2021 polls: CSOs ask MPs to probe rights abuses

A group of civil society organisations (CSOs) have urged Parliament to cause “a full independent inquiry” into human rights violations during and after the January 14, presidential polls.
The CSOs want Parliament  to particularly  look into the extra-judicial killings and continued illegal detention of hundreds of Opposition supporters.

Since the presidential nominations last November 2, there has been a consistent pattern of rights violations by the military targeting the Opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party supporters with hundreds kidnapped by unidentified security operatives and driving in numberless vans, nicknamed ‘drones’ to unknown destinations, leaving families and relatives in distress. 

There have also been widespread accusations that security forces kill people at will as long as they can qualify an individual as a protester or someone who threatened them, and go unpunished as was the case on November 18 to November 20, 2020 when more than 50 Ugandans, majority being youth, were killed in protests.
The November protests were held  over the incarceration of then Opposition presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine for reportedly flouting Covid-19 regulations.

The CSOs—Chapter 4-Uganda, Great Lakes Institute for Strategic Studies, Akina Maama wa Afrika, NGO Forum, and ActionAid—in a joint statement on Wednesday argued that  since Mr Kyagulanyi has never been prosecuted for the alleged violations of Covid-19 regulations, “is one clear evidence of how the regime used the pandemic as an instrument to disrupt normal political campaign activities.”

 “Most importantly, the fact that while a few of the citizens arrested in this onslaught have been arraigned before the courts of law, an unknown number has have been found dumped in jungles and other remote places, often in poor health, bearing torture marks and some women reported to have been sexually violated,” the CSOs add.
The organisations urged Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga, her deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanya and Members of Parliament “to go beyond symbolic debates and muted voices of disapproval”  to push for an inquiry.

“The framers of our Constitution established Parliament as our last line of defense against excesses of regimes like the one we are confronted with today. By only expressing muted voices of disapproval and engaging in symbolic debates, MPs are giving the impression that Parliament is either helpless in the face of a belligerent regime or tacitly approve the excesses of the regime,” the CSOs said.
The 2021 election campaign was marred by unprecedented violence that started in November 2017 with the storming of Parliament  by members of the Special Forces Command (SFC )  who manhandled Opposition MPs during debate  to remove presidential  age limit from the Constitution.
The eventual removal of the age limit clause paved way for Mr Museveni to contest for a sixth term.

“It is apparent that since the events of 2017, our country has experienced increased onslaught on our democracy.”
The CSOs further indicated that President Museveni’s recent admission that his own presidential protection force—SFC—is either culpable or complicit in holding most of the kidnapped Opposition supporters under the guise of investigating possible criminal acts related to insurrection “is a step in the right directions to end the impunity on display in our country today.”

The SFC, commanded by First Son Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, is a semi-independent outfit within the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and its core job is guarding the President and Vice President, top state guests and officials as well as key national installations.
After weeks of denial by the police and UPDF spokespersons about the involvement of SFC, especially in the kidnaps and torture, President Museveni revealed in a letter circulated early this month that its commandos subdued potential election-time chaos and killed scores of “ domestic terrorists”.

The President further hinted that SFC was holding some 51 people reported by relatives to have disappeared. The President did not disclose possible charges against the individuals or the reason why they have not been formally arraigned in court as required by the Constitution and neither did he explain why the suspects were being held by SFC rather than regular state investigating agencies.

This was three days after Internal Affairs minister, Gen Jeje Odongo, tabled in Parliament a list of 177 civilians that he said were presumed missing, but were on remand in civilian prisons or detained at Makindye Military barracks. However, the minister did not reference any SFC involvement in the sting operations or detaining suspects.  
The CSOs urged Mr Museveni “to demonstrate his statesmanship and pan-African credentials to end the ongoing violations of the human rights and dignity of our people.”