Just when Ugandans thought the Uganda Police Force (UPF) had exhausted all means of intimidation against opposition supporters, the force has unearthed a new depth straight from the abyss.
On Tuesday, at a National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential campaign rally in Kawempe, police deployed hounds to intimidate peaceful citizens--a move that is both shocking and deeply symbolic of the erosion of democratic norms in Uganda.
Videos and media reports show the dogs, which appear to be hounds rather than trained sniffer dogs, attacking supporters of NUP presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi to add to the violent dispersals, pepper sprays, police vehicle deliberate knocking people, and arbitrary arrests.
This is not simply an overreach--it is a deliberate act of fear-mongering reminiscent of some of the darkest moments in modern history. The apartheid-era South African police famously used dogs to maul Black demonstrators, while in the United States, police unleashed dogs on peaceful civil rights activists, including children, to enforce oppression.
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Uganda Police, it seems, is taking a leaf from that grim playbook.
The Uganda Law Society (ULS) has rightly condemned this act as a "grave breach of the citizen's right to peaceful assembly," emphasizing that the police Canine Unit is trained for specialised tasks--crime-scene investigation, explosives and narcotics detection, tracking, and search-and-rescue--not political crowd control.
As ULS Vice President Anthony Asiimwe pointed out, "Unleashing dogs at a campaign rally is a tool of threat, fear, and force, and this must not be tolerated."
History reminds us that Uganda's law enforcement has long deployed intimidation tactics against opposition forces. From Bwana Gilbert Arinaitwe's infamous hammer against Dr Kizza Besigye in 2011, to the routine use of tear gas, batons, and arbitrary arrests, the UPF has consistently left Ugandans wondering if the officers stop to think that they are treating fellow citizens and taxpayers so. They have clobbered, driven over, and shot opposition supporters, and now, they have added hounds to the arsenal of terror.
The implications are clear: setting dogs on citizens is not only a physical threat; it is a psychological weapon designed to instill fear and suppress political expression. Innocent bystanders, including people merely passing through Kawempe, were also arrested, demonstrating the reckless disregard for constitutional protections of liberty, due process, and human dignity.
Uganda is a country that claims democratic credentials, yet these tactics raise serious questions about the state's commitment to the rule of law. If law enforcement can unleash living creatures as instruments of political coercion, where does that leave ordinary citizens seeking only to exercise their rights?
The ULS has called for immediate action: an unconditional halt to the use of police dogs at political rallies, the release of all innocents arbitrarily arrested, and strict adherence to constitutional policing standards. These demands are not merely procedural--they are essential to preserving the fabric of a society that claims to be democratic.
Uganda Police has repeatedly demonstrated it can find new ways to intimidate and oppress opposition supporters. Tuesday's episode is yet another stark reminder that vigilance, public scrutiny, and legal oversight are more crucial than ever.
The nation must not allow its security apparatus to descend further into tactics that belong in history books on oppression rather than in a democratic republic.
It was disappointing that the Electoral Commission on Wednesday chose to talk about everything wrong in the electioneering except condemn the abuse of power by security forces. These are incidents captured on camera as irrefutable evidence and the whole world is watching.
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Justice Simon Byabakama, the EC chairman, cannot feign ignorance on such. Condemning the repressive antics of setting dogs on campaign crowd would go along way in setting the EC as playing neutral.
Uganda has seen arbitrary arrests, pepper spray, and brute force before--but hounds? This is a new, ugly chapter in the saga of political intimidation, and one that should shock every citizen who values freedom, democracy, and the sanctity of human dignity.
As ULS affirms, the right to freedom of association and peaceful assembly is non-negotiable. And if these rights are violated with impunity, the nation teeters on the edge of normalising authoritarian tactics in everyday politics. Police should not take the nation 100 years back when the whole world can see these things.
