Family demands speedy trial of  jailed soldier

     
Lt Philip Ankunda’s family has not  heard from him in five months, since his arrest eight months ago and they are distraught. 

They say  while  in detention at the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence  (CMI)  headquarters Ankunda was tortured and denied access to relatives, acts that contravene the laws of Uganda. 

Similar allegations have been labelled against the unit in the past. 

Ms Mariam Mwiza, Lt Ankunda’s sister, told Sunday Monitor that the soldier had been missing for a week, before the family  learnt of his arrest. 

Ms Mwiza, with whom Ankunda lived in Bweyogerere, told this newspaper that her brother, who joined the army in 2010, had in March 2020 been promoted to the Special Forces Command, a section of the army charged with protecting the President. 
He was based at the airforce division in Nakasongola, as a pilot. 

“I learnt of his disappearance on May 2, 2020 after numerous attempts to reach him failed. I would talk to him every day, that day, because I had heard of shootings in Nakasongola, I tried to check on him at around 3pm, but his phones were off. I was alarmed, wondering if he had been involved in the shooting because his phones were always on,” she recounts.

Brig Richard Karemire, the former UPDF spokesperson, confirmed the shooting at the airforce division on May 4, 2020, where an officer at a rank of major was killed and a junior officer injured by one of their own. 

Ankunda was not among them, but the relief of this did not last long. Ms Mwiza did not hear from her brother for eight days. 

“On the morning of May 10, 2020, there was unusual banging on our gate and when I peeped through the window, I saw soldiers. I thought my brother had returned to me,”  she says before breaking down.

“When I opened the door, there were six men, two in army uniform holding guns, and three in plain cloth. And then my brother; he had lost weight and was shabby. They introduced themselves as officers from CMI but did not tell me their names and had no name tags. I was told my brother was being held for associating with some wrong people,” Ms Mwiza  narrates. 

Ms Mwiza says the officers conducted a house search that lasted two hours, with keen interest in documents. 

For the 30-year-old human rights defender who has become a force in fighting for rights of especially immigrant workers in the Arab world, it was time to go to the battle front for her own. 

While speaking  fondly of her brother,  she says Ankunda was the family breadwinner and that his  arrest has left their mother helpless. 

 Although Lt Ankunda had told her she could visit at the CMI headquarters,  four days later, Ankunda’s twin brother was, however, told his brother was not at the CMI. 

Information about his whereabouts remained scanty until the family was advised to make a formal appeal to the Ministry of Defence.

On June 2, 2020 Ms Mwiza received a strange phone call from a woman identified as Grace, who claimed her son had also been arrested. Grace brokered a deal for Mariam to see her brother, through a major identified as Tumwine based at the CMI. 

The woman however, warned that if she ever involved the court or the media, Ankunda would “rot in jail”. Attempts to identify Grace and establish her connection with CMI were futile by press time. 

“I was able to see my brother on June 3. When I looked at him, I could not believe it. His hands had wounds, and he kept crying.”

On her second visit the next day, Lt Ankunda narrated that he was arrested from Nakasongola, blindfolded and flown to Kampala along with a colleague called  Samuel Ndwane.  

He was reportedly interrogated about his relation to three Ugandans including his colleague with whom he was arrested, and a Rwandan colonel. 

Ms Mwiza says her brother did not remember the name of the colonel. 

“When they asked about these things, he told them what he knew but not what they wanted to hear. They asked if he was Rwandan and about  his relations there. He was taken to some room at the CMI and hung on chains for 24 hours for not giving the officers the information they needed to hear,” Mwiza narrates. 
She adds: “His hands had wounds and scars.”

In July,  Mwiza got in touch with Brig Karemire, who confirmed the CMI was holding  Lt Ankunda and he would soon be produced in court. 

Mwiza filed for habeas corpus, asking the CDF, IGP, Attorney General, and the director of CMI, to produce Ankunda on July 9.

According to an affidavit from the office of the Attorney General seen by Sunday Monitor Ankunda had on July 8, 2020 been charged in the unit disciplinary committee. 

He was accused of “conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline, committed between February 2020 and May 2020. 
He and others allegedly shared sensitive information with agents of a foreign power and failed to report the same to the relevant army authorities.

The case had been adjourned to July 19, according to a document signed by CMI Secretary Patrick Kawooya.
Ankunda was remanded to Makindye Military Prison. 

In another charge sheet from the General Court Martial dated August 10, 2020, Ankunda is accused of “offences relating to security”, for sharing sensitive information with agents of Rwandan authorities with intent to prejudice the security of the defence forces between February  and May 2020. 

“I was relieved, hoping that we would be able to secure bail. We would go to court every two weeks, throughout August but he was never produced, until August 24, 2020, when his file was simply read and the case adjourned. And that was the last time he appeared in Court and the last time I saw him,” she says.

According to Mwiza, the registrar at the court martial, only identified as Bizimana, intimated that the chairperson had decided to handle new cases, rendering the fate of her brother’s case unclear. 

Shortly, the story changed: “One of the people at court [martial] told us the President took an interest in the matter, and he is handling the file.”

This newspaper could not verify this claim. Mwiza thinks this is a ploy to throw her off.  

Mwiza now also fears for her life for the fight she has put up. She says she has survived being abducted. 

He was accused of “conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline, committed between February 2020 and May 2020.