“Come on @PoliceUg, you didn’t even beat the guy who killed those kids in the day care or the people who stoned the rugby player to death but you beat a youth who was walking around during cleaning time! Don’t you have bigger priorities! Shame on you!”
Ugandan media personality and socialite Sheilah Gashumba has criticised the Uganda Police Force over the alleged assault of people accused of refusing to participate in the National Cleaning Day exercise.
The incident, which has sparked debate on social media, reportedly involved two armed police officers beating a man instead of arresting him for allegedly failing to comply with the clean-up exercise.
In a strongly worded post on her X account, Gashumba questioned the police’s use of force, arguing that law enforcement officers should arrest suspects rather than assaulting them.
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“I thought when you break the law you get arrested! When did it change to being beaten when you break the law!!!” she wrote.
Gashumba further criticised the police, claiming they had shown less force in handling suspects linked to more serious crimes.
“Come on @PoliceUg, you didn’t even beat the guy who killed those kids in the day care or the people who stoned the rugby player to death but you beat a youth who was walking around during cleaning time! Don’t you have bigger priorities! Shame on you!”
Gashumba also questioned the approach being used to enforce the National Cleaning Day initiative, suggesting that officers should encourage participation rather than resort to violence.
“You could have handed him a broom to clean instead of doing this,” she added.
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The media personality further argued that the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), which is mandated to oversee sanitation in the city, should take the lead in promoting cleanliness instead of relying on forceful police enforcement.
According to Gashumba, providing cleaning tools and encouraging public participation would be a more effective strategy.
“There are so many ways you can make the whole country wake up and clean, and beating them won’t help the promotion of your new exercise. Buy brooms, give them to the officers. If they find anyone on the roads, let the officers hand the brooms to them. Shame upon these police officers! I’m so angry!”
Her comments have added to the growing public discussion surrounding the enforcement of the National Cleaning Day exercise, with some Ugandans calling for humane methods of ensuring compliance while others maintain that citizens should actively participate in keeping their communities clean.
The Uganda Police Force had not publicly responded to Gashumba’s remarks at the time of publication.
