Mr Eric Mwesigwa shows alleged torture wounds at the Ministry of Defence headquarters in Mbuya, Kampala, on March 1, 2023. PHOTO/BENSON TUMUSIIME
|‘Torture victim’ makes U-turn after visiting Defence offices
What you need to know:
- Mr Eric Mwesigwa says he was tortured by NUP members
A man, who claimed security personnel burnt his chest with a hot flat iron, yesterday retracted his story.
Mr Eric Mwesigwa, a resident of Nansana in Wakiso District, was first paraded by Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, the president of the National Unity Platform (NUP) last month. Mr Mwesigwa showed injuries he allegedly sustained after security officers tortured him on January 31.
In a new twist, Mr Mwesigwa yesterday retracted his story and accused NUP officials of luring him into tarnishing the government’s image.
While appearing at the Ministry of Defence and Veteran affairs headquarters in Mbuya, Kampala yesterday, Mr Mwesigwa said he was lured into a deal by NUP and the wounds were inflicted on him by the same group.
“The NUP members promised me a fee of Shs50 million and a trip to the USA. They told me, do what they are telling you. But I can assure you that even where I was residing, they refused to pay the rent,” he said.
Mr Mwesigwa failed to produce any evidence to back his claims when asked by journalists in Mbuya yesterday.
Mr Mwesigwa also said the army tracked and found him at Emitex medical centre in Kyabando where he has been receiving treatment.
Mr Joseph Kaddu, who accompanied his friend Mr Mwesigwa to Mbuya, said unnamed NUP members had also promised him a similar deal worth Shs50 million in April this year.
“But after witnessing what Mwesigwa went through when NUP members did not pay his medical bills, I withdrew from their deal. So we are here to clarify about what happened,” Mr Kaddu said yesterday.
In 2016, Mr Kaddu swore an affidavit in a private criminal torture case against former police chief Gen Kale Kayihura and other seven police officers at the Makindye Chief Magistrate’s Court.
Mr Kaddu claimed the police officers tortured him while dispersing Dr Kizza Besigye’s supporters in Kampala after the general elections.
He later withdrew his affidavit claiming the private prosecutors bribed him with Shs800,000 and he was promised an additional Shs5 million after testifying in the case.
Mr Kaddu, a boda boda rider, according to Daily Monitor on August 8, 2016 said private prosecutor Daniel Walyemera gave him to testify against Gen Kayihura.
The Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs spokesperson, Brig Felix Kulayigye, has accused the Opposition of parading people with bodily injuries and scars occasioned by accidents as if they were tortured, with intention of maligning the government .
“These elements have embarked on a deliberate campaign to malign the government and attempt to isolate it at regional and international level as well as among the development partners using the usual rhetoric of human rights abuses and social economic challenges,” he said.
Brig Kulayigye added: “We, therefore, call upon both the local and international media to always resist lending credence to perpetual NUP lies aimed at maligning government for political gain.”
Last November, NUP paraded more than 100 Ugandans as torture victims at the Uganda Human Rights Accountability conference at Ufungamano House in Nairobi, Kenya.
Brig Kulayigye said it was later established many of the paraded individuals were victims of accidents.
Nup reacts
The spokesperson for NUP, Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, dismissed the claim saying it is an attempt by the government to cover up torture by security agents.
“Not a long ago their commander-in-chief, Mr Museveni, told them to stop torturing people and he was not talking to NUP,” Mr Ssenyonyi said.
Mr Ssenyonyi cited another example of a one Masereka, their coordinator in Kasese District, who he said was arrested by security agents but they denied holding him until pressure was exerted on them and they admitted that he was in their facility.
