Traffic Police officers have been battling with private car owners since morning over the misunderstood presidential directive on lifting a ban on private cars.
While addressing the nation on Monday night on the updates of Covid-19, President Yoweri Museveni said that private cars will be allowed to move but carrying a maximum of three people however after distribution of face masks which is going to take two weeks.
However many private cars owners misinterpreted this statement. By Tuesday morning, a good number of private car owners were already on the roads only to be intercepted by traffic police officers and their vehicles impounded.
This forced angry car owners to ask officers to go and tell president Museveni to stop addressing the nation in the language people don’t understand.
“This is the time president Museveni has to change the language he uses while addressing the nation because many people don’t understand him and in the end, we fall in the traps of his hostile officers who can not even listen to us, but just want to beat and impound our vehicles,” said a one Kaddu whose vehicle was impounded.
However, a traffic officer at Bugoloobi who preferred anonymity told this website “Whenever there is a lifting of any ban we get notifications as early as possible but we have not received any and also people misunderstood the presidents’ speech. Because he said private cars will resume when free masks have been fully supplied.”
However, it’s not only private car owners who didn’t understand the president’s speech but majority of the Ugandans.
According to Cissy Kagaba, a lawyer and the Executive Director of the Anti- Corruption Coalition Uganda (ACCU), President Museveni’s speech was not clear and the president himself confused many people.
“I genuinely think the president was very deliberate in confusing us. If you are extending the lockdown, be very clear. He left us in some form of imbalance where we are not suspecting or suspecting. If it was extending the lockdown he would be very but it was bit hazy and not clear,” she said while on some local TV interview on Tuesday.
Do you have a story in your community or an opinion to share with us: Email us at editorial@watchdoguganda.com
