The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
ANALYSIS: What made Kenya’s Supreme Court ruling possible. Why it cannot happen in Uganda
Kampala, Uganda | IAN KATUSIIME | Minutes after the historic Supreme Court ruling in Kenya that nullified the Aug. 8 presidential election, someone tweeted a quick thought, “It is not an understatement to say that Kenya’s Supreme Court has taught other African courts a lesson.” The first take away of the ruling is that it had thrown the substantiality test out of the window, the basis on which Kizza Besigye’s presidential election petitions in 2001 and 2006 were quashed by the Supreme Court in Uganda.
The subsequent discussions delved into comparisons between Uganda and Kenya’s judicial systems. The two countries inherited their judicial systems from the colonial set up but overtime the two systems have evolved and there are salient differences.
Peter Walubiri, a constitutional lawyer told The Independent that Uganda needs more legal and judicial activism for it to match the level Kenya has reached. “The legal system in Kenya has been very activist in the democratic struggle right from the days of KANU in Daniel Arap Moi’s era. These are the products of a more vibrant system,” he adds “ULS is not as active, not on political matters”.
He adds that Kenya’s current political system insulates the country’s courts from undue pressure unlike the situation in Uganda. “Of course the political setting in Kenya is composed of various coalitions, alliances and shifting power bases which makes it impossible to have an entrenched strongman to whom everybody pays allegiance,” he said.
A point worth noting because, the current Ugandan Chief Justice Bart Katureebe, his outgoing deputy Steven Kavuma, the incoming one Justice Alphonse Owiny-Dollo and several other justices of the Supreme Court have all served in Museveni’s cabinet in the past. Not to say it compromises their independence but Kavuma earned notoriety and the moniker ‘cadre judge’ for his controversial rulings seen to be in favour of the ruling NRM party.
Selection of judges
In Uganda, the appointment of judges is done by way of recommendation from the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to the President. This is also the same for Kenya. However, there are key differences in the set-up of the JSC and how the names of selected judges finally end up on the President’s desk.
In Uganda, the chairman of the JSC is appointed by the President while in Kenya, the Chief Justice is the chairperson of the JSC, according to Article 171 of the Constitution of Kenya.
This is a key difference between the composition of the JSC in the two countries. Earlier this year, the Uganda Law Society in its proposed reforms, suggested that the head of the JSC should be the Chief Justice as a way of making the judiciary more autonomous.
In Uganda, the office of the chairperson of the JSC is fulltime and the holder cannot engage in private legal practice while holding that office. Both the chairperson and the deputy are persons qualified to be appointed as justices of the Supreme Court according to Article 146 of the Constitution of Uganda.
The other members are; one person nominated by the Public Service Commission, two advocates of not less than fifteen years’ standing nominated by the Ugandan Law Society, one judge of the Supreme Court nominated by the President in consultation with judges of the Supreme Court, justices of Appeal and judges of the High Court. Also included are two members of the public, non-lawyers, nominated by the President. The Attorney General is an ex-officio member of the Commission.
In Kenya, the president does not have the same authority when it comes to constituting the JSC. Other than the Chief Justice who is the head, the JSC in Kenya is composed of one Supreme Court judge elected by the judges of the Supreme Court, one Court of Appeal judge elected by the judges of the Court of Appeal, one High Court judge and one magistrate.
Article 171 (2) (d) of the Constitution of Kenya stipulates that of the High Court judge and magistrate, there must be a man and a woman elected by the association of judges and magistrates. Other members are the Attorney General, two advocates, one man and one woman with at least fifteen years’ experience elected by the Law Society of Kenya.
The JSC in Kenya also has one person nominated by the Public Service Commission and one woman and man to represent the public, non-lawyers, appointed by the President with the approval of the National Assembly.
To whom it may concern, 9-5-2017
I have a case of conspiracy deprivation of rights under color of law, terrorist’s acts with intent to cause me serious injury or death. Contrary to the advice of a local FBI agent that my case is civil. All actions against me are criminal not civil. I believe bribes have been taken by several of the local government officials involved in this conspiracy to acquire my real property. I have no authority to access financial records. The FBI does. In my opinion the main attacker has a severe case of narcissistic/psychopathic personality disorder. I have no authority to require those involved to take a polygraph. The FBI does. I am requesting some legitimate answers to questions I have been asking for several years and have received no response.
What exactly determines whether a case of conspiracy against right and deprivation of rights under color of law is civil or criminal. I have researched similar cases. I can find no other case in which the evidence supports one neighbor using chemicals to poison a neighbor. I have found cases where a neighbor has poisoned the neighbors pets. Those case are tried as criminal cases by a prosecuting attorney.
I finally convinced a local agent to come to my home and review my evidence. I forewarned him that a review of the evidence takes an estimated 12 hours. He advised me that he has no intention of reviewing 12 hours of evidence. This agent stayed for 2 ½ hours. He only took notes from the information I was verbally giving him. He never reviewed the evidence stating that he had seen enough evidence. Never have my witnesses been interviewed.
The county attorney advised me that he would need an independent investigation. What does that mean? I told him that I wanted an investigation. He never responded. I suppose his recent retirement suggests that he never intended an investigation be done. They have no defense. My evidence is undeniable.
According to the official website the FBI investigates cases alleging,
Fabricating evidence against or falsely arresting an individual also violates the color of law statute, taking away the person’s rights of due process and unreasonable seizure. In the case of deprivation of property, the color of law statute would be violated by unlawfully obtaining or maintaining a person’s property, which oversteps or misapplies the official’s authority.
1. False arrest and fabrication of evidence: The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right against unreasonable searches or seizures. A law enforcement official using authority provided under the color of law is allowed to stop individuals and, under certain circumstances, to search them and retain their property. It is in the abuse of that discretionary power—such as an unlawful detention or illegal confiscation of property—that a violation of a person’s civil rights may occur.
2. The Fourteenth Amendment secures the right to due process; the Eighth Amendment prohibits the use of cruel and unusual punishment. During an arrest or detention, these rights can be violated by the use of force amounting to punishment (summary judgment). The person accused of a crime must be allowed the opportunity to have a trial and should not be subjected to punishment without having been afforded the opportunity of the legal process.
3. Failure to keep from harm: The public counts on its law enforcement officials to protect local communities. If it has shown that an official willfully failed to keep an individual from harm, that official could be in violation of the color of law statute.
Significant Racketeering Activity
The FBI defines significant racketeering activities as those predicate criminal acts that are chargeable under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute. These are found in Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 1961 (1) and include the following federal crimes:
● Mail Fraud
● Obstruction of Justice
● Arson
“Domestic terrorism” means activities with the following three characteristics:
● Involve acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law;
● Appear intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination. or kidnapping; and
● Occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S.
18 U.S.C. § 2332b defines the term “federal crime of terrorism” as an offense that:
● Is calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct; and
● Is a violation of one of several listed statutes, including § 930© (relating to killing or attempted killing during an attack on a federal facility with a dangerous weapon); and § 1114 (relating to killing or attempted killing of officers and employees of the U.S.).
This began when my neighbor purchased that lot adjoining mine from the Mayor of my town. I purchased mine in 1995, completely renovated, and upgraded all structures. I had a comfortable home, a garage, and workshop which I operated a successful upholstery service. I had satisfied the loan within 5 years.
Both the neighbors and my property are legally nonconforming lots 70’w X 300’l. The frontage of both properties was 5th St. When he first constructed the illegal nonconforming garage I was concerned. The fact that not only had he regraded the fill dirt he trucked in to direct storm water onto my property, he also changed the direction of the over sized roof surface 90° from the existing garage diverting all storm water onto my property. His garage was illegal to begin with in regards to redeveloping legally nonconforming property. A building permit should have never been issued for this structure. The building official refused to address my concerns. I was advised he intended to build living quarters on the second story; The County reassessed the value of my property at a loss of $10,000 for my three undeveloped “half” lots.
The following year a suspicious fire destroyed the existing home. The neighbor apparently changed his mind about building a living quarters in the upper level of the nonconforming garage. He constructed a new over sized home; again, to large to comply with current building codes, he altered the frontage of his home, now the frontage of the home is the city alley. The building permit for this structure was signed and approved by the city building official. This permit lacked a fee amount charged and the signature of the builder.
The existing conflict of interest between those involved made it impossible for me to get any protection of my rights from law enforcement. Multiple times I attempted to contact the city building official as standard procedure provides citizens to remedy of such situations. The building officials never responded. I did catch him outside his home planting garden and showed him the aerial photo, advised him that the illegal removal of the berm was the cause of my foundation washing out. He stated that he had forgotten about that berm. I assumed he would take action as his duty describes and remedy the situation. He did not, when asked by a witness on my behalf and fellow council member if he was going to address my concerns he stated that he was not. The mayor did come by and tell me “he cannot do that but it was a private issue”. Apparently, the mayor had not reviewed the permits prior to voicing his opinion, According to the city ordinances he has no authority to act as City building official. I went to the next council meeting with the building permits in hand and before I could ask my question the Mayor volunteered his knowledge that the builder’s signature alleviates all liability of the city. At that time I submitted the building permit issued and approved by the building administrator but not signed by the builder, there were no comments made by the mayor or any other person attending the meeting. You could have heard a pin drop. My questions have yet to be answered. Public record shows the mayor implicating himself in several similar situations.
Lee County detective Bob Conlee did misrepresent his authority by acting as a building authority for the City, advising his brother, “the neighbor” that he was not responsible for my damages. The County detective had no jurisdiction or authority to act as a city official and violation of a conflict of interest being he is the brother of this neighbor.
At this point the neighbor, Mayor, building official, and Lee county detective intentionally conspired to deprive me of equal protection of the law.
I developed what I referred to as a “rash” on my shins. This was not a normal itch as from a bug bite or poison ivy, although I have never had poison ivy. This was an intense itch, according to the dermatologist it was caused by something I had never been exposed to. Only after the grass turned green in the spring did I discover the neighbor had applied toxic chemicals to my property. I verbally told him upon discovery not to apply anything to my property, not to come onto my property and followed up requesting an incident report from the Chief of Police. The neighbor continued to apply the chemical to my property routinely for the next 5 years. I did receive an incident report from the Police Chief 16 months after I requested it.
Within 9 months of first discovering the chemicals I was unable to function, I could not bear to wear clothes. My rash had developed into a full body severe skin condition; the neighbor was elected to City council after the first year of intentionally exposing me to toxic chemicals. His intent was clearly to cause me financial harm by using his position to harass me.
I was constantly being issue citations from the City, every time the charges were dismissed. The city clerk on the neighbors behalf fabricated ordinances, altered the original building permit for the new home to conflict with what my expert witness had observed when he came to the location and wrote a letter pertaining to the building permit issue to the mayor and myself, including the State drainage laws. All the summons against me for criminal acts issued by the county attorney were based on fabricated laws. Every dismissal only increased the aggression of the neighbor.
He began applying the chemicals to the city’s easement on my property. The chemicals washed across the property of two downstream neighbors, killing all living things. The neighbor called the EPA. A field investigator came to the location and took written statements from the two neighbors, and myself. I advised him that I just wanted to know what the chemical was so my dermatologist could provide treatment for a specific chemical. The field investigator advised me that I should go to the council meeting and ask them because it would be 9 months before the lab results would be completed. I went to the council meeting. The neighbor remained seated in his position as if there was no conflict of interest. Standard procedure would require him to leave the room because my complaint was against him. I told them that I needed to know what the chemical was that was applied to my property strictly for medical purposes. Not one person said a word. Not one person suggested they would find out what the chemical was. It was obvious by visually looking at my arms that my health had rapidly deteriorated. To me that was the most brutal of all the attacks on my person. The following day I stopped the Director of the street dept. and told him what had happened at the meeting. He advised me they could not tell me because they did not know any chemicals were being applied to the City easement. The EPA sent the city a warning letter stating all the laws they had violated in applying the chemicals. The reason the EPA got involved was the fact that the easement of my property was the point source of the headwater of a creek that feeds directly into the Mississippi River. The chemical was determined to be glyphosate, there is no specific test or treatment for exposure to glyphosate because it is against the law to trespass on the property of another. To apply chemicals to another person’s property, knowing it was believed to be causing health problems to the owner is criminal. The field investigator advised me that my situation is “unheard” of. The city was issued a warning letter stating all the laws that were violated in applying the chemicals. There have never been chemicals applied by the City in this area before or anywhere else in town that I am aware of.
There is no other case in which one neighbor has been allowed and assisted by law enforcement to expose his neighbor to toxic chemicals with intent to cause serious injury or death. This man was using these chemicals to eliminate me. His illegal property redevelopment was rejected from being recorded on the county plat map. He determined to remedy the situation by eliminating me and acquiring my property. He chose to do this by unlawfully applying toxic chemicals to my property. This man could have never achieved his goal of eliminating me if not for the assistance of his co-conspirators all of whom were city or county government officials. This was premeditated and nearly cost me my life.
I am requesting a full investigation into my allegations and this criminal enterprise be held accountable to the highest degree of the law.
● My right to due process was violated.
● My right to enjoy my property was violated.
● My right to free speech was violated.
● My right to equal protection of the law was violated.
Using chemicals with intent to cause serious injury or death can and should be considered attempted murder in this case. I did not willingly give up my property. A County officer stopped by my house to advised me that this man had no intention to stop using chemicals to eliminate me.
Perjury, knowingly making false police reports, fabricating evidence, fraud, obstruction of justice, conspiracy against rights, deprivation of rights under color of law. All of these allegations are all criminal offenses.
Being advised this is a civil case in my view is nothing short of advising me to take the law into my own hands. I have no authority to prosecute criminal offenses. I have no authority to search for bribes being taken by reviewing the financial records of these individual’s. The Federal authorities are the proper authority to investigate and prosecute the crimes alleged in this document. Advising me that this is a civil case is the same as telling me that for justice to be served I must invoke my rights given by the second amendment.
Is that what I should be forced to do? I need answers to these questions. I am being forced to commit a criminal offense, so justice can be served? Nobody has ever been in this position in the history of the United States. How many civil cases are filed against criminal offenses?
I know the duty of law enforcement is to protect the rights of the people. I know it is not the duty of law enforcement to fabricate evidence, act as a witness for a person who intends to violate a court order. As recent as April 2017 warn a city clerk an investigation is going to happen so she has the opportunity to suppress evidence that was prior to the warning, posted online for the public to read. When I tally it up every crime that has been committed against me in this case it completely describes what is listed on the FBI website as being high priority. An FBI investigation is required to hold government accountable for public corruption. Any information that has been or will be stated by local authorities to a higher authority will be fabricated, I know that for a fact. No person has ever reviewed my evidence. The only two people who know the facts of this story are me and my terrorist attacker, the neighbor. I have been advised this is a civil case. I strongly disagree. I was not allowed to file a trespassing complaint against this man when he was unlawfully applying chemicals to my property. I did in fact hire an attorney to sue the City, he took my money and I suspect he took some money from the neighbor. My attorney claimed he filed the complaint. He did not file a complaint.
The neighbor filed a civil complaint against me for, of all things, loss of enjoyment of his property. I within my legal rights put up a privacy curtain. The attorney that I hired to sue the city countered with a nuisance drainage complaint. He failed to question any of my “compelling” witnesses. The same witnesses he referred to as experts in their own right. He failed to notify me that a decision had been made. When I did find out a decision had been made I called him and he advised me that to file an appeal he would need $4000 and he did not want to do it anyway. He advised me that I only had 7 days left to file an appeal. I did attempt to get the transcripts from the court and spoke with a Jody Green. She advised me that the transcripts would not be available until Feb. and the price would be $27.00 I believe. I have the detail including date and amount written down in my evidence. How ethical is it for an attorney to withhold testimony and written affidavits from the court. How ethical is it for an attorney to acknowledge the judge had errors in his decision based on what the only relevant witness the neighbor had. How ethical is it for an attorney to claim he file a complaint on your behalf against the liable party but did not. The evidence will support my attorney conspired with the neighbor violating my State and Federal Constitutional rights. The court dismissed my counter complaint because the evidence and witness testimony was suppressed. I did not understand why he countered against the neighbor in the first place. I knew what my attorney advised me of the first day we met. The city is the liable party in my case. My attorney advised me that we would sue both parties. I hired him to present my case against the city I had nothing to do with a complaint against my neighbor. The city allowed and assisted the neighbor to violation the state building code and drainage law. The counts of perjury the neighbor and his attorney committed are unbelievable. He could not keep his interrogatories from conflicting with his courtroom testimony. Was the judge involved in this conspiracy? You review that evidence and give my your opinion. The court dismissed his case citing my “right to use my property as I see fit”. I felt a sense of relief. I understood the judge intention was for me to control my property in all matters.
After the court ruling the neighbor, accompanied by the police chief, approached me while I was in my yard to informed me that the neighbor was going to move the 48 landscape timbers that I had placed on my side of the common boundary to divert the nuisance stormwater drainage to the city drainage ditch the best I could. I advised the neighbor that if he had a problem with the boundary the proper procedure is to file a civil complaint against me again. I asked the police chief why he was there. He responded that he was acting as a witness that the neighbor told me in advance that he was going to move the landscape timbers on my property. At that time I advised them both that I intended to invoke my second amendment rights. I went directly into my house and returned with a long arm single shot pellet gun. I told the police chief to never knock on my door again. He never knocked on my door again. As a normal human being, I to need to sleep. I was still trying to operate my business. I had not planned on spending this many hours defending my person and property against a neighbor who showed no sense of reason since he began his property redevelopment 2 years earlier. I went out in the yard the next morning and he had moved the protective landscape timbers and pulled up the lawn edging I had just installed as an additional form of protection. The only authority available for me to file a complaint to was the same police chief that had conspired to allow me to be poisoned in the first place. He stated the reason he would not issue the neighbor a citation was because he did not want to make him mad. I completely understand why someone would not want to get on this seemingly psychopaths bad side. I experienced his unconscionable, unreasonable behavior personally.
Within a matter of weeks the police chief was given the opportunity to resign with a positive recommendation to the next police department that hired him or be terminated. He chose to resign. The day after I was forced to defend my property with a weapon against the neighbor and law enforcement, one of the city deputies called me and advised me that the city did have an ordinance prohibiting bb guns. As if an ordinance was going to prevent me from defending my person and property from trespassers.
The next violation committed against me the neighbor reported gun shots fired from my property. A city deputy along with a string of Sheriffs officers swarmed my home. The reason for this was because the neighbor wanted to know if I did have weapons in my possession. They went so far as to call my son at his work and as him if I had weapons. The neighbor knowingly made a false police report. Making false police reports is also listed on the FBI website as a criminal offense. Again a review of my evidence will support all my allegations. No person of authority has ever reviewed my evidence except the county attorney. All evidence as been supported by “the neighbor said”.
This man and the local government officials have shown no regard for my life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. The chemicals he was using were literally killing me. Lee County attorney sent a deputy to my home to investigate a second criminal complaint the neighbor had filed against me for “giving him the finger”. I showed the deputy the court order, specifically where the judge is citing of my right to enjoy my own property. I advised the deputy that I wanted to file a trespassing complaint against the neighbor. The neighbor ignored the court order as if he was above the law. The deputy advised me that the court order did not specify chemicals could not be applied to my property adding that he was only at my home to investigate the complaint my neighbor filed against me for giving him the finger. He left and that complaint was dismissed due to lack of evidence. There is no law against giving anyone the finger, this was the second complaint for the same criminal charge the County attorney file on his behalf against me. This one the citation included “he was tired of me doing this all the time. Trumping up the charge to harassment.
I was advised that all criminal complaints must be referred to the county attorney by the Sheriff or other law enforcement authority. Well in this case that is not going to happen because of the conflict of interest existing among my attackers. I do not know if the city and county officials who followed behind this County Attorney, Mayor, building official/council member, and neighbor/council member were involved on the conspiracy against my rights or if they were manipulated into believing all they were told by this neighbor. I do know I have never been given the opportunity to tell the story and present the evidence in its entirety to any authority. about this in a public forum, or in a private meeting. Exposing public corruption in my case has been one of the most difficult tasks I have had to face in my 60 years on this earth. In this land of the free. This was nothing less than a brutal life threatening attack waged against me by my local government officials. It was not the neighbor until after he suspiciously was elected to city council that had the duty to protect my State and Federal rights.
I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore. I will not allow my rights to be violated It is not my duty, nor did I take an oath to uphold the rights given by the Constitution as every person involved or notified about this situation has. I simply will not let it go. This was nothing short of feeling as if I have been gang raped. This is constantly on my mind. It will not go away. It should not go away as this in not what the Nation aspires to do to its citizens.
If I put chemicals on anyone’s property only one time I would be charged with trespassing. This was done to me with no regard to human life for over 5 years. I am angry and time does not ease the pain. I suffer from PTSD as a result of the ongoing attack against me by this enterprise of government officials. To suggest a statute of limitations has expired is an insult to my intelligence. There is no statute of limitation for terrorism. The attack against me was in violation of my State and Federal constitutional rights. The State itself was actively supporting the violation of my rights. The attorney I hired conspired against my rights. You can visit https://poisonedbymyneighborfromhell.com to see some of the hard copy evidence that supports my allegations. This is only the tip of the iceberg of the criminal offenses committed against me to acquire my property. Deprivation of rights under color of law.
Sincerely,
Melody Boatner
419 N 5th St.
Keokuk, Ia. 52632