appellant court."

In view of that, the shoot-on-sight rule, a word from the President's mouth can by no means be taken to be the law under our supposedly democratic government.