On December 2, the police arrested 20 people who were reportedly mobilising resources to reopen Makerere University. The university had been closed a month earlier after lecturers laid down tools demanding payment of their salary incentive dating back to February 2016.
As a result, opposition activists started mobilising for what they called a fundraising to raise over 28 billion shillings for the lecturers. They had planned to hold the event at the Freedom Square inside Makerere University.
Ingrid Turinawe, the women's league chairperson in the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), carried a white goat to Makerere for the fundraising event. She was promptly arrested at the university gate and the goat confiscated.
Other items that police confiscated included bunches of matooke, oranges, pawpaws and dummy cheques among others. Former FDC leader, Dr Kizza Besigye, who had wanted to bring a cow for the event, was never allowed to leave his home in Kasangati.
Police says the goat has been in safe custody for two months and that no one has come to claim it. ASP Jackson Amali, the officer in charge of Criminal Investigations at Makerere University Police, says they are still waiting for the owner of the goat to claim it. He adds that they do not have where to graze it.
"We have been with this goat from December 2nd and nobody has ever claimed it. Although it is part of our responsibility as police to preserve and keep exhibits, with this particular one there is some inconvenience because we have to go look for banana peels to feed it," Amali said.
Amali adds that they sometimes lack manpower to guard the exhibit.
Section 42 of the 1994 Police Act provides that if within six months from the date of the notice no person establishes his or her claim to the property, the property may be sold or destroyed by order of the magistrate.
Amali told URN that the file about the goat was transferred to Wandegeya Police Station for further investigations. When contacted, Kampala Metropolitan Spokesperson Emilian Kayima told URN that police does not rear goats.
-URN