The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Two followers of Prophet Elvis Allan Mbonye of Zoe Ministries have dragged Police and the Government to court seeking a compensation of shillings 1 billion for alleged violation of his pre-trial rights.
The followers Simon Ssenyonga and Amos Musheija filed their suit in the Civil Division of High Court against the Director Criminal Investigations Department, AIGP Grace Akullo, Commissioner of Police Henry Mugumya and the Attorney General.
They contend that the arbitrary act of summoning Prophet Mbonye to Police CID headquarters and placing him on police bond for over three months without any justifiable cause by the respondents amounts to a violation of his pre-trial and fundamental rights of fair hearing.
In October, police summoned Mbonye to the CID Headquarters in Kibuli over a Facebook post authored by ‘Mugisha Elvis Mbonye’ de-campaigning government Measles, Rubella and Polio immunization exercise.
In the post purported to have been written by Mbonye, it states that “there is moral decadence in the health sector this Nation; One of outright hypocrisy, medical corruption and destruction of inner compass or moral conscious boosted by greed and power at the expense of gullible and ignorant citizens”.
The writer went on to add that one of them is the Vaccination agenda in the country which he believed that he knew what he was talking about.
“MOH and MOE signed a memorandum of understanding to vaccinate our children without our consent as parents while at school. This is completely not right. This government went ahead to legislate laws that criminalize any parent who refuses their child from being vaccinated or anybody who exposes the effects of vaccines”, reads in part one of his posts.
Mbonye was subsequently summoned to CID to make a statement in regards to the posts before being granted police bond of which his followers say he has since been reporting, for now, three months without police concluding investigations.
The followers state that the slow progress of police investigations seems to appear deliberate to humiliate their spiritual father and a church leader since the author of the Facebook page in question came out to clarify that he is not Prophet Mbonye.
Through their lawyer Daniel Walyemera the duo adds that the unprofessionalism in police investigations like in this case has on several occasions led to many wrongful arrests, malicious prosecutions and consequently costly claims and awards against government.
The followers led by Ssenyonga want court to declare that the conditions requiring Mbonye to appear on a weekly basis at CID headquarters is unreasonable and thus violates his rights to move freely in the country.
They also want court to declare that police have exposed Mbonye to anxiety, concern and stigma of exposure to criminal proceedings adding that the Attorney General has failed to respect and protect his human rights including a right to human dignity.
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