Ugandan Opposition Leaders Turn Kampala Into a Hooting City

After it became clear that government would not allow any opposition leaders to walk to work in protest against the high fuel and food prices, opposition leaders have now declared that they would no longer walk to work because doing so had become too risky to members of the public. The tear gas of different colors had become a source great suffering for innocent members of the population.Stray bullets have also killed innocent by-standers as people walked to work. We also saw serious police brutality on the protestors which made walk to work a rather unproductive means of protest against high food prices.

The opposition leaders however, say, rather than walk to work, Ugandans should instead step up their nuisance levels by making serious noise in the city for at least 5 minutes every 5pm local time. Since this alternative looks a less hazardous way to protest against the government, many Ugandans have been sucked into this with serious consequences for city dwellers. The city of Kampala and major regional towns get extremely noisy when it gets to 5 o’clock in the evening every working day.

Taxi drivers, Boda-Boda cyclists, motorists and market vendors have continued to stun Traffic Police by making really serious noise using whatever objects they lay their hands on. The kind of noise that engulfs the city every evening has started making the government feel rather uncomfortable. They for example have issued directives to police to arrest anybody making noise in the city. Policemen  have been instructed to take number plates of motorists who hoot at 5 pm in the city.

Many motorists think this directive cannot be enforced because hooting is something that any one driving on the road cannot avoid doing. What started as some little noise seems to be getting very popular with Ugandans who unfortunately, seem to be politically irritating the establishment as they engage in the evening noise. We hope the government will deal with this new mechanism of protest just like they dealt with the walk to work protest.