How students were tricked to participate in EACOP demo

The students who took part in the protest against the European Union's (EU) resolution on Uganda's oil project were misled into thinking they were going to see Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, impeccable sources have told The Nile Post.

At least three head prefects from three different schools, whose names we will withhold, told this website that they had been informed that Nabbanja wished to meet with student leaders at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds.

They claimed that when they arrived in Kololo, instead of meeting the prime minister, they were handed placards and told to march to the EU offices in Kampala.

"They told us that we were going to meet the Prime Minister at Kololo, we did not know that we were going to be engaged in a demonstration," one of the students told Nile Post.

"When we got to Kololo, we were given soft drinks and told to wait for the Prime Minister, but after a while, they told us that because the Prime Minister was not coming, we should get placards instead and march to the EU offices."

Additionally, Nile Post has also learnt that several of the participating schools were unaware that their students would be employed in a protest.

According to a school official who spoke to our reporter under the condition of anonymity, they were asked by the Uganda National Students Association (UNSA) to permit the students to attend a meeting with Nabbanja, but they were unaware of the protest.

"When we saw our students marching in our uniforms, we were shocked. It is a meeting with the prime minister, according to what we were told," the administrator stated.

On Thursday, social media was flooded with images and videos of students demonstrating in their school uniforms against the EU's decision calling for a delay of Uganda's oil pipeline due to human rights and environmental concerns.

The students who were protesting were protected by the police, a force which has a penchant for clamping down on political protests.

Police outriders and a lead car accompanied the students as they made their way to the EU offices to deliver a petition.

The students were welcomed by the Deputy Ambassador of the EU in Uganda, François Chartrain.

The UNSA president Yusuf Welunga, who oversaw the mobilisation and told Nile Post that it was not true that the students had been misled.

He said meeting Nabbanja was "part of the programme."

On social media, some Ugandans criticised the strategy of using students to protest the EU resolution, given that the fact that not many can even tell what the acronym, EACOP, stands for.

President Museveni early this week slammed the EU resolution, and urged the EU MPs to “take away their ego” and leave Uganda’s issues to Uganda.