Some of the c who appeared before the Nakawa Magistrates Court on July 30, 2024, have vowed not to participate in any unlawful assembly after the court granted them bail, saying the organizers had other motives that they were not aware of.
While speaking to the media immediately after being granted bail, social media influencer Bernard Ewalu Olupot said that the one week he spent in Luzira, he reflected upon his life and realized he was misled by people who stayed in their offices on their computers.
“Many of the activists who were pushing for the march to Parliament demonstrations were only active online in their air-conditioned offices on their computers while pushing innocent Ugandans to go to the streets to be brutally arrested,” Olupot said.
Faiza Salima, who is a radio presenter, appreciated her family and friends for pushing for her release but vowed never to engage in such actions again.
“Some of us are lucky that we are media personalities and we had people pushing for our release, but in one week my employees threatened to replace me; I missed a lot of deals (gigs), and above all, apart from the noise on social media, it was only close family that came through for me; you saw them in court standing surety for me,” Salima said.
Salima warned young people that unless they are sure about who is behind the cause, they shouldn’t join for the sake of bandwagon.
“It’s only now that we have got bail that I have been informed that some people pocketed lots of money to organize these demonstrations, and some of us were genuinely following, not knowing some actors were fully funded, and this makes the whole demonstration lose meaning,” she added.
On July 23, 2024, some young people took to the streets of Kampala demonstrating against corruption in Parliament, where dozens were arrested; some have already been given bail while some are yet to be brought to court for bail hearing.
The President of Uganda accused foreign donors of supporting some individuals in Uganda who have been mobilizing and facilitating young people to go on the streets and demonstrate and cause chaos in the city, an act he vowed never to permit.
