By Oweyegha-Afunaduula
I do not usually argue with my children, whose ages range from 35 to 54. We exchange ideas. Occasionally, I continue teaching them and they continue learning in an andragogical way, in which we are all learners and teachers. However, the other day, an exchange between one of my sons and myself turned into a healthy argument, but I do not remember convincing each other on the difference between a riot and a protest.
My argument was that a protest is not the same as a riot. I was drawing from my experience at Makerere University in the late 1990s when, as Secretary General of the Makerere University Academic Staff Association (MUASA), I would organise sit-down protests together with my Chairman, Dr Moses Mukiibi, and other members of the MUASA Committee, which at one time included Mrs Mary Okurut, who was Vice-Chairperson before she was later appointed by President Tibuhaburwa Museveni to serve in his government as a minister.
Our protests arose whenever the academic staff failed to reach agreement with the university administration and the University Council on how to resolve our grievances. In those days, talking and listening were balanced, but when listening resulted in no compromise, academic staff had no choice but to protest by withdrawing their academic tools and engaging in sit-down protests, sometimes called sit-down strikes.
The government would send in spies and security operatives, but they would never initiate violence, unlike what is common today. In 1997, we sustained one of our protests for 28 days. However, government, in collusion with the university administration and University Council, was able to undermine the protest by dividing MUASA into two groups—professors and non-professors—and taking two professors, Prof. Apolo Nsibambi and Prof. Kidhu Makubuya, to serve in government. There was no physical state violence against academic staff, although the unity and integrity of MUASA were violated and weakened.
It has never been the same since then. Academic staff are no longer as free and independent-minded as they were. They are filled with fear, and silence has become their tool of protection since every office has been captured by the State, thereby distorting academic freedom. Intellectual discourse is almost absent in academia. Protest as a show of disillusionment, discontent, and dissent is nearly erased, and when it occurs, it is ineffective. The situation is worse in private universities.
My son said he did not see any difference between riots and protests. He argued that since he came of age, he has observed that when people and institutions in Uganda stage protests, they almost inevitably develop into riots. Businesses are looted, and some people are killed. Although I tried to explain that protests become riots when infiltrated by individuals who have nothing to do with them, or when government applies force to quell them, he was unconvinced. He added that under such circumstances, he cannot support protests.
He also said, “Right now I have to work to make money. Whenever there are protests, I don’t work or earn, and businesses close.”
Even when I explained that without infiltration by intruders—including state security—protests would remain peaceful, he remained unconvinced.
Government has made “protecting businesses” the cornerstone of quelling any kind of protest, despite the 1995 Constitution protecting protests. With this stance, protests and riots become indistinguishable. However, when protests or rallies are organised by the National Resistance Movement (NRM) or pro-NRM institutions, they are extremely peaceful.
This implies that governance in Uganda is apartheid-like, as if the country was invaded, conquered, and occupied. Ugandans are not allowed to dissent or display discontent but are driven to subscribe to their situation as normal.
Most governments fear gatherings because they believe such assemblies can challenge or change power. Citizens are collectively perceived as enemies of the State, especially in Africa, where governments arm themselves heavily against their own people. In Uganda, citizens are simultaneously being denationalised and de-citizenised.
So what really is the difference between a riot and a protest?
In Uganda, rulers deliberately blur this distinction to control citizens’ thinking, movement, and actions. However, I take riot and protest as distinct phenomena.
A protest is an organised public demonstration of disapproval of a law, policy, strategy, idea, action, or state of affairs that harms the public interest. Without repression, issues such as corruption, building roads in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or the UPDF Act 2025 would have evoked public demonstrations.
I agree with the US government’s definition of a riot as “a disturbance of the peace by an assemblage of usually three or more persons acting with a common purpose in a tumultuous manner to the terror of the public.”
As explained, the boundary between riot and protest is erased by vested interests and state actions that sabotage well-intentioned demonstrations, causing them to degenerate into riots.
Once protests are discouraged, government claims citizens are satisfied, diverting attention from failures such as poor service delivery, unemployment, low wages, corruption, and lack of justice.
Let me end the article by giving examples of protests that were violently suppressed by the colonial government and the neocolonial NRM regime in Uganda in the fashion of a country invaded, conquered and occupied without the will of the people.
Mabira Rainforest protest (2007): Protests against the government’s decision to give away 7100 hectares of the Mabira Rain Forest to SCOL, a sugar company, turned violent, with police using tear gas and live bullets to disperse protesters.
April 1949 Buganda Kingdom riots: Protests in Buganda Kingdom demanding democracy and resignation of the Katikkiro (prime minister) Kawalya’s government turned violent, resulting in loss of lives and property.
July 2024 anti-corruption protests: Protests against alleged graft by elected leaders were met with police brutality, with over 104 people arrested and charged with public order offences.
July 23, 2024 March to Parliament protest: Anti-corruption demonstrations were violently dispersed by police, with reports of arrests, intimidation, and sexual assault of protesters.
2020 protests: Protests against the arrest of opposition leader, Bobi Wine, resulted in the deaths of at least 54 people in my district, Luuka District, and many more disappearances.
Kabaka Riots (2009): Protests triggered by the government’s ban on the Buganda King, Ronald Muwenda Mutebi, from visiting Kayings, resulted in fatalities, injuries and arrests.
Walk to Work protest (2011): Protests led by opposition leader Kizza Besigye against rising costs of living were met with police brutality.Kizza Besigye was brutally assaulted
Togikwatako campaign (2017): Protests against the amendment of the Constitution were violently suppressed by police.
These protests highlight the ongoing struggles for democracy,, freedom, justice, human rights, and accountability in Uganda.
They have helped the government to generate a lot of fear and silence in the country, which are key of its governance and leadership. Indeed fear and silence have also characterised elections since 1996 when President Tibuhaburwa Museveni offered himself for elections. During the forth coming elections we have seen how Bobi Wine, a presidential candidate, has been treated to doses of state-inspired violence., confirming that however many times elections will be held the ballot paper cannot change government because the country is under siege – invaded, conquered and occupied.
For God and My Country.
The author is a Conservation Biologist at the Center for Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis.
If you would like your article/opinion to be published on Uganda’s most authoritative news platform, send your submission on: [email protected]. You can also follow DailyExpress on WhatsApp and on Twitter (X) for realtime updates.
