On Monday 27th June I wrote to the Inspector General of Police informing him that I was launching a civil protest from the constitutional square. I ably gave my reasons for the protest and in the letter I stated that I was not seeking permission but informing the police to protect me if they could or to refrain from infringing my rights if they couldn’t.
I passed via the square and was manhandled by police at the orders of ASP Benon Byamukama who incidentally was a fellow Lumumbist and my classmate in the political science class and studied constitutionalism, democracy and human rights, administrative law but also as a public administration graduate he knows quite well that institutions are impersonal but has instead chosen to serve certain individuals using state institutions.
Before that I had talked to ASP Vincent Ssekate (who also was my classmate in the political science department) about my decision to hold a demonstration from the constitutional square. Vincent Ssekate SAID, “Nuwagaba, you have remained revolutionary unlike some of us who stopped”. He added, “Should you go to the constitutional square to demonstrate, I will personally shoot you”.
I was unfazed and went to the Police Headquarters with Uganda Prisoners’ Aid Foundation (UPAF) Legal Assistant Jamil Mujurizi and submitted the letter to the IGP through the Deputy PRO Vincent Ssekatte.
I went back to the constitutional square and I was manhandled, lifted like a common criminal and taken to CPS. The OC CID Abbas who was also at campus with me told the other police officers in the charge room that he knew me. They later failed to get a charge against me. I was then left to go. From there I first went to spectrum and found the studio was full and the producer Kenneth told me I could only be hosted the following day on Tuesday 28th June. I went through Kubili Akaboozi and my interview in Luganda and English was recorded. I don’t know whether it was ever aired because thereafter at around midnight I was taken to the CPS torture chambers.
I was blocked from getting inside the constitutional square but all the same decided to sleep right outside the constitutional square as a form of protesting against what celebrated constitutional professors such as George W. Kanyeihamba and Joe Oloka-Onyango have termed constitutional viruses.
Part of my protest was to expose the nakedness of state institutions and prove to the entire world that the ruling party lacks the legitimacy to rule because first and foremost, the Electoral Management Body (EMB) was appointed by President Museveni who was one of the contenders. Secondly, I have overwhelming evidence that the chairman, the secretary and some of the commissioners have been NRM cadres and have not convinced us that they are no longer NRM cadres. One of the commissioners is a wife to a Resident District Commissioner somewhere. I have personally together with Professor John-Jean Barya , Prof. Samson Opolot, Dr Ronald Wesonga and Dr Simon Peter Rutabajuka worked as consultants for the African Governance Report III focusing on elections and management of diversity. The findings are appalling. I was also denied access to the Electoral Commission library and no convincing explanation is given. I also know that the electoral laws have major loopholes which give the incumbent president the latitude to (mis)use and/or abuse taxpayers’ money to boost his electoral advantage. I know that when the opposition insisted that the EC be disbanded, the President insisted that it cannot. So, where does he derive the legitimacy? I am not a mathematician but I know for sure that a wrong formula necessarily leads to a wrong outcome.
When it comes to the police force, President Museveni has himself said, Moses Kafeero and Major General Kale Kayihura are good NRM cadres. The question then is, what business do they have in state institutions? Why can’t they be deployed at the NRM party secretariat? Personally, I have my own problems with the police. They have turned me into a punching bag because of my academic views. I have had a custodial detention at Jinja Road Police station only to be told to get anybody to stand surety for me. When I reported and demanded to be taken to court, I was told never to return there.
I have been clobbered by the Police from Butabika in the course of helping victims of human rights abuse and it is on record. In fact, Dr David Basangwa wrote a letter to the DPC Jinja Road Police Station banning me from accessing Butabika Hospital. Why all of a sudden after I am detained without a charge; detained incommunicado; tortured and subjected to horrendous circumstances Butabika admits me under the Police Urgency order which I maintain is illegal leaves me puzzled.
I have ably written about the Police and Mental Hospitals and surmised that they are now used as terror machineries. Whoever disagrees with me can start a debate about the matter and I give compelling arguments for my stance.
The military is also partisan. Lt Col Kulayigye has often made press statements including writing articles that show that the UPDF serves the NRM regime and not the Ugandan state. On Saturday 25th June on the eve of the UN Day in support of torture victims, Lt Col Kulayigye intimidated me from the UBC premises. The moderator Tony Owana even embarrassed me on air simply because I has said that Mr Kulayigye is more of a politician than a military officer. After the show, Lt Kulayigye started telling the spokesperson of Bunyoro Kingdom Henry Ford Mirima on how the Government was going to share oil proceeds with Bunyoro, I asked him whether he had become the official spokesman of the Government/ state and told me in Runyankore to be careful saying that I had made unpalatable remarks at the Human Rights Workshop at Mosa courts when I asked him where the UPDF derived the mandate to arrest Mzee Mukaira and Dr Byabakama.
After I asked him under what mandate was he telling Mirima the manner in which the oil proceeds were to be shared he intimidated me and I told him, I know of some people who walked on dead bodies to get to state power. Col Kulayigye then forced me to go to the police post and record a statement to which I declined. Later he said, he had forgiven me. This begs two questions:
1. Why would Kulayigye force me to record a statement at police? If he was wronged why didn’t he go and make it himself?
2. Where did he get the right to forgive me if I had committed an offence?
The UPDF is supposed to submit to civilian authority but now the likes of Afande Kulayigye take us to be their subjects.
Hell in CPS cells
I was deprived of my property before I was pushed into the dungeon. I had books – a hymn book which I had just bought at St Paul’s bookshop; I had three text books namely: What is Africa’s problem by Museveni; Africa and the international system by Christopher Clapham and Promises not kept by John Isibister. All these were deprived of me. I was allowed to enter with a bible – the African Bible but they later removed it from me.
I was deprived of my Bata Boot shoe; I was deprived of various Identity cards including my PASSPORT. I was also deprived of various business cards.
Torture in the cells
As I was dumped into the cells, I was introduced to a constant menu of torture. I was always hit especially by a corporal identified as Malungu, then the Officer in Charge of the Station but also the police ordered inmates to beat me. The chairman for inmates who identified himself as Ronnie Tumusiime beat me several times and there was a kid around 11 years who would also concentrate on mocking me. I never recorded a single statement but also they refused me to order for food or drinks using my money!
Later I was secluded from others and I had sewage poured on me by the inmates but also the police opened the sewage tap and it would constantly fall on me. The floor was acidic and the pain was too much to bear. They even lifted me and dumped me in the toilet and poured urine on me and this explains why the Police have deliberately refused to release my trousers, my shirt and my checked jacket. They are aware I cannot in any way put them on. In fact, I went to Butabika wrapped in a mat that I had bought on which I was to sleep during the period of the protest.
The same scenario happened in 2008 under Johnson Bahimbise as OC station where all my clothes including my Bata shoes stayed there.
Ultimately, by the time I was taken to Butabika on Thursday 30th June, I went wrapped in a mat that I had bought as I prepared to protest.
Denial of freedom of worship
In the CPS cells, the OC Station ordered that they remove my Bible. Remember I had been deprived of my hymn books and other books. I wonder where the Police get a right to deny people their books of worship.
Pharmacological torture at Butabika
By the time I was taken to Butabika, I was put on handcuffs but also the police strangled me. There was a clearly mad man but he went a free man –not in any handcuffs.
When I reached Butabika, I exercised the diplomacy that I studied at the university (I did International Relations and Diplomatic Studies). Thus, I didn’t agitate as I sometimes do when asserting my rights. I calmly told the nurse who injected me not to do so for it was illegal. She couldn’t listen to any of what I told her and infused me with a drug that I don’t know to date. I need enough money to go for specialised treatment in a first class country.
I was lucky that when I told the other staff members in Kireka Ward not to force me to take tablets without my consent, without the consent of my parents and without my lawyers’ knowledge.
I take the opportunity to thank the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) and Professor John-Jean Barya for the legal support. FHRI first sent Mr. George Musiisi on Monday 4th July and we spent quite long with the Administration Staff of Butabika. They even talked with my Dad Mr Henry Rukundo who told them they should assess me but should never dare give me their drugs because their drugs almost killed me in 2008. It is vital to note that each time the Police have detained me illegally, they have taken me to Butabika to escape liability and I am convinced that Butabika Hospital staff have always acted as accessories to the crimes committed by the police against me.
I have formally bitterly complained about Dr Nakku and Dr Tom Onen and doubted their professionalism. As for Dr Onen who is viewed as a senior consultant who has practiced psychiatry from the UK, he stooped so low when he wrote a police report about me instead of a medical report. I found his report ridiculous, ludicrous and laughable because he wrote therein allegations that he cannot justify at all.
Dr Onen further said that I have had a history of mental illness which I personally don’t know and my parents don’t know. So, why should such a person also feast on taxpayers’ money claiming to be a healer when in an actual sense he is a killer.
I still give the benefit of doubt to Dr Sylivia Nshemereirwe for she set me free having been convinced that I was not a Butabika material but again I believe it may be because there was a team of legal experts who would ably challenge her actions.
The futility of the “professional standards unit”
The police leadership have always said that the police force protects human rights and doesn’t brook impunity because of the PSU. I personally used the PSU under Mr. John Ndungutse but I was left utterly disappointed. I am convinced that it is the Propaganda Scheming Unit (PSU). The PSU cannot bring to book any member of the Police Force who harasses and tortures anybody deemed to be critical of the regime. It took PSU a year to compile my report but also I was told to get the report from the Legal section of the Police Force. The young man called Magezi Robert was reading the report to me as though he was reading for his dog. When I demanded a copy I was told to pay shillings 60,000 for it. What would I benefit from it when it exonerated all the people I accused? I wonder whether the PSU report shows that Prof John- Jean Barya was blocked from seeing me; I don’t know whether it says that I was detained for five days incommunicado; without food and I don’t know whether it shows that I was denied access to my money. Shame on the Police Force which I now call the prevocational Force.
The dysfunctional court system
On 17th August 2009, I went to Makerere University for my admission letter for a Bachelor of Laws. I was denied my admission letter and I was told the reason was because I had written to the President protesting the inhuman, heartless and sudden increment of tuition in a week that freshers were reporting up to 126%. I argued that education is a right enshrined in article 30 of our constitution and other human rights cum legal instruments. I called upon the President to rein in Kale Kayihura not to interfere with us when we are exercising our God-given rights. I was later to be denied my admission later on flimsy grounds; I was clobbered badly and had my money stolen. Note that each time, the police have arrested me, they have stolen my money and other property including computers.
One police woman who later was a complainant against me almost shot me and I was saved by a security guard called Egessa who removed the gun from her. High profile people pleaded that I am released on bond in vain. I later learnt that Gen Kayihura had ordered that nobody releases me on bond.
Professor Yassin Olum and Mr Bwire Lumumba found me swollen like I had been stung by all bees in a bee hive. When FHRI came for me I was forced to go to a certain doctor at Nsambya Hospital and they lied to me that he was a police surgeon. I said I know of a police surgeon along Bombo Road and another one in Kabalagala and not anyone from Nsambya. I later learnt they wanted to work on me using drugs. I refused and said, I have to first see Mr. Livingstone Sewanyana. I found the Deputy Director Sheila Muwanga who said I had a right to refuse medication against my will. They had to take me back and later drag me in the police patrol vehicle like a common thief to City Hall court to face James Wambaya GII Magistrate. I was to be charged with assault and threatening violence charges which I denied and was remanded for 15 days to Murchison Bay Prison.
After 15 days, I was brought back to court and given bail. I later learnt from the police that Wambaya was set to convict me and I was being advised to see him. I wondered how the Police could have access to my file when the hearing had started.
Some other Lawyer also told me that Wambaya was set to convict me. I knew the circumstances under which he was to convict me and I later wrote to the Chief Justice. I gave copies to police, DPP, among others and on 2nd February 2010 as I had gone to deliver a copy of the letter to Mr Wambaya himself, he ordered that police beat me, put me in the cells and later I was convicted at a time when the case had not been concluded. On the 4th February 2010, I was brought back to court. Luckily I was in my own handcuffs not fastened to any other person. I said I need to address the press or else they take me to the dock in my handcuffs. I was clobbered and later pushed into Wambaya’s own vehicle and driven to Luzira! While on the way I was beaten terribly and Police man said, “We are lucky, you will come out after elections by the time you serve 28 months”. He added, “This fool made me sleep in Makerere for six weeks threatening to cause a strike over fees”. He added, “Why do you have to care when fees is increased”. I smiled at him in dismay!
For Wambaya to convict me on charges over which I took no plea shows how deep we have sunk. He must pay everything of mine I lost including my vehicle, my money and my course. I don’t believe in impunity. If he cannot, I will sue the Attorney General but I would be satisfied if Mr. Wambaya is dismissed with disgrace.
Mr James Wambaya needs to be penalized. He sent me to Luzira at a time when he hadn’t concluded the case; he opened fresh charges against me and alleged that I pleaded guilty and he seems to be totally ignorant of what he does. I hear he is a Grade II magistrate. I would like to know his levels of education.
Pharmacological Torture in Murchison Bay Prison
When I reached Murchison Bay, those that had been torturing me using drugs got a chance of doing whatever they wanted. Mr. Robert Okuyat and Dr Murroni of Butabika rushed to fast to subject me to life-killing drugs. They forcefully injected me with Haldol, forcefully put me on tablets and later took me to Ward 10 -a ward I believe shouldn’t be in Luzira. I told the medical staff that they were sending me into a lion’s den but by the grace of God, I will come out. Apart from the injections, I never took tablets as I would always hide them under the tongue and later spit them. But I told the OC Mr Selestine Twesigye and the Welfare officer that it was illegal to use the prison to subject me to pharmacological torture but they took no heed. I told them, if they believed I was a person of unsound mind, they should take me to Butabika but they arrogantly told me, I was under their firm control.
Physical Torture by Principal Officer Tommy Otim
This prisons officer made my life difficult and when I complained, he got a baton and hit me not less than 500 times everywhere. The OC knew all this but nothing was done to him. Therefore, impunity is everywhere. I am convinced like the first lady has often said, we are suffering from spiritual doom.
Finally, I want to demand that state agents – the police, military and others refrain from infringing my God-given rights if they cannot protect them. I am a citizen in this country not anybody’s subject. More stories about the ordeal I have gone through can be accessed on my blog on www.vnuwagaba.blogspot.com
For God and my country!
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