Here is a small fraction of cases that FHRI has mishandled after using my head to monitor and document these cases. I have also used my own resources to document such related cases and led to the release of several captives
Examples of cases I found out while in detention at Jinja Road Police station from 5th to 7th August 2009
Findings in the Police cells
Ogwang Richard 27, phone number +256774 612 029 an employee of Phillips pharmaceuticals Uganda limited was detained on Monday, August 3, 2009. He had a company motorcycle stolen from him by his cousins that stay with him. Sadly even after getting the thieves, the police went ahead to arrest and detain Richard without trial for by the time I left the cells, he had not been taken to court and there was no signs that he was to be taken to court.
Abdul Soozi, car dealer, phone number +256702952735 was arrested on flimsy grounds because the police officers wanted money from him.
Ali Magambo and John Paul Olinge of Rapid Response Unit (RRU) arrested Saleh Musitwa and handed him over to those responsible for the cells. Musitwa later died in the cells but surprisingly the people who effected the arrest are the ones that were charged with murder. Magambo and Olinge can be contacted on +256782149437 and +256701000385 respectively. By the time I left the cells at 9am on Friday 7th August 2009, Magambo and Olinge had spent five days in detention without trial.
Elton Mutizze (+256756253160/ Elton.mutize@gmail.com) Zimbabwean was arrested on business related charges and deprived of his passport. His only close friend in Uganda is Farai Mkutuwe (fmwaku@hotmail.com).
Benjamin Turyasingura +256777730393 driver UAL 4111H was arrested because he was carrying a passenger who was suspected to have done an accident using his boda boda. One wonders, how a taxi driver would understand that passenger A or B has committed an accident. He spent two days in the cells and was released after his brother had paid a bribe.
Kasozi Tom 23, resident of Ntinda, semawata road told me that a man by the name of Peter gave him 12 batteries to sell. Kasozi looked for a buyer whom coincidentally happened to be the person from whom the batteries had been stolen. Kasozi was then beaten by a mob including the police at Nakawa. When he reached Jinja road police further beat him. “I was beaten terribly in the private parts and I now urinate blood”. Kasozi needs to be taken to the hospital.All the inmates felt that Kasozi’s kidneys were broken for he was almost in comma for the period I was in the cells. Shamelessly, the police pulled him out of the cells and put him outside in the cold without any cloth to cover him. Should he stay there for some extra days, his death will be catalysed by pneumonia which could be induced by extreme cold. Kasozi is a broker for house rent, works from Nakawa and has no phone. The immediate next of kin to Kasozi is Lukuta Medi whose contact is +256752 163 628
Livingstone Kizito 32, resident of Kitintale zone 12 reportedly hired a motorbike going to zone 12 and was to pay 500. Upon reaching there he was asked to pay 1000 and he declined arguing that he already told the motorbike rider. The boda boda cyclist reportedly grabbed Livingstone and made an alarm saying the man was taking his motorcycle. Livingstone was beaten by a mob, divested of his phone (he told me nokia with camera), money (48,000), shoes, trouser and small radio. Police ordered him to be taken to Mulago on Sunday 2nd August 2009. At Mulago, no treatment was offered and the following day, (Monday 3rd August 2009) Livingstone was put on the police patrol vehicle and dumped at Jinja Road. He was dumped just outside the cell without even a mat or a piece of cloth to protect him from cold. When I stepped in the cells I started advocating for the duo (Kizito and Kasozi) but my advocacy fell on deaf ears. Livingstone told me that he doesn’t know the man’s name but the Kitintale Police know. Kizito Livingstone hails from Wobulenzi, he’s a chicken trader with a capital base of around 1.8m and he told me that he buys chicken from Luwero, Migyera, Masindi and brings them to Kampala. Both Kasozi and Kizito were lumped together in the cold without even a sack to protect them from the extreme cold. Moreover they were on cement.
Kakoza Swalik, Solomon Tumushinga and Lubegga Mohammed were arrested on Sunday 2nd August 2009 and charged with stealing police pipes. Kakoza Swalik told me, “bwenabuza lwaki tebatutwala mu court, bankuba mpi”. He reportedly asked on Tuesday after two days in the cells.
Isabirye Richard 28, stays in Naguru barracks. He stays with Police Constable Joshua Lubale +256702 384 160. Richard was charged with sale of ammunition. He was searched in vain. Surprisingly, now the charge has been changed to criminal trespass.
Esimu Solomon +256755 900 616 charged with stealing a police tent with two other friends Kakoza and Lubega. But this is a planned move from the nearby market operators who want to take our place of work. This is not the truth at all (this statement was written by Esimu Solomon himself)
Fred Sande Asaba (UK citizen) whose father is reportedly Ghanaian and mother is Ugandan was deported from England on 19th July 2009. Taken to Jinja Road police station by the Immigration Department on 20th July 2009 ostensibly for “safe custody”. He was told to contact anyone/ any relative to come and claim him and now he is being told that he is not Ugandan. His only identity is the British Driving licence that remained with the Immigration officers at Entebbe airport. Mr Asaba is a staunch Pan Africanist whose passion for Africa can be seen even from his dreadlocks and his love for humanity. Actually, he is the one who welcomed me to “Sheraton cell” where he sleeps as an RP and allowed me to sleep on his “comfortable bed”. I say comfortable because at least his has a blanket, a pillow (although extremely dirty) and a bed sheet with which he covers himself. Fred Asaba told me that the UK authorities first contacted the Ghana government about deporting him to Ghana and the latter refused. Uganda accepted because of the bilateral aid Uganda gets from the United Kingdom but should the need for aid mean that an innocent African be sacrificed? Fred has since his deportation lost not less than fifteen kilogrammes. This can best be explained by looking at his trousers which by the time he came were fitting him. He is coughing profusely and he believes the squalid conditions in the cells will induce some sort of sickness which may be difficult to heal. He wonders why the Ugandan authorities accepted that he be deported in Uganda if genuinely they knew he was not Ugandan and he prays that instead of dying here in a country he calls home, it would be better if he was re-deported to the UK.
The name alone shows that at least Fred Asaba has got some roots in Uganda.
Grace plot of land in Butabika
As Grace Lubale, a hospital administrator of Butabika harasses me, I have received anonymous calls telling me that Grace is extremely corrupt and that the patients don’t receive adequate food. I was also told that Grace grabbed a plot of land from the hospital land which I later confirmed as true and she has since sold it to a neighbouring Indian who has built a posh house there (also in hospital land). Since President Museveni and his lieutenants claim they have waged a battle against corruption, the circumstances under which Grace got that public land must be thoroughly investigated by the police and the Inspectorate of Government. Otherwise, as a citizen I am duty-bound to fight corruption. Grabbing of public land is a matter over which every citizen must interest him or herself. We cannot be seen hiding our heads in the sand like an ostrich.
Conclusion
The more the state functionaries harass me the more information I get about them and the more I gain the courage to expose them. There is surely a section of society that sees me as their mouthpiece and is determined to channel their complaints through me since they are sure that I will not be intimidated and cowed into submission as to reveal the source of my information. And as a human rights researcher I am ready to investigate human rights violations anywhere including but not limited to state house and military barracks. I am actually not limited to state institutions for there are human rights violations everywhere so even if I went into a private sector enterprise where there are people I don’t think I would be charged with criminal trespass. What I find laughable is that anyone can have an illusion that they can ban me from accessing state institutions. I am sure; it is only a fool that can be fooled into charging me with criminal trespass in a state institution. If they don’t want me in state institutions, let them stop admitting people there. Human rights surely are about human beings and this explains why I don’t carry human rights research in the water, forests or national parks if I am convinced there are no people. Any institution that has people is susceptible to human rights abuse and it is accordingly my area interest.
As a citizen and not a subject, I will not be deterred by those who live in the dreamland. Those who take me for a ride surely don’t know that the more I am oppressed, repressed and brutalised the more I emerge hardened. To all government functionaries, please stand warned; refrain from the infraction of our inherent rights. I know the inane regime diehards may be fooled into killing me. However, it would be foolhardy to kill me when I am innocent and trying to set a pace for very many other citizens and surely, whoever kills me, will die too. But also if I died in any unclear circumstances, it would be the last nail in the NRM coffin for I am sure no government vehicle would head to Bushenyi and very many regime operatives would be killed by a mob and that’s why I dare the NRM to kill me if I am a criminal deserving the death penalty. If am not (and indeed I am not a criminal), I beg that the NRM goons should forever keep their hands away from me. Accordingly, it is in the best interest of the regime that I don’t die in the foreseeable future. In fact, even if I fell sick and died, everyone will know it is because of the slow killing poison I have always complained about that I suspect I was injected when I was in Butabika as a real or perceived opponent of the regime.
Vincent Nuwagaba is a human rights defender
Email: vnuwagaba@gmail.com
Cell phone: +256702843552
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