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Impunity for past electoral violence is a major barrier to a free and fair election in Uganda in 2011. Perpetrators from all sides of the political spectrum have very rarely faced justice for crimes committed in past elections. Those responsible for earlier offences, as well as those contemplating crimes, will feel unconstrained in future elections barring new measures and increased enforcement,” reads a summary of the Human Rights Watch report Preparing for the Polls: Improving Accountability for Electoral violence in Uganda. The report was released in Kampala on December 4, 2009.

The report chronicles crimes that have been committed in past elections by Uganda government forces and ruling party candidates but little, if anything, has been done to deter recurrence of the same incidents.

That report cites an incident three years ago when an army officer beat up an opposition official and was purportedly removed from his job. But shortly later, he was reinstated. “In 2006, Lt. Col. Dick Bugingo, head of Military Police, slapped Maj. Rubaramira Ruranga, head of election management for the FDC. The report says “Lt. Colonel Bugingo was eventually convicted of public assault, replaced in his position and allegedly “severely reprimanded” by the Chief of Defence Forces, but shortly thereafter reinstated to his former position as Commander of Military Police in 2006. In 2007 Museveni promoted him to colonel and retired him,” the report observes.

The report notes that another disturbing election for a parliamentary seat occurred in Bugweri County. The election pitted NRM’s Kirunda Kivejinja against opposition FDC’s Abdu Katuntu. There was tension in Bugweri and local opposition supporters were beaten into voting Kivejinja. Others were jailed on flimsy charges without being taken to court. Katuntu ultimately lost but petitioned the High Court which nullified Kivejinja’s election as fraudulent. The judge, Musoke-Kibuuka, ruled that there was widespread intimidation, violence and torture of Katuntu’s supporters and agents. An election does not constitute a war of guns and sticks. It is a civic activity. Kivejinja ran his election campaign as if it was a war. He did so to the extent of even establishing or allowing the establishment of a detention room in his home for those he wanted to force into supporting him,” the judge ruled.

The HRW report expresses skepticism that nobody was ever prosecuted and more intriguingly the police who will handle the 2011 election security fall under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a docket that Kirunda received after his failure in the elections.

Kirunda is not a lone offender. The report names another minister still serving in government whose election to parliament was marred by violence. The report also notes again that in 2001 the parliamentary contest for Kinkizi West James Garuga Musinguzi sued then Defence Minister (now security minister) Amama Mbabazi for election violence and intimidation against his supporters. The High Court heard that Mbabazi’s campaign manager, James Kamwesiga, shot John Bosco Twinomuhwezi, Musinguzi’s supporter, in the eye. He lost the eye.

The judge Egonda Ntende ruled that Mbabazi’s campaign manager, who was a serving officer in the Internal Security Organisation (ISO), “was not in lawful possession of the firearm and was in fact not allowed by law to serve as a campaign manager because of his position in the ISO.” The judge nullified Mbabazi’s election as being fraudulent. The HRW noted that “in spite of numerous reports to police of cases of assaults, beatings and shootings of Musinguzi’s agents and supporters by Mbabazi’s agents no action was taken against the perpetrators to bring them to justice.

The report further notes that a case filed at the High Court in Mbarara against Mbabazi’s campaign manager and the Attorney General has never been heard since 2001.

The HRW interviewed various people to find out why serious electoral offences and criminal acts are rarely prosecuted in the country.

Some respondents said the judiciary focuses so much on the resolution of election petitions in the short time possible and this relegates criminal prosecutions below on the priority list thus creating less political will for their investigations.

According to one academic that Human Rights Watch interviewed, “electoral petitions are ultimately more concerned with the political survival of the politicians than the integrity of the electoral process.”

The lawyers interviewed attributed the impunity of the electoral crimes to lack of accountability. The law requires that before charges are brought against anyone, they have to be sanctioned by the Director of Public Prosecutions who is appointed by the president and approved by parliament. The lawyers say that the DPP is reluctant to institute criminal charges against high ranking people in the ruling party. This explains why people like Mbabazi and Kivejinja have never been exposed to criminal prosecution despite reasonable evidence to support their indictment.

The HRW also indicted the government for orchestrating  politically motivated prosecutions during elections. It says that government selectively applied laws of sedition, libel, and incitement to violence to “harass the opposition and disrupt their campaigns.”

The report also names the trial of FDC party members Ronald and Michael Ocula in a dubious murder case. The court later ruled that the evidence tendered by the prosecution showed clearly that it was “a crude and amateur attempt at creative work” meaning it was concocted. The report further notes that FDC president Kizza Besigye’s treason trial is not yet concluded. His trial has so far taken four solid years having started in 2005. The HRW expresses worry that if the treason charges come up once campaigning has commenced [in 2010], it will reinforce the notion that this prosecution is politically motivated and only used to destabilise the opposition during elections.

The report asks the international community to hold Ugandan government to its international obligations including under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to guarantee people’s right to participate freely in choosing their government. 

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