UGANDA: There is no law against drink-walking, says DPP

By MERCY NALUGO.

The Director of Public Prosecution, (DPP), Mr Richard Butera, has criticised new measures announced by the police to arrest drunken pedestrians, saying they would be acting outside the law.

As a result, Parliament has summoned the Inspector General of Police, Lt. Gen. Kale Kayihura, to explain where the Force derives the mandate to arrest drunken pedestrians.

Under the stringent new measures, pedestrians will be arrested for “drink-walking” in an effort to curb what traffic police says are people endangering their own lives and those of other road users. But Mr Butera said there is no law that bars people from walking after drinking.

“Whereas it is undesirable for people to walk while drunk, but they are not breaking any traffic laws and it is improper for police to arrest them,” said the DPP. He said traffic laws set limits on the amount of alcohol a person takes “but this is in respect to people who drive after drinking. There is no traffic law stopping people from walking while drunk.”

Mr Butera, who was appearing before the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee to defend his department’s budget estimates for the coming financial year, was responding to concerns from MPs on why police were arresting drunken pedestrians. They said police were using the policy as an extortion scheme.

Source: Daily Monitor (23/04/2013): http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/There-is-no-law-against-drink-walking--says-DPP/-/688334/1755654/-/mo0cdlz/-/index.html