When does someone report that a person has been arrested or abducted/ kidnapped? The two words or situations have got completely different meanings. Ironically, the recent trend of opposition political activism has dramatically shifted the meaning, with specific groups christening the two interchangeably so us to suit their tastes and preferences.
For starters, the two words or scenarios have got formal definitions that have prevailed since time immemorial. The Webster dictionary defines an abduction as the act of taking someone away by force or cunning or kidnapping. The same merriam Webster dictionary goes further to define a kidnap as “confining, inveigling, abducting, or carrying away a person by force or fraud often with a demand for ransom or in furtherance of another crime.”
On the other hand, wikipedia’s definition of an arrest sharply with the definitions we have already seen above. According to Wikipedia,An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questioned further or charged.”
The definitions above clearly indicate that whereas a kidnap or an abduction is an illegal act of criminality hinged on force, an arrest, regardless of whether or not force is applied, an arrest is oftentimes an act of enforcing law and order and is legal.
We have since, severally, witnessed situations where the officials of the different political groups have been arrested, detained and sometimes charged before competent courts yet their leaders prefer using the term abduction or kidnapped. No one is attempting to clarify to the public and their support base that a kidnap only happens when one is held in ungazzetted places but not at Police or in a prison. I don’t see how and why one would sustain the allegations of ” our comrade was kidnapped” even when there has been a clear public communication from the police or any other security office confession to possession of a person in their custody. I guess each one of us is very well aware that police is not going to write to a political organization when they are coming to arrest a foot soldier and thus, there will obviously be gaps between when the suspect is arrested, when their sponsors communicate their alleged kidnap and when the authorities clear the air.
And it is increasingly looking like those who claim kidnap are in most cases positioned to benefit from the misinformation or mis definition of the situations. When one walks into the city center to protest, we all understand they have told their families and friends they may not come back home that day. Remember what NUP mobilisers, Mr Nyanzi Ssentamu and Waiswa Mufumbiro did last week? But even when it was evident that they woke up day praying and ready to be arrested, when they finally had their wish, they claimed kidnap and their leaders heralded that for days.
The big question therefore, is; should we twist circumstances and situations just because we want the sympathy of the public through misinformation, especially as the election period draws nearer?
The writer is the Deputy RCC for Nakawa Division, Kampala City.
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