By Sandra Birungi

Religious leaders have condemned the brutal arrest of Rtd. Bishop Zac Niringiye yesterday as part of the activists of the Black Monday movement in Kampala.

Yesterday, Bishop Niringiye was arrested together with other nine people for distributing Black Monday pamphlets highlighting corruption which at the moment is rampant in the country. They were distributing the pamphlets at Makerere University saying the youth, as the future leaders, need to be aware of the high rates of corruption in the country.

Religious leaders came out and said arresting Bishop Niringiye showed that religious leaders are not respected. Shiekh Hassan of Kibuli Mosque said he was surprised that the bishop was arrested as a law-breaker yet all he was doing was speak out against corruption. “It was ashaming that he was arrested yet he is a religious leader,” Sheikh Hassan said.

John Katende said, “It is not humane to arrest the bishop. No one is above the law but whether right or wrong, the way they arrested the Bishop was disrespectful.”

“The Police high-handedness in arresting the Bishop and other volunteers was not necessary because they were not inciting violence but only fighting corruption,” Richard Ssewakiryanga, the executive director of the national NGO Forum said. They were all released on bond and Bishop Niringiye was asked to report back to Police on February 14, while the others on February 11.