Yes, defiance to injustice is all citizens’ patriotic call

On Wednesday 2, October 2013 I witnessed with rage MP Ibrahim Ssemujju violently thrown out of Parliament and I wondered where our country is headed to. I always don’t like using newspaper columns to write about my ordeal but since we are inextricably woven, I have been impelled to write this so that a lasting solution to the abuse of public institutions can be found.  For starters, I personally have been subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment on several occasions at Parliament, Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC), in Murchison Bay Prison and strangely though not surprisingly in the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) and court premises at the orders of the commission secretary and Grade II Magistrate James Wambaya. I don’t have to mention the police premises and Butabika Mental Hospital – never mind that the same people who were subjecting me to pharmacological torture confided to the police that I have overflowing brains. They drag me into the mental hospital when it suits them and the courts of law and finally prison when it suits them also.

In fact, I have had my clothes torn, deprived of my phones, money and computer and each time I have reported nothing has been done. Each time I have been humiliated, degraded and dehumanized from Parliament, there have been Members of Parliament clearly watching and have done nothing.

I remember very well that on one occasion, it is Hon Medard Segona who felt concerned and advised me to report to any of the parliament commissioners but I was still blocked from accessing the offices of the commissioners. Injustice is reprehensible, abhorrent and morally repugnant regardless of who does it. I have on several occasions told the police that I am not the IGP’s ball to be kicked by the police at will and at whim – and I am yet to have a breathing space.

Parliament, UBC and UHRC are public institutions hence nobody should be barred from accessing them. It is becoming clear to me that the police are under instructions to make sure they bar me from accessing both parliament and UBC. My crime, however, is that I have consistently demanded accountability from people who have a contractual obligation to work for Ugandans. As a political scientist, I was exposed to both revolutionary violence and non-violent political struggles. I fully support non-violence revolutions because I do not only abhor but I also fear violence. I feel scared when I see someone bleeding; at my age, I do not look at dead bodies and I feel pain in my heart when someone is violently treated.  MPs who thought it was only me humiliated must now come to a realization that they are not safe either as long as they are critical of the misdeeds of the regime. A direct infraction of one person’s rights constitutes an indirect infraction of all people’s rights.

I decry Hon Ssemujju’s humiliation in the parliamentary chambers because to begin with I am fully convinced that what he, Odonga-Otto and Ssekikubo did is what any pro-people, pro-democracy and pro-human rights MP should have done. It is inconceivable that any sound MP could have idly allowed an unjust legislation to be passed without any resistance. I have openly preached rebellion, disobedience and defiance of injustice. While opposition MPs welcomed Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah’s apology on Tuesday 8, as a good gesture of a good leader, my deduction is that his apology was an acknowledgement of guilt; a confirmation that he is not above-board; a concession that his emotions outweigh reason; a testament that he cannot control his impulses and hardly can he appeal to his conscience. Thus, he could do the country proud if he resigned in public interest for such character is inimical to the office of Deputy Speaker which requires unbridled sobriety 24 hours, seven days.  The Swedish premier resigned for she unintentionally used government funds to buy pampers for her baby.

I write about Hon Oulanyah with a heart full of love. I write about a man whom together with Hon Norbert Mao were my first political role models; from whom I learnt a lot and occasionally rode with in the same vehicle. I write about a man whose late wife Dorothy (RIP) was my respectable leader in Jami Ya Kupatanisha. I write about a man who was a pillar of Acholi Makerere Students’ Association to which I was an associate member during my days at Makerere as a student. That I love Ndugu Jacob doesn’t mean I look on as he desecrates a sacrosanct state institution – parliament which is a bastion of free expression and divergent viewpoints. Defiance to injustice is a patriotic call for all Ugandans.

The writer is a PhD student in Political Studies and human rights defender

vnuwagaba@gmail.com

The 9th Parliament must shun MP Drito’s move with utter contempt

By Vincent Nuwagaba

Posted  Tuesday, September 4  2012 at  01:00

In Summary

Drito also reportedly stated thus, “This is a way of promoting democracy so that we have in our society a number of leaders whom we can bank on for advice in leadership when they leave office”. I am amazed that a whole Member of Parliament doesn’t know that democracy and impunity are not concomitant.

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I read with utter shock and consternation the September 2, Sunday Monitor story titled, “NRM legislator to table Bill on extending presidential immunity”. Already youth MP Peter Ogwang is busy seducing Museveni to come back in 2016; now MP Martin Drito is moving to desecrate our Constitution! What’s wrong with these MPs?

A Constitution is supposed to be a living document which shouldn’t be tinkered with all the time. The American Constitution which has lasted 225 years has had only 27 amendments. As for Uganda, like I stated before in these pages, I lose count of how many times our Constitution has been altered. A Constitutional amendment should be for the public good, not for shielding one particular individual or a small group of individuals.

Drito reportedly said, “The presidents when serving the country will be rest assured that when out of power, they will not be prosecuted because I am sure many of them must be scared of jail and any form of punishment when they are immunity-free”. I would like to assure Mr Drito that that’s exactly what rule of law means - that nobody whether the king or the president is above the law. Hon Drito’s move is utterly antithetical to rule of law.

Drito also reportedly stated thus, “This is a way of promoting democracy so that we have in our society a number of leaders whom we can bank on for advice in leadership when they leave office”. I am amazed that a whole Member of Parliament doesn’t know that democracy and impunity are not concomitant.

The proposed constitutional amendment will promote impunity and is antithetical to international law. With such a provision in our Constitution, we can get a heartless, greedy, insensitive and inconsiderate leader who will personalise state property, donate some to cronies and relatives, kill political opponents, abuse human rights with impunity; override all state institutions, including Parliament and the Judiciary and we have nothing to do. We don’t need in our society any human being who is clearly above the law.

Should Drito’s proposed Constitutional Amendment (Immunity for the outgoing President) Bill 2012 be passed (God forbid), we shall confirm that Parliament is anti-people. Our MPs should beware of introducing what Professor George Kanyeihamba calls constitutional viruses in our Constitution. In their wisdom, the framers of the 1995 Constitution knew well that all the immunity the President needs is what Article 98 provides.

Drito should be reminded that his move is the most unpatriotic move and he should totally erase it from his mind. President Museveni should also pronounce himself on this move and assure the nation that he is not behind this inglorious proposed Constitutional Amendment Bill.

At the height of the campaign to expunge the term limits provision which was provided for under Article 105(2) in our Constitution, some of us in civil society vehemently opposed the move for we knew it would set the country on a path to democratic reversals. Personally, I wrote many pieces in newspapers and spoke on the then popular Ekimezza. However, the unpatriotic Seventh Parliament members, went ahead and expunged the provision to pave way for President Museveni to rule until he gets tired.

Today, I see some of the MPs who voted to remove term limits championing the campaign to restore term limits. Drito may be in NRM today and he is safe because it is the ruling party. A few years from today he might find himself in the opposition. I don’t think he would like it when he is tortured and traumatised at the orders of a president who will be immune from prosecution even when he/she is out of power. There are many Ugandans who will never forgive the Seventh Parliament for desecrating our Constitution; I call upon the Ninth Parliament not to further desecrate our Constitution. Please, shun Drito’s move with the contempt it deserves. Only then can we truly say, For God and My Country.

Mr Nuwagaba is a human rights defender.
vnuwagaba@gmail.com

Dear MPs, we shall not look on as our country is raped

Dear MPs, we shall not look on as our country is raped The Mouthpiece — 02 June 2011 The 9th Parliament has started on a wrong note. Wrong because instead of members preoccupying themselves with the problems affecting us as a nation, the first preoccupation was self-aggrandisement. I was appalled that when it came to their emoluments and demand for vehicles, both the opposition and NRM members sailed in the same boat. What appalls me so much is that Elijah Okupa an opposition MP is the one who called for the locking out the media from covering the parliament proceedings. This makes me surmise that MPs are just that – Money Parasites. I am enraged that the Parliament Public Relations Officer could have the audacity to invoke the rules that allow the eviction of journalists if the matter under discussion threatens national security. Who defines national security? Does the matter of MPs emoluments threaten national security? We may be fooled to think that the issues that were being discussed were concerned with national security threats, let the MPs tell us when they are going to debate their emoluments. To begin with, although the law allows MPs to determine their own pay, that law is both immoral and illegitimate. It contradicts the rules of natural justice that no man can be a judge in his own case. Accordingly, I call upon you to support me to challenge the constitutionality of this bad law. We have come to understand that MPs will now get 19million per month and if we are to go by the press reports each MP is going to be paid 190million for a vehicle. What amazes me is that many of these MPs make negative contribution to Uganda. I am cock-sure that out of 375 less than 100 MPs will make some contribution albeit minor. A lecturer at Makerere University is given a gross pay of shillings 1.9million and takes home not more than 1.3. Do those MPs think that they play a more effective role than university lecturers? Tarsis Kabwegyere in his book, People’s Choice, People’s Choice says that “Wealth built by majority but enjoyed by the few is very vulnerable”. Kabwegyere further argues that, “Deprivation leads to violence and extreme deprivation leads to extreme violence”. Because of the poor reading culture, many Ugandans including MPs have not read Kabwegyere’s book so as to be guided. But also, because of intellectual dishonesty, Kabwegyere has since somersaulted from his views which incidentally he put in black and white in 2000. I would encourage all of you to read Professor Kabwegyere’s book and Museveni’s, “What is Africa’s Problem?” At the end of it all we should examine what could have been the cause of the mismatch. Ugandans pay a plethora of taxes which include, 30% of Pay As You Earn (which Mwenda used to call Pay As Yoweri Enjoys), 18% of Value Added Tax, Local Service Tax, Trading Licenses, Import and Export duties and so forth. It is clear then that we are deprived of our hard earned money to cater for a few. Personally, before I was maliciously thrown into jail in Luzira, I had declared my intentions to join Parliament. However, I had made it clear that I would fight the practice of having MPs determine their own pay or fight to ensure that the pay for an MP shouldn’t go beyond Sh 5million. I know many people would ask me how I would do that. I would first debate the matter from the floor of parliament and if defeated because of the mob in the house, I would take the matter to the court of public opinion. I would bring the matter in the media and call upon the people to organise themselves into a social movement to demand that MPs and ministers don’t fleece the taxpayers. I know the NRM is not ashamed to confront with guns people demanding accountability for their taxes. I also wanted to fight the practice of having MPs appointed ministers to ensure the doctrines of separation of powers and checks and balances work. Hon Banyanzaki, was for instance critical as a backbencher. But I am pretty sure that since he is a cabinet member, he will be bound by collective responsibility and I am sure that the NRM has succeeded in gagging him. Finally, I will not tire to call upon all of you to strongly demand accountability from the leaders that we have for our taxes. There is no way we can continue to be fleeced by the people who for many years promised to ensure our dignity. As a human rights defender I understand that rights and freedoms are not given on a silver platter. Let me end with Kabwegyere’s words, “The people must have sufficient power and strength to collectively say no to leaders who don’t uphold their promises after receiving the people’s mandate”. This power, he adds, “must be exercised under provisions of a constitution and if there’s a blockage in these areas, the people have a natural right to rebel”. There is glaring evidence that the government has violated the constitution and I am wondering whether we have no right to rebel. Dear MPs, we shall not look on as our country is raped. For God and my country! Mr Nuwagaba is a human rights defender vnuwagaba@gmail.com

MPs to get Shs190m each for vehicles

Posted on 30 May 2011. In 256news Tags: inflation, Ministry of Finance, MPs’ motor vehicle acquisition, Speaker Rebecca Kadaga

After the MPs demanded a pay raise to protect themselves from the biting inflation, it has also emerged that authorities in Parliament are quietly negotiating with officials in government to increase MPs’ motor vehicle acquisition fund from Shs60 million to Shs192 million.
Ms Justine Lumumba, the new Housing Minister and a former Parliamentary Commissioner, told reporters on Friday that the commission sanctioned a Shs190 million car grant for each MP. There are 375 MPs in the Ninth Parliament. This means taxpayers will have to fork out more than Shs71.2 billion to buy new vehicles for MPs. However, Ms Lumumba said the cost and the modalities will be subject to discussion with the Ministry of Finance.
“We are still in negotiation with Ministry of Finance… everything has gone up, prices have doubled and others even tripled. To get sound vehicles we need this money to facilitate members,” she said. “After our negotiations, a decision will be made whether to buy new cars for MPs or give them money to top-up.”
It has also emerged that Speaker Rebecca Kadaga and her deputy Jacob Oulanyah have already acquired brand new vehicles at Shs419 million each—replacing the old fleet. The vehicles were bought from Spear Motors. “The vehicles for the Speaker and Deputy were old and we needed to replace them,” Parliament’s Public Relations Officer Helen Kawesa said on Friday. “They were bought 10 years ago, they had mechanical problems and a decision was made to have these vehicles replaced.” She added: “We followed all the procurement rules and the process was transparent. This purchase started six months ago.”
Ms Kawesa said the old vehicles will be boarded off at an appropriate time. On the new vehicles for MPs, Ms Kawesa said: “Being a new Parliament, we normally give members money to acquire vehicles. In 2006 members bought vehicles at Shs60 million but because of inflation, the cost has since gone up. Five years is a long time. There is nothing sinister about the vehicles, we are going to follow the law and everything will be transparent.”
The car deal comes after Daily Monitor reported on Friday that a week after they were sworn-in, MPs demanded that government extends a Shs50 million advance to each of them among other proposals for an upward review in pay and a removal of taxes on cars which they will buy under the already generous motor vehicle loan scheme. MPs have also proposed their pay be increased from Shs15 million to Shs19 million.
On Thursday, the lawmakers chased away journalists and stopped coverage of a plenary debate where they reportedly agreed to push for a pay raise in a move, according to sources, which is intended to shield them from rising cost of living biting other Ugandans.
Ms Kawesa later cited sections of parliamentary rules that allow ejecting journalists if their presence during discussion will threaten national security. But when asked if indeed MPs’ pay is a matter of national security, Ms Kawesa replied: “MPs requested a closed session because there were issues they wanted to discuss. There was no mischief. It’s only that the new MPs wanted privacy. They were not comfortable with the presence of the press.”