Vincent Nuwagaba
Dear Edward Kalekyezi-Kayihura,
I would like to publicly inform you that since April 11, 2008 I have been brutalized, dehumanized, tortured, tormented, traumatized, humiliated and treated in a cruel manner by the policemen under your watch. Although I have written to you and the president several times, I have been treated with utter contempt apart from referring me to the so-called Police Professional Standards Unit (PSU). I speak with the experience; the PSU is Propaganda/Poison Scheming Unit. It is a propaganda scheming unit in a sense that it portrays the police force as an institution with a human face and a poison scheming unit in a sense that it makes reports full of falsehoods hence poisoning those that consume those reports. Frankly, the PSU was established for public relations purposes and because of the knowledge I have about it, I cannot report any complaint against the police thereto. To expect one to be a judge in their own case is to expect too much. The people manning the PSU are policemen/officers and strong allies and partners of the people we complain about. Would it be logical to have a case about a man judged by his wife or his brother?
I reported to the PSU in May 2008 about the physical, psychological and mental torture I was inflicted upon by the Policemen from April 11th to 15th 2008 at CPS under the supervision of Johnson Bahimbise who incidentally is my father’s friend for they were together at Makobole High School Kinyasano and is married to my former P.3 class teacher Nyesigire Anna.
The police didn’t extract any statement from me, they locked me in solitary cells; soaked me in sewage and they surely intended to have me dead. In fact, a police constable who happened to have been my Old Boy at Bubangizi SSS called Professor John-Jean Barya of the Faculty of Law, Makerere University. Shockingly, his status as a celebrated Professor of law notwithstanding, Prof Barya was blocked from seeing me. Oh Uganda!
On Monday April 14, 2008 a friend of mine David Tumusingize who had been illegally detained helped me by informing Dennis Daniel Muhumuza who later informed Thomas Tayebwa and Bruce Kabaasa Balaba. Tom and Bruce beseeched them to allow them see me. I am convinced that had Bruce and Tom not come at that time, I wouldn’t survive at all. In fact, I had already prayed to God to welcome me in the bosom of Abraham in case I died. The following day on Tuesday 15th April 2011, Bruce and Tom came for me. Sadly, instead of taking me to court, the Police connived with Butabika Hospital administration to subject me to pharmacological torture. Shockingly, soon after reporting to PSU, the shameless policemen again arrested me from Jinja Road Police Station on 15th May 2008 beat me and deprived me of some money only to release me after the intervention of FHRI and a friend who called from the President’s office ordering the Jinja Road Divisional Police Commander to release me. When I went back to the station after being attended to by the police surgeon, the DPC told me, “Nuwagaba, you are free to go your way, when we need you we shall call you”. To date, I have never been called in regard to that matter. On May 28th, when I went to make a formal complaint at CPS in regard to my property that had been stolen by the police, I was dumped in the dungeon and subjected to a fresh menu of torture. On 29th, Kampala RDC Alice Muwanguzi found me in the dungeon and I told her that I was not ready to accept being dehumanized in my own country. She told me, “Nuwagaba, let me go and order for your release”. Soon after her departure, I was called and I thought I was to be released only to be taken to Butabika. In Butabika, I went through real hell and when they were convinced I would die, they released me on June 24, 2008 so that I don’t die from the “Hospital”. Those who saw me during that time can testify that I stopped on the verge of the grave!
It took the PSU under Mr. John Ndunguse more than a year to do the investigations and write a report which ordinarily would take any serious person not more than five days. I have never read through that report but a police legal officer named Ronald Magezi read for me and when I disagreed with the contents therein he intimidated me. Shamelessly, I was told to part with Shs60, 000 (Sixty thousand shillings) if I was to be given a copy! I asked them the justification of paying for my own report and I have never got an answer.
The police have since tortured me several times and now beat me at will from state institutions. I have several times been beaten from UBC premises and parliament. Incidentally, you seem not to know that the more I am tortured, the more I am radicalised and for sure the police are fighting a losing battle. You cannot shoot down the truth. I would also expect you to resign and get a job at the NRM Secretariat since the president has told everyone that you and Moses Kafeero are NRM cadres.
The police under your leadership are now above the law and it is an irony that a lawyer with a master’s degree can head a police force that orchestrates lawlessness, torture and impunity. As sure as day follows night, the offenders will be punished. For God and my country!
Vincent Nuwagaba, Human rights defender
mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com
Showing posts with label Police brutality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Police brutality. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Dear Edward Kalekyezi-Kayihura,
Vincent Nuwagaba
Dear Edward Kalekyezi-Kayihura,
I would like to publicly inform you that since April 11, 2008 I have been brutalized, dehumanized, tortured, tormented, traumatized, humiliated and treated in a cruel manner by the policemen under your watch. Although I have written to you and the president several times, I have been treated with utter contempt apart from referring me to the so-called Police Professional Standards Unit (PSU). I speak with the experience; the PSU is Propaganda/Poison Scheming Unit. It is a propaganda scheming unit in a sense that it portrays the police force as an institution with a human face and a poison scheming unit in a sense that it makes reports full of falsehoods hence poisoning those that consume those reports. Frankly, the PSU was established for public relations purposes and because of the knowledge I have about it, I cannot report any complaint against the police thereto. To expect one to be a judge in their own case is to expect too much. The people manning the PSU are policemen/officers and strong allies and partners of the people we complain about. Would it be logical to have a case about a man judged by his wife or his brother?
I reported to the PSU in May 2008 about the physical, psychological and mental torture I was inflicted upon by the Policemen from April 11th to 15th 2008 at CPS under the supervision of Johnson Bahimbise who incidentally is my father’s friend for they were together at Makobole High School Kinyasano and is married to my former P.3 class teacher Nyesigire Anna.
The police didn’t extract any statement from me, they locked me in solitary cells; soaked me in sewage and they surely intended to have me dead. In fact, a police constable who happened to have been my Old Boy at Bubangizi SSS called Professor John-Jean Barya of the Faculty of Law, Makerere University. Shockingly, his status as a celebrated Professor of law notwithstanding, Prof Barya was blocked from seeing me. Oh Uganda!
On Monday April 14, 2008 a friend of mine David Tumusingize who had been illegally detained helped me by informing Dennis Daniel Muhumuza who later informed Thomas Tayebwa and Bruce Kabaasa Balaba. Tom and Bruce beseeched them to allow them see me. I am convinced that had Bruce and Tom not come at that time, I wouldn’t survive at all. In fact, I had already prayed to God to welcome me in the bosom of Abraham in case I died. The following day on Tuesday 15th April 2011, Bruce and Tom came for me. Sadly, instead of taking me to court, the Police connived with Butabika Hospital administration to subject me to pharmacological torture. Shockingly, soon after reporting to PSU, the shameless policemen again arrested me from Jinja Road Police Station on 15th May 2008 beat me and deprived me of some money only to release me after the intervention of FHRI and a friend who called from the President’s office ordering the Jinja Road Divisional Police Commander to release me. When I went back to the station after being attended to by the police surgeon, the DPC told me, “Nuwagaba, you are free to go your way, when we need you we shall call you”. To date, I have never been called in regard to that matter. On May 28th, when I went to make a formal complaint at CPS in regard to my property that had been stolen by the police, I was dumped in the dungeon and subjected to a fresh menu of torture. On 29th, Kampala RDC Alice Muwanguzi found me in the dungeon and I told her that I was not ready to accept being dehumanized in my own country. She told me, “Nuwagaba, let me go and order for your release”. Soon after her departure, I was called and I thought I was to be released only to be taken to Butabika. In Butabika, I went through real hell and when they were convinced I would die, they released me on June 24, 2008 so that I don’t die from the “Hospital”. Those who saw me during that time can testify that I stopped on the verge of the grave!
It took the PSU under Mr. John Ndunguse more than a year to do the investigations and write a report which ordinarily would take any serious person not more than five days. I have never read through that report but a police legal officer named Ronald Magezi read for me and when I disagreed with the contents therein he intimidated me. Shamelessly, I was told to part with Shs60, 000 (Sixty thousand shillings) if I was to be given a copy! I asked them the justification of paying for my own report and I have never got an answer.
The police have since tortured me several times and now beat me at will from state institutions. I have several times been beaten from UBC premises and parliament. Incidentally, you seem not to know that the more I am tortured, the more I am radicalised and for sure the police are fighting a losing battle. You cannot shoot down the truth. I would also expect you to resign and get a job at the NRM Secretariat since the president has told everyone that you and Moses Kafeero are NRM cadres.
The police under your leadership are now above the law and it is an irony that a lawyer with a master’s degree can head a police force that orchestrates lawlessness, torture and impunity. As sure as day follows night, the offenders will be punished. For God and my country!
Vincent Nuwagaba, Human rights defender
mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com
Dear Edward Kalekyezi-Kayihura,
I would like to publicly inform you that since April 11, 2008 I have been brutalized, dehumanized, tortured, tormented, traumatized, humiliated and treated in a cruel manner by the policemen under your watch. Although I have written to you and the president several times, I have been treated with utter contempt apart from referring me to the so-called Police Professional Standards Unit (PSU). I speak with the experience; the PSU is Propaganda/Poison Scheming Unit. It is a propaganda scheming unit in a sense that it portrays the police force as an institution with a human face and a poison scheming unit in a sense that it makes reports full of falsehoods hence poisoning those that consume those reports. Frankly, the PSU was established for public relations purposes and because of the knowledge I have about it, I cannot report any complaint against the police thereto. To expect one to be a judge in their own case is to expect too much. The people manning the PSU are policemen/officers and strong allies and partners of the people we complain about. Would it be logical to have a case about a man judged by his wife or his brother?
I reported to the PSU in May 2008 about the physical, psychological and mental torture I was inflicted upon by the Policemen from April 11th to 15th 2008 at CPS under the supervision of Johnson Bahimbise who incidentally is my father’s friend for they were together at Makobole High School Kinyasano and is married to my former P.3 class teacher Nyesigire Anna.
The police didn’t extract any statement from me, they locked me in solitary cells; soaked me in sewage and they surely intended to have me dead. In fact, a police constable who happened to have been my Old Boy at Bubangizi SSS called Professor John-Jean Barya of the Faculty of Law, Makerere University. Shockingly, his status as a celebrated Professor of law notwithstanding, Prof Barya was blocked from seeing me. Oh Uganda!
On Monday April 14, 2008 a friend of mine David Tumusingize who had been illegally detained helped me by informing Dennis Daniel Muhumuza who later informed Thomas Tayebwa and Bruce Kabaasa Balaba. Tom and Bruce beseeched them to allow them see me. I am convinced that had Bruce and Tom not come at that time, I wouldn’t survive at all. In fact, I had already prayed to God to welcome me in the bosom of Abraham in case I died. The following day on Tuesday 15th April 2011, Bruce and Tom came for me. Sadly, instead of taking me to court, the Police connived with Butabika Hospital administration to subject me to pharmacological torture. Shockingly, soon after reporting to PSU, the shameless policemen again arrested me from Jinja Road Police Station on 15th May 2008 beat me and deprived me of some money only to release me after the intervention of FHRI and a friend who called from the President’s office ordering the Jinja Road Divisional Police Commander to release me. When I went back to the station after being attended to by the police surgeon, the DPC told me, “Nuwagaba, you are free to go your way, when we need you we shall call you”. To date, I have never been called in regard to that matter. On May 28th, when I went to make a formal complaint at CPS in regard to my property that had been stolen by the police, I was dumped in the dungeon and subjected to a fresh menu of torture. On 29th, Kampala RDC Alice Muwanguzi found me in the dungeon and I told her that I was not ready to accept being dehumanized in my own country. She told me, “Nuwagaba, let me go and order for your release”. Soon after her departure, I was called and I thought I was to be released only to be taken to Butabika. In Butabika, I went through real hell and when they were convinced I would die, they released me on June 24, 2008 so that I don’t die from the “Hospital”. Those who saw me during that time can testify that I stopped on the verge of the grave!
It took the PSU under Mr. John Ndunguse more than a year to do the investigations and write a report which ordinarily would take any serious person not more than five days. I have never read through that report but a police legal officer named Ronald Magezi read for me and when I disagreed with the contents therein he intimidated me. Shamelessly, I was told to part with Shs60, 000 (Sixty thousand shillings) if I was to be given a copy! I asked them the justification of paying for my own report and I have never got an answer.
The police have since tortured me several times and now beat me at will from state institutions. I have several times been beaten from UBC premises and parliament. Incidentally, you seem not to know that the more I am tortured, the more I am radicalised and for sure the police are fighting a losing battle. You cannot shoot down the truth. I would also expect you to resign and get a job at the NRM Secretariat since the president has told everyone that you and Moses Kafeero are NRM cadres.
The police under your leadership are now above the law and it is an irony that a lawyer with a master’s degree can head a police force that orchestrates lawlessness, torture and impunity. As sure as day follows night, the offenders will be punished. For God and my country!
Vincent Nuwagaba, Human rights defender
mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com
Monday, August 8, 2011
Open letter to IGP Kale-Kayihura
Vincent Nuwagaba
Dear Edward Kalekyezi-Kayihura,
I would like to publicly inform you that since April 11, 2008 I have been brutalized, dehumanized, tortured, tormented, traumatized, humiliated and treated in a cruel manner by the policemen under your watch. Although I have written to you and the president several times, I have been treated with utter contempt apart from referring me to the so-called Police Professional Standards Unit (PSU). I speak with the experience; the PSU is Propaganda/Poison Scheming Unit. It is a propaganda scheming unit in a sense that it portrays the police force as an institution with a human face and a poison scheming unit in a sense that it makes reports full of falsehoods hence poisoning those that consume those reports. Frankly, the PSU was established for public relations purposes and because of the knowledge I have about it, I cannot report any complaint against the police thereto. To expect one to be a judge in their own case is to expect too much. The people manning the PSU are policemen/officers and strong allies and partners of the people we complain about. Would it be logical to have a case about a man judged by his wife or his brother?
I reported to the PSU in May 2008 about the physical, psychological and mental torture I was inflicted upon by the Policemen from April 11th to 15th 2008 at CPS under the supervision of Johnson Bahimbise who incidentally is my father’s friend for they were together at Makobole High School Kinyasana and is married to my former P.3 class teacher Nyesigire Anna. On the 15th April instead of taking me to court, they connived with Butabika Hospital administration to subject me to pharmacological torture. Shockingly, soon after reporting to PSU, the shameless policemen again arrested me from Jinja Road Police Station on 15th May 2008 beat me and deprived me of some money only to release me after the intervention of FHRI and a friend who called from the President’s office ordering the Jinja Road Divisional Police Commander to release me. When I went back to the station after being attended to by the police surgeon, the DPC told me, “Nuwagaba, you are free to go your way, when we need you we shall call you”. To date, I have never been called in regard to that matter. On May 28th, when I when I went to make a formal complaint at CPS in regard to my property that had been stolen by the police, I was dumped in the dungeon and subjected to a fresh menu of torture. On 29th, Kampala RDC found me in the dungeon and I told her that I was not ready to accept being dehumanized in my own country. She told me, “Nuwagaba, let me go and order for your release”. Soon after her departure, I was called and I thought I was to be released only to be taken to Butabika. In Butabika, I went through real hell and when they were convinced I would die, they released me on June 24, 2008 so that I don’t die from the “Hospital”. Those who saw me during that time can testify that I stopped on the verge of the grave!
It took the PSU under Mr. John Ndunguse more than a year to do the investigations and write a report which ordinarily would take any serious person not more than five days. I have never read through that report but a police legal officer named Ronald Magezi read for me and when I disagreed with the contents therein he intimidated me. Shamelessly, I was told to part with Shs60, 000 (Sixty thousand shillings) if I was to be given a copy! I asked them the justification of paying for my own report and I have never got an answer.
The police have since tortured me several times and now beat me at will from state institutions. I have several times been beaten from UBC premises and parliament. Incidentally, you seem not to know that the more I am tortured, the more I am radicalised and for sure the police are fighting a losing battle. You cannot shoot down the truth. I would also expect you to resign and get a job at the NRM Secretariat since the president has told everyone that you and Moses Kafeero are NRM cadres.
The police under your leadership are now above the law and it is an irony that a lawyer with a master’s degree can head a police force that orchestrates lawlessness, torture and impunity. As sure as day follows night, the offenders will be punished. For God and my country!
Vincent Nuwagaba, Human rights defender
mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com
Dear Edward Kalekyezi-Kayihura,
I would like to publicly inform you that since April 11, 2008 I have been brutalized, dehumanized, tortured, tormented, traumatized, humiliated and treated in a cruel manner by the policemen under your watch. Although I have written to you and the president several times, I have been treated with utter contempt apart from referring me to the so-called Police Professional Standards Unit (PSU). I speak with the experience; the PSU is Propaganda/Poison Scheming Unit. It is a propaganda scheming unit in a sense that it portrays the police force as an institution with a human face and a poison scheming unit in a sense that it makes reports full of falsehoods hence poisoning those that consume those reports. Frankly, the PSU was established for public relations purposes and because of the knowledge I have about it, I cannot report any complaint against the police thereto. To expect one to be a judge in their own case is to expect too much. The people manning the PSU are policemen/officers and strong allies and partners of the people we complain about. Would it be logical to have a case about a man judged by his wife or his brother?
I reported to the PSU in May 2008 about the physical, psychological and mental torture I was inflicted upon by the Policemen from April 11th to 15th 2008 at CPS under the supervision of Johnson Bahimbise who incidentally is my father’s friend for they were together at Makobole High School Kinyasana and is married to my former P.3 class teacher Nyesigire Anna. On the 15th April instead of taking me to court, they connived with Butabika Hospital administration to subject me to pharmacological torture. Shockingly, soon after reporting to PSU, the shameless policemen again arrested me from Jinja Road Police Station on 15th May 2008 beat me and deprived me of some money only to release me after the intervention of FHRI and a friend who called from the President’s office ordering the Jinja Road Divisional Police Commander to release me. When I went back to the station after being attended to by the police surgeon, the DPC told me, “Nuwagaba, you are free to go your way, when we need you we shall call you”. To date, I have never been called in regard to that matter. On May 28th, when I when I went to make a formal complaint at CPS in regard to my property that had been stolen by the police, I was dumped in the dungeon and subjected to a fresh menu of torture. On 29th, Kampala RDC found me in the dungeon and I told her that I was not ready to accept being dehumanized in my own country. She told me, “Nuwagaba, let me go and order for your release”. Soon after her departure, I was called and I thought I was to be released only to be taken to Butabika. In Butabika, I went through real hell and when they were convinced I would die, they released me on June 24, 2008 so that I don’t die from the “Hospital”. Those who saw me during that time can testify that I stopped on the verge of the grave!
It took the PSU under Mr. John Ndunguse more than a year to do the investigations and write a report which ordinarily would take any serious person not more than five days. I have never read through that report but a police legal officer named Ronald Magezi read for me and when I disagreed with the contents therein he intimidated me. Shamelessly, I was told to part with Shs60, 000 (Sixty thousand shillings) if I was to be given a copy! I asked them the justification of paying for my own report and I have never got an answer.
The police have since tortured me several times and now beat me at will from state institutions. I have several times been beaten from UBC premises and parliament. Incidentally, you seem not to know that the more I am tortured, the more I am radicalised and for sure the police are fighting a losing battle. You cannot shoot down the truth. I would also expect you to resign and get a job at the NRM Secretariat since the president has told everyone that you and Moses Kafeero are NRM cadres.
The police under your leadership are now above the law and it is an irony that a lawyer with a master’s degree can head a police force that orchestrates lawlessness, torture and impunity. As sure as day follows night, the offenders will be punished. For God and my country!
Vincent Nuwagaba, Human rights defender
mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Kayihura, Museveni and company enough is enough
Vincent Nuwagaba
Kayihura, Museveni and company enough is enough
The police and prisons personnel have turned it into a duty to torture, harass, dehumanize and brutalise me. I wonder whether they have nothing useful to do with themselves. Surely, there is no doubt that we are headed for disaster. Only last week on 28th July, I was humiliated at parliament by the police. Even when I informed one of their superiors Mr. Elly Womanya, they insisted that they had their own rules which I had to follow. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t succumb to the dictates of the policemen for I knew they didn’t know what they were doing. On that very day, when I went to Bauman House looking for Hon Fungaroo, I was also humiliated. The following day, I went to Murchison Bay Prison but I was denied access to the inmates simply because I had an exercise book and a pen. I have now realized that the NRM regime is in its evening and has reached the exit door.
They have tortured me several times, arrested me illegally several times and subjected me to drugs with a view to exterminating me. To their shock, nothing has deterred me from speaking the truth. I would like to warn the police and everyone who wants to take me for a ride that nobody can successfully subjugate me. I am a citizen in this country and not anyone’s subject.
In less than two weeks time, we shall submit afresh the petition of fees increment in the public universities and we shall demand that government refunds all the monies that have been paid by the students under the 2009/2010 fees structures because fees was increased irregularly. I was personally taken to jail and told that I will spend there twenty eight months. By the grace of God, I came out after serving eight and a half months. What I learnt from there is more than a course that one would cover for three years.
I call upon all patriotic Ugandans to use all the peaceful means to ensure that there is change. We must petition the courts of law, the parliament, the East African Court of Justice, the African Court of Human and People’s Rights but also we must expose the nakedness of the NRM regime.
It’s amazing that the people who claimed they went to the bush to fight for democracy, human rights, security of property and person are now doing the unthinkable. Indeed, like Lord Acton remarked, power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. If we indeed accept that leaders come from God, we ought to know that God has anointed a leader to liberate Ugandans from spiritual doom which the First Lady has always lamented about. Sadly, she forgets to understand that the first family is part of the problem.
I pity Celestine Twesigye, the Officer in Charge of Murchison Bay prison under whose command I was chased out of the prison premises because they feared I was going to write about the situation therein. If they don’t torture inmates, why should they block human rights defenders from freely interfacing with the prisoners? I have been in jail and I know that there are many inmates who are innocent but because they got no lawyers or the magistrates were bribed they ended up being convicted.
Meanwhile, Magistrate Grade II, James Wambaya who illegally, without any sense of shame convicted me and sentenced me to twenty eight months of imprisonment, has lodged a complaint against me with the police saying that I threaten him. I wish him well but I would be glad if we met in the courts of law so that I can defend myself. Norbert Mao once said lies have short legs; they cannot go far. I have also come to learn that lies have a short lifespan. I am not at all scared about anybody and I am convinced that I will succeed at the end of the day.
I would like to inform Kayihura and other policemen and military men who think that what works is the barrel of the gun. I am even surprised that the current ruling oligarchy doesn’t know that the more people are brutalized the radical they become. I would also call upon Gen Kayihura to officially join the NRM secretariat since the President has in the recent past declared that Kayihura and Kafeero are NRM cadres.
A friend of mine once told me that madness is doing one thing, over and over again expecting different results. They have tortured me in the past; they have taken me to a mental hospital; they have taken me to court and convicted me; I don’t know why they behave like they have no iota of brains in their heads.
I am convinced that as sure as day follows night, all those that have committed crimes with impunity will be brought to book. You can imagine, Ofwono Opondo kills and gets away with it while Vincent Nuwagaba who is critical of the regime is rewarded with twenty-eight months’ imprisonment. I have said that I am neither Kayihura’s nor Museveni’s ball to be kicked by every Tom Dick and Harry. Meanwhile, I am going to drag UBC to the courts of law because their job is not to gag the critical voices.
In 1981, an irate group of 27 men, went to the bushes in Luwero triangle, they killed many civilians and walked on dead bodies to capture state power. Today, they have committed more heinous crimes than the ones they were fighting against. I would like to remind today’s Uganda rulers of the words of John F Kennedy, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable”. Enough is enough. We must assert ourselves and prove to everyone that Uganda belongs to all of us. For God and my country!
Vincent Nuwagaba is a human rights defender
mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com
Kayihura, Museveni and company enough is enough
The police and prisons personnel have turned it into a duty to torture, harass, dehumanize and brutalise me. I wonder whether they have nothing useful to do with themselves. Surely, there is no doubt that we are headed for disaster. Only last week on 28th July, I was humiliated at parliament by the police. Even when I informed one of their superiors Mr. Elly Womanya, they insisted that they had their own rules which I had to follow. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t succumb to the dictates of the policemen for I knew they didn’t know what they were doing. On that very day, when I went to Bauman House looking for Hon Fungaroo, I was also humiliated. The following day, I went to Murchison Bay Prison but I was denied access to the inmates simply because I had an exercise book and a pen. I have now realized that the NRM regime is in its evening and has reached the exit door.
They have tortured me several times, arrested me illegally several times and subjected me to drugs with a view to exterminating me. To their shock, nothing has deterred me from speaking the truth. I would like to warn the police and everyone who wants to take me for a ride that nobody can successfully subjugate me. I am a citizen in this country and not anyone’s subject.
In less than two weeks time, we shall submit afresh the petition of fees increment in the public universities and we shall demand that government refunds all the monies that have been paid by the students under the 2009/2010 fees structures because fees was increased irregularly. I was personally taken to jail and told that I will spend there twenty eight months. By the grace of God, I came out after serving eight and a half months. What I learnt from there is more than a course that one would cover for three years.
I call upon all patriotic Ugandans to use all the peaceful means to ensure that there is change. We must petition the courts of law, the parliament, the East African Court of Justice, the African Court of Human and People’s Rights but also we must expose the nakedness of the NRM regime.
It’s amazing that the people who claimed they went to the bush to fight for democracy, human rights, security of property and person are now doing the unthinkable. Indeed, like Lord Acton remarked, power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. If we indeed accept that leaders come from God, we ought to know that God has anointed a leader to liberate Ugandans from spiritual doom which the First Lady has always lamented about. Sadly, she forgets to understand that the first family is part of the problem.
I pity Celestine Twesigye, the Officer in Charge of Murchison Bay prison under whose command I was chased out of the prison premises because they feared I was going to write about the situation therein. If they don’t torture inmates, why should they block human rights defenders from freely interfacing with the prisoners? I have been in jail and I know that there are many inmates who are innocent but because they got no lawyers or the magistrates were bribed they ended up being convicted.
Meanwhile, Magistrate Grade II, James Wambaya who illegally, without any sense of shame convicted me and sentenced me to twenty eight months of imprisonment, has lodged a complaint against me with the police saying that I threaten him. I wish him well but I would be glad if we met in the courts of law so that I can defend myself. Norbert Mao once said lies have short legs; they cannot go far. I have also come to learn that lies have a short lifespan. I am not at all scared about anybody and I am convinced that I will succeed at the end of the day.
I would like to inform Kayihura and other policemen and military men who think that what works is the barrel of the gun. I am even surprised that the current ruling oligarchy doesn’t know that the more people are brutalized the radical they become. I would also call upon Gen Kayihura to officially join the NRM secretariat since the President has in the recent past declared that Kayihura and Kafeero are NRM cadres.
A friend of mine once told me that madness is doing one thing, over and over again expecting different results. They have tortured me in the past; they have taken me to a mental hospital; they have taken me to court and convicted me; I don’t know why they behave like they have no iota of brains in their heads.
I am convinced that as sure as day follows night, all those that have committed crimes with impunity will be brought to book. You can imagine, Ofwono Opondo kills and gets away with it while Vincent Nuwagaba who is critical of the regime is rewarded with twenty-eight months’ imprisonment. I have said that I am neither Kayihura’s nor Museveni’s ball to be kicked by every Tom Dick and Harry. Meanwhile, I am going to drag UBC to the courts of law because their job is not to gag the critical voices.
In 1981, an irate group of 27 men, went to the bushes in Luwero triangle, they killed many civilians and walked on dead bodies to capture state power. Today, they have committed more heinous crimes than the ones they were fighting against. I would like to remind today’s Uganda rulers of the words of John F Kennedy, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable”. Enough is enough. We must assert ourselves and prove to everyone that Uganda belongs to all of us. For God and my country!
Vincent Nuwagaba is a human rights defender
mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Complaint against the Police Officers’ Abuse of Office and brutality
14th December 2009
The Inspector General of Police
General Kale Kayihura
Re: Complaint against the Police Officers’ Abuse of Office
General Kayihura, I write to forward my complaint against some elements in the Police Force who have become an enigma in my life since 11th April 2009 up to 17th August 2009. I first commend you on your recent efforts to purge the police of what my colleague in the human rights movement Mohammed Ndifuna national coordinator of HURINET calls “bad apples.” That surely is an indicator that you have started listening to our cries about the abuse and misuse of office by the police.
General Kayihura, we first knew one another way back in 2002 from Makerere University where you used to come for debates when you were still a UPDF Political Commissar and Brigadier. I was then an undergraduate student studying political science and I was incensed by the reports I used to read and hear about the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence and Internal Security Organisation and other paramilitary outfits. Remember you once gave me your phone number and told me to contact your body guards for a cup of coffee. I later learnt that where you hail in Kisoro you belong to the Bagiri clan and given that I am a “mufuruki” in Bushenyi whose roots are Rubanda in Kabale and a Muhimba at that, I knew you are either my brother or my uncle. In fact during the police recruitment that raised many body hairs if I had a corrupt mindset I wouldn’t run to anyone else for recommendation but to you. Little did I know that I would suffer hardest at the hands of the Police when you are the IGP and you seem to sanction my traumatic experience by doing nothing every time I appeal to you.
I know this is more than a mere letter but a short report. Accordingly, I beg that you find ample time to read and internalise the report. Since I am not your appointing authority, I don’t know your job description but I know for sure that if you don’t read you cannot in the least make a good leader. But I also know that you don’t find reading a problem since you hold a Master Degree of Laws. Because you hold a Master degree in Law, you should be the last person to condone lawlessness in the Police Force and I also expect you to distinguish between self interest and public interest. I may for example, be an impediment to your coveted desire for the NRM to retain power ad infinitum but know that what the public needs is not whether or not you stay in power for 100 years but what services you deliver to them when you are in power.
I have been prompted to write this report to you by the recent media reports published by 256news accessed online at www.256news.com and the 12 December Saturday Monitor story titled “MP pins Police on bribery”. That you oversaw the arrest of the officers implicated shows you brook no nonsense any further. The principle purpose of this letter is to ask you to prevail on officers who have always stolen my money to refund it and penalise them for subjecting the good name of the Uganda Police Force to public shame and ridicule. Ultimately that tarnishes your otherwise good name.
I have appealed to you for so long but I have never got any help from your office. I don’t know whether you have always felt I am too insignificant to merit your valuable time. I beg that the attention you give to MPs you give to others in equal measure as well because MPs are public servants and as such they are no greater than their masters – members of the public. I have never seen a servant who is bigger than his/her master. And by the way, personally I am better qualified than majority MPs and spend more time in libraries than them. Hence, I am one of the philosopher kings that Plato says should be in leadership. Please no pun intended.
That said let me give the catalogue of abuses that I have gone through orchestrated by police officers.
1. On 11 April 2008, I was illegally arrested, detained incommunicado, starved for four days in CPS dungeons and terribly tortured. From there they took me to a mental hospital after conniving with Butabika staff to further subject me to pharmacological torture. My money amounting to 500 dollars and shillings 120,000 (one hundred and twenty thousand) shillings was stolen; my Bata shoes were stolen and to date I have never seen my black stripped suit. The police stayed with my keys and by the time I went back home on 24th April 2009 I found my house had been broken into, my computer, 2 flash discs and many other items were stolen. All this was done under the supervision of ASP Johnson Bahimbise who is at large and has since been promoted to SP and now works as Chief Security Officer of Makerere University.
2.On 15 May 2008, I was arrested from Spear Motors by a police officer whose names I don’t know, assaulted and taken to Jinja Road Police Station, money amounting to 60,000 (sixty thousand shillings) was stolen and I was released after the intervention of Foundation for Human Rights Initiative through their lawyers Vincent Babalanda and Evelyn. I was later told by the OC on duty then that, “Nuwagaba, you can now go, if we need you, we shall call you”. To date, I have never recovered my money and I have never seen justice.
3. On 28 May 2008, I was detained again at Kampala CPS after I had gone to make a formal complaint about my property stolen. Shillings 540,000 (five hundred and forty thousand) and some other small notes and coins whose amount I didn’t know was stolen. The following day, RDC Alice Muwanguzi found me in the cells and I told him the ordeal I had gone through. She told me, “Nuwagaba, let me go and order for your release”. Sadly I was taken to Butabika again Vincent Babalanda who now works with Ms Kenya found me there. You know all that happened there for I have written to you, to the president and two stories have been run by the Prisoners’ Magazine and the Red Pepper of July 4, 2009. Of course I have sued but I guess your dysfunctional state might be trying to frustrate the hearing of my case no. 92/2009 in the high court of Uganda.
4. In March this year, I was arrested by Sgt Kanyarutokye using a lady who initially was in love with me and is a sister to some Superintendent of Police and dumped at Kira Road. After thorough investigation by sober and professional officers, I was found innocent but also the complainant feared following up the case and she later told me all she wanted was to have me jailed and deprived of my liberty. This wasn’t the first time Kanyarutokye was tormenting me. I want Kanyarutokye penalised for using the Police Patrol vehicle and other officers that are sustained by taxpayers’ money to settle his personal scores against me. I feel so bad that I can be abused by people like Kanyarutokye who even failed S.4 at Ruyonza SSS. You see the effect of giving assignments to the academic dwarfs!
5. I have been assaulted thrice from Butabika on the course of investigating human rights abuse by the Mental Hospitals. On the first occasion I was beaten by the hospital guards citing orders from orders from above and shillings 100,000 was stolen from me. I was taken away by Mr. Aguma. The next time I was taken away by very many senior police officers and they told me “since you sued Dr. Onen wait for your case to be settled”. Should Butabika continue being used to inflict pharmacological torture on innocent Ugandans? Hadn’t it been my efforts and efforts of FHRI and UPAF, Gaudence Tushabomwe would have possibly met her creator months ago.
6. On 5th August still following Tushabomwe’s case I was picked from Butabika again and dumped in cells of Jinja Road Police Station. I was incarcerated for two days and later released without producing me in court. I had 101 US dollars and 430,000. OC CID and Mr. Chemonges should refund this money if you are to be taken seriously in your fight against injustice. I need explanation for depriving me of my liberty by incarcerating me in the filthy cells when I was innocent.
7. On 17th August I was arrested and tortured by police officers led by Detective Musinguzi working under the direction of ASP Mission Samuel. “My crime” I am sure was writing a letter to the President complaining about heartless tuition increment a related article of which was published by the Independent on 21st August 2009 when I was already in Luzira. Musinguzi and company stole 1.4m an amount of money I wanted to use to make a part payment for fees for a Law course whose tuition was hiked from 0.6m to 1.26m excluding functional fees of 540,000 and other requirements such as accommodation, feeding, printing and photocopying and transport inter alia. If I were you people in government I would bring those who constructively criticize me closer rather than persecuting them.
8. I was to be dumped in Wandegeya Police cells where I spent two days having been denied police bond despite the fact that the lows and highs of Uganda ranging from university Professors, UN Diplomats, Foundation for Human Rights Initiative and senior police officers among others. I was to be told that you called the OC CID and chastised her for allowing me have access to the phone after I called you, CP Nduguse, CP Kyomukama, AIGP Sharita among others. I hear you are a human rights lawyer!
The milestone this time was that I was produced in City Hall court and later taken to Luzira where I spent fifteen days. Of course trumped up charges of threatening violence and assault were opened against me. I have, however, been told by a certain CID detective that if I don’t see the Magistrate, I will be convicted. I told him I am ready to go to Luzira because Mandela was in jail for 27 years but it never stopped him from leading his country and retire after one term in office making him a leading iconic leader on the African continent. I have surely told you and the President that I am a law-abiding citizen and that if I am suspected of having committed an offence I should be tried before a competent and impartial tribunal or court. I know I am innocent and if I am convicted it would be malicious conviction. But also, this could be a ploy to frustrate me from proceeding with my case whose genesis is SP Bahimbise. I am surely not being prosecuted but being persecuted.
9. You got a report from PSU in regard to my complaint. I was not given a copy yet it makes weird allegations. I wrote you a letter on 8th May 2009 in regard to the PSU report but you chose to ignore me. Please rethink whatever I have communicated to you. You and I are Catholics and we know that Paul who has become a paragon of virtue in promoting Christianity was once Saul a persecutor of Christianity.
10. Please, address this matter urgently so that it becomes the last time I am writing to you complaining about the Police Force. Otherwise, I am ready to write to countries that believe in democratic practice and human dignity requesting them to slap a ban on your travels and withhold funding to the police force. Although, you have been named among those fighting corruption, personally I would name you top on the shame list. Indeed fighting a person who uses only the pen and tongue is the highest form of moral corruption. I know to err is human but I strongly believe that I can fairly be convicted of only a traffic offense because it happens unexpectedly but not deliberately. As a product of Danida Human Rights and Good Governance internship programme whose purpose is to train a critical mass of human rights and anti-corruption crusaders, I will write to DANIDA to express the magnitude of persecution by the Police and suggest that they use their money to help victims of human rights abuse.
Finally, prevail on all officers I accuse to refund my property and money and bring them to book. Accordingly, SP Bahimbise should pay back my US Dollars 500 and 200,000 plus 540,000 that were stolen under his watch. He should also produce my laptop computer, flash discs, my shoes, my wrist watch and my clothing.ASP Chemonges should produce my 100 US dollars and shillings 430,000. ASP Mission Samuel under whose supervision Detective Musinguzi and his colleagues were working should be forced to refund Shs 1.4m that was stolen from my bag. They always ask the evidence that I had the money but I would beg that you ask them to produce a record on which I signed for my property so that you can prove that what I am saying is either false or true. Because procedurally before one is dumped in police cells, they should sign against their property. I know it may be a well thought out strategy to make life too difficult for me through among others impoverishing me but I will never ever keep silent in the wake of injustice orchestrated by those that are paid by taxpayers’ money to protect our lives, liberty and property. What I have written here is a mere tip of the iceberg but I have to assure you that whoever fights me is fighting a losing battle. If I don’t listen to you soon, I will upload this report on the internet and follow this matter legally nationally or internationally to its logical conclusion.
I hope you pay heed. For God and My Country!
Yours truly,
VINCENT NUWAGABA
+256702843552
The Inspector General of Police
General Kale Kayihura
Re: Complaint against the Police Officers’ Abuse of Office
General Kayihura, I write to forward my complaint against some elements in the Police Force who have become an enigma in my life since 11th April 2009 up to 17th August 2009. I first commend you on your recent efforts to purge the police of what my colleague in the human rights movement Mohammed Ndifuna national coordinator of HURINET calls “bad apples.” That surely is an indicator that you have started listening to our cries about the abuse and misuse of office by the police.
General Kayihura, we first knew one another way back in 2002 from Makerere University where you used to come for debates when you were still a UPDF Political Commissar and Brigadier. I was then an undergraduate student studying political science and I was incensed by the reports I used to read and hear about the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence and Internal Security Organisation and other paramilitary outfits. Remember you once gave me your phone number and told me to contact your body guards for a cup of coffee. I later learnt that where you hail in Kisoro you belong to the Bagiri clan and given that I am a “mufuruki” in Bushenyi whose roots are Rubanda in Kabale and a Muhimba at that, I knew you are either my brother or my uncle. In fact during the police recruitment that raised many body hairs if I had a corrupt mindset I wouldn’t run to anyone else for recommendation but to you. Little did I know that I would suffer hardest at the hands of the Police when you are the IGP and you seem to sanction my traumatic experience by doing nothing every time I appeal to you.
I know this is more than a mere letter but a short report. Accordingly, I beg that you find ample time to read and internalise the report. Since I am not your appointing authority, I don’t know your job description but I know for sure that if you don’t read you cannot in the least make a good leader. But I also know that you don’t find reading a problem since you hold a Master Degree of Laws. Because you hold a Master degree in Law, you should be the last person to condone lawlessness in the Police Force and I also expect you to distinguish between self interest and public interest. I may for example, be an impediment to your coveted desire for the NRM to retain power ad infinitum but know that what the public needs is not whether or not you stay in power for 100 years but what services you deliver to them when you are in power.
I have been prompted to write this report to you by the recent media reports published by 256news accessed online at www.256news.com and the 12 December Saturday Monitor story titled “MP pins Police on bribery”. That you oversaw the arrest of the officers implicated shows you brook no nonsense any further. The principle purpose of this letter is to ask you to prevail on officers who have always stolen my money to refund it and penalise them for subjecting the good name of the Uganda Police Force to public shame and ridicule. Ultimately that tarnishes your otherwise good name.
I have appealed to you for so long but I have never got any help from your office. I don’t know whether you have always felt I am too insignificant to merit your valuable time. I beg that the attention you give to MPs you give to others in equal measure as well because MPs are public servants and as such they are no greater than their masters – members of the public. I have never seen a servant who is bigger than his/her master. And by the way, personally I am better qualified than majority MPs and spend more time in libraries than them. Hence, I am one of the philosopher kings that Plato says should be in leadership. Please no pun intended.
That said let me give the catalogue of abuses that I have gone through orchestrated by police officers.
1. On 11 April 2008, I was illegally arrested, detained incommunicado, starved for four days in CPS dungeons and terribly tortured. From there they took me to a mental hospital after conniving with Butabika staff to further subject me to pharmacological torture. My money amounting to 500 dollars and shillings 120,000 (one hundred and twenty thousand) shillings was stolen; my Bata shoes were stolen and to date I have never seen my black stripped suit. The police stayed with my keys and by the time I went back home on 24th April 2009 I found my house had been broken into, my computer, 2 flash discs and many other items were stolen. All this was done under the supervision of ASP Johnson Bahimbise who is at large and has since been promoted to SP and now works as Chief Security Officer of Makerere University.
2.On 15 May 2008, I was arrested from Spear Motors by a police officer whose names I don’t know, assaulted and taken to Jinja Road Police Station, money amounting to 60,000 (sixty thousand shillings) was stolen and I was released after the intervention of Foundation for Human Rights Initiative through their lawyers Vincent Babalanda and Evelyn. I was later told by the OC on duty then that, “Nuwagaba, you can now go, if we need you, we shall call you”. To date, I have never recovered my money and I have never seen justice.
3. On 28 May 2008, I was detained again at Kampala CPS after I had gone to make a formal complaint about my property stolen. Shillings 540,000 (five hundred and forty thousand) and some other small notes and coins whose amount I didn’t know was stolen. The following day, RDC Alice Muwanguzi found me in the cells and I told him the ordeal I had gone through. She told me, “Nuwagaba, let me go and order for your release”. Sadly I was taken to Butabika again Vincent Babalanda who now works with Ms Kenya found me there. You know all that happened there for I have written to you, to the president and two stories have been run by the Prisoners’ Magazine and the Red Pepper of July 4, 2009. Of course I have sued but I guess your dysfunctional state might be trying to frustrate the hearing of my case no. 92/2009 in the high court of Uganda.
4. In March this year, I was arrested by Sgt Kanyarutokye using a lady who initially was in love with me and is a sister to some Superintendent of Police and dumped at Kira Road. After thorough investigation by sober and professional officers, I was found innocent but also the complainant feared following up the case and she later told me all she wanted was to have me jailed and deprived of my liberty. This wasn’t the first time Kanyarutokye was tormenting me. I want Kanyarutokye penalised for using the Police Patrol vehicle and other officers that are sustained by taxpayers’ money to settle his personal scores against me. I feel so bad that I can be abused by people like Kanyarutokye who even failed S.4 at Ruyonza SSS. You see the effect of giving assignments to the academic dwarfs!
5. I have been assaulted thrice from Butabika on the course of investigating human rights abuse by the Mental Hospitals. On the first occasion I was beaten by the hospital guards citing orders from orders from above and shillings 100,000 was stolen from me. I was taken away by Mr. Aguma. The next time I was taken away by very many senior police officers and they told me “since you sued Dr. Onen wait for your case to be settled”. Should Butabika continue being used to inflict pharmacological torture on innocent Ugandans? Hadn’t it been my efforts and efforts of FHRI and UPAF, Gaudence Tushabomwe would have possibly met her creator months ago.
6. On 5th August still following Tushabomwe’s case I was picked from Butabika again and dumped in cells of Jinja Road Police Station. I was incarcerated for two days and later released without producing me in court. I had 101 US dollars and 430,000. OC CID and Mr. Chemonges should refund this money if you are to be taken seriously in your fight against injustice. I need explanation for depriving me of my liberty by incarcerating me in the filthy cells when I was innocent.
7. On 17th August I was arrested and tortured by police officers led by Detective Musinguzi working under the direction of ASP Mission Samuel. “My crime” I am sure was writing a letter to the President complaining about heartless tuition increment a related article of which was published by the Independent on 21st August 2009 when I was already in Luzira. Musinguzi and company stole 1.4m an amount of money I wanted to use to make a part payment for fees for a Law course whose tuition was hiked from 0.6m to 1.26m excluding functional fees of 540,000 and other requirements such as accommodation, feeding, printing and photocopying and transport inter alia. If I were you people in government I would bring those who constructively criticize me closer rather than persecuting them.
8. I was to be dumped in Wandegeya Police cells where I spent two days having been denied police bond despite the fact that the lows and highs of Uganda ranging from university Professors, UN Diplomats, Foundation for Human Rights Initiative and senior police officers among others. I was to be told that you called the OC CID and chastised her for allowing me have access to the phone after I called you, CP Nduguse, CP Kyomukama, AIGP Sharita among others. I hear you are a human rights lawyer!
The milestone this time was that I was produced in City Hall court and later taken to Luzira where I spent fifteen days. Of course trumped up charges of threatening violence and assault were opened against me. I have, however, been told by a certain CID detective that if I don’t see the Magistrate, I will be convicted. I told him I am ready to go to Luzira because Mandela was in jail for 27 years but it never stopped him from leading his country and retire after one term in office making him a leading iconic leader on the African continent. I have surely told you and the President that I am a law-abiding citizen and that if I am suspected of having committed an offence I should be tried before a competent and impartial tribunal or court. I know I am innocent and if I am convicted it would be malicious conviction. But also, this could be a ploy to frustrate me from proceeding with my case whose genesis is SP Bahimbise. I am surely not being prosecuted but being persecuted.
9. You got a report from PSU in regard to my complaint. I was not given a copy yet it makes weird allegations. I wrote you a letter on 8th May 2009 in regard to the PSU report but you chose to ignore me. Please rethink whatever I have communicated to you. You and I are Catholics and we know that Paul who has become a paragon of virtue in promoting Christianity was once Saul a persecutor of Christianity.
10. Please, address this matter urgently so that it becomes the last time I am writing to you complaining about the Police Force. Otherwise, I am ready to write to countries that believe in democratic practice and human dignity requesting them to slap a ban on your travels and withhold funding to the police force. Although, you have been named among those fighting corruption, personally I would name you top on the shame list. Indeed fighting a person who uses only the pen and tongue is the highest form of moral corruption. I know to err is human but I strongly believe that I can fairly be convicted of only a traffic offense because it happens unexpectedly but not deliberately. As a product of Danida Human Rights and Good Governance internship programme whose purpose is to train a critical mass of human rights and anti-corruption crusaders, I will write to DANIDA to express the magnitude of persecution by the Police and suggest that they use their money to help victims of human rights abuse.
Finally, prevail on all officers I accuse to refund my property and money and bring them to book. Accordingly, SP Bahimbise should pay back my US Dollars 500 and 200,000 plus 540,000 that were stolen under his watch. He should also produce my laptop computer, flash discs, my shoes, my wrist watch and my clothing.ASP Chemonges should produce my 100 US dollars and shillings 430,000. ASP Mission Samuel under whose supervision Detective Musinguzi and his colleagues were working should be forced to refund Shs 1.4m that was stolen from my bag. They always ask the evidence that I had the money but I would beg that you ask them to produce a record on which I signed for my property so that you can prove that what I am saying is either false or true. Because procedurally before one is dumped in police cells, they should sign against their property. I know it may be a well thought out strategy to make life too difficult for me through among others impoverishing me but I will never ever keep silent in the wake of injustice orchestrated by those that are paid by taxpayers’ money to protect our lives, liberty and property. What I have written here is a mere tip of the iceberg but I have to assure you that whoever fights me is fighting a losing battle. If I don’t listen to you soon, I will upload this report on the internet and follow this matter legally nationally or internationally to its logical conclusion.
I hope you pay heed. For God and My Country!
Yours truly,
VINCENT NUWAGABA
+256702843552
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