The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Leader of the Opposition Matthias Mpuuga has asked the Parliament of Uganda to find a durable remedy to the problem of missinger persons by debating and exposing the rampant systematic human rights violations.
He challenged government to account for the persons who went missing during the last general elections.
He also demands for accountability for the lives lost during the infamous November 2020 riots in which 54 people are believed to have been killed by the police and members of the security forces.
The security at the time indicated that only 11 of those who were killed were rioters while 42 died from “stray bullets”. At the end of November 2020, President Museveni tasked the police to conduct an audit into the stray bullet killings to investigate especially what could have been the purpose of the bullets before they turned into “stray bullets”.
The issue of missing persons has been coming up in parliament from the beginning of 2022. On 3RD February 2022, Opposition Members of Parliament led by the Leader of the Opposition, Mathias Mpuuga walked out of Parliament protesting what they termed as the continued violation of rights of Ugandans by security operatives.
Mpuuga resurrected the matter again on Thursday during a plenary sitting chaired by Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa.
Mpuuga noted the increasing human rights violations in the country marked by the shrinking civic space. He said Uganda ranks among the worst performers in respecting, protecting and promoting human rights on the globe.
He asked the Parliament of Uganda to find a durable remedy to the problem by debating and exposing the rampant systematic human rights violations.
Mpuuga was responding to a 17 October statement by the State Minister of Internal Affairs, Gen. David Muhoozi. Muhoozi had defended security personnel for effecting a preventive arrest of the National Unity Platform Party President, President Robert Kyagulanyi. Kyagulanyi was violently arrested at the Entebbe Airport earlier on 5 October just after he had disembarked from Rwanda Air.
Kyagulanyi was returning from what Gen. Muhoozi described as a ‘political mobilization tour from Canada and South America’. Muhoozi said Kyagulanyi’s supporters mobilized to the Airport to welcome him, in a walk dubbed “One Million March” intended to incite civil disobedience.
“In order to avert the lawlessness that could result from this, the Police with other security forces, deployed proactively to prevent the mobilization for the illegal procession and anticipated associated mischief,” reads part of the statement to parliament. Mpuuga however described the Minister’s statement as superficial, shallow, tainted with material falsehoods, misconstruction of the law, and an attempt to justify repression and clamp-down on political dissent in the country.
According to Mpuuga, Gen. Muhoozi’s statement further depicted the Government’s reluctance to address and remedy human rights violations. He invited the Parliament to recall the infamous November 2020 shootings in which many people lost their lives and scores were maimed.
Whereas the Government committed to have the matter investigated and audited, however, Mpuuga observed that all that has been achieved was the categorization of the victims into a cluster of 20 persons who were shot and killed by stray bullets while 34 others were shot and killed for allegedly participating in riots.
Mpuuga cited the deaths of Frank Ssenteza, a bodyguard to Kyagulanyi, and Rita Nabukenya whom he said were knocked dead by security vehicles. It is alleged that Ssenteza was knocked by a military police car registration H4DF-2382 at Busega roundabout while Nabukenya was rundown on a walkway by a police patrol car UP 4841.
“Is the House of Representatives too timid and cowed to demand from the relevant authority to make a proper account of both the happenings on the fateful days, as well as demanding justice to the victims’ families,” he said.
Mpuuga further named 22 Ugandans whom he said were murdered, whereas others were grievously injured while on Kyagulanyi’s campaign trail for the 2021 general elections. He pointed out that the relatives of the deceased are still reeling in bereavement with no hope of receiving justice for the death of their loved ones.
“Is the people’s Parliament complicit in these wanton murders, and therefore unable to demand accountability and justice,”? he asked.
About the fate of 18 missing Ugandans, Mpuuga accused the Government of failing to account for their whereabouts while insisting that the persons were picked from their workplaces and homes by state security agencies. Early this month, the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) in a report on 30 missing NUP supporters revealed that they managed to trace to a conclusion 12 of the persons who were arrested and later released either on police bond or court bail.
The Commission said it failed to trace 18 of the alleged missing persons in the last 12 months and consequently closed their files. Bugabula North County Member of Parliament, John Teira suggested establishing an independent committee of parliament to handle the matter of missing persons so that both sides of the political divide present their grievances.
The Opposition also alleged victimization and targeted murder of Moslems. Mpuuga cited the shooting of Musa Mudasir alias Moze, Muhammad Kiryowa alias Musa Kiryowa, and Sheikh Muhammad Abbas Kirevu by security agencies while in handcuffs. The trio was suspects in the Kampala twin bombings on 16 November 2021.
Mpuuga also raised concern about emerging incidents of detention without trial. He said over 500 NUP supporters were arrested in different parts in 2021 and spent one year without trial.
He said over 50 suspects are still languishing at Kitalya and Luzira prisons without trial while 28 of them have been produced at the army court-martial but their trial has never been concluded more than 3 years after arrest.
They demanded the government accounts all political prisoners in jails within 30 days. The opposition wants the government to release of all political prisoners being tried under the Court Martial.
Tayebwa directed the Minister for Internal Affairs to present to respond to Mpuuga’s statement within 30 days.
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