Human Rights Commission: Tale of a hyena deciding fate of the meat market

Author: Gawaya Tegulle. PHOTO/NMG

What you need to know:

  • Human rights activist Nana Namata Mwafrika Mbarikiwa sought an appointment with the Inspector General of Police (IGP). She didn’t think it was proper for police to brutalise the people they are supposed to protect and she wanted to sit with him, in his office and present her complaint as a citizen. The request was granted – and that is why on April 24, 2019, at 10am Nana drove to police headquarters.

It leaves a bad taste in the mouth when we see the hyena sitting in adjudication over the fate of the meat market. Same thing when a monkey is the presiding judge in a case of whether the forest should be cut down.

Not long ago, there was an unpleasant incident at Uganda Police Force headquarters in Naguru, Kampala.

Human rights activist Nana Namata Mwafrika Mbarikiwa sought an appointment with the Inspector General of Police (IGP). She didn’t think it was proper for police to brutalise the people they are supposed to protect and she wanted to sit with him, in his office and present her complaint as a citizen. The request was granted – and that is why on April 24, 2019, at 10am Nana drove to police headquarters.

She was alone in her car and you may also want to know that she was seven months pregnant. You may also want to know that Nana is a small, skinny woman. In fact, if she dons school uniform, she will be allowed to walk through the gate of any secondary school, any day of the week.

Nana found a nice welcome party had been prepared for her. Scores of armed cops, sufficient to wage a decent war anywhere, had pitched camp at the main gate. When she stopped, she was tear-gassed, forced out of the car, thrown to the ground and kicked around in a really cool manner.

A female police officer even stuck a hand deep inside her birth canal, probably to induce labour. The pain was so intense that Nana blacked out. Such was the brutality that, to cut a long story short, Nana had to be operated upon, prematurely because she went into labour.

Her uterus was also removed, so she will never give birth again. The baby had to be ushered into intensive care and, mercifully, survived. Everything happened in broad daylight, at police headquarters. As human rights lawyers we deal with such cases of torture ordinarily; the only difference is that most are committed in the secrecy of police cells, military facilities and “safe houses” that are manned by intelligence agencies.

Uganda is facing bad press internationally because of a horrifying human rights record, with security agencies (make that police, military and intelligence) on the rampage with human rights violations. Torture has become so ordinary that it makes news without causing any surprise. It is now expected that anyone detained over political matters will be tortured; the only question is to what degree. It is now usual for people to be in wheelchairs, bandages and braces because they have been tortured. If as a man you emerge with your manhood still functional, you are very, very lucky.

But amid all this, the person whom the Constitution has put at the forefront of promoting and protecting human rights, the chairperson of the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) is actively and aggressively defending the security agencies and condemning the media for “exaggerating”, while at the same time calling for “greater protection” to be accorded to security agencies because they are endangered. With defenders like these, we don’t need oppressors! Very strange? Yes. Very anomalous? Yes.

Which is why Parliament should raise “suitability audit” queries in respect of UHRC chairperson, Ms Mariam Wangadya. She really must show cause why she should not resign her mandate and try her talents elsewhere.

And which is why, until this is done, the public should deliberately ignore and strategically boycott the Uganda Human Rights Commission, deny them work of any kind and render them absolutely irrelevant. It does not make sense for a person to petition UHRC in respect of human rights violations suffered at the hands of the State, when the chairperson is issuing statements that sanitise the deplorable conduct of State agencies. In civilised countries, the chairperson would have been compelled to resign long time ago; because her comments are incompatible with the continued occupation of what happens to be a very sacred office set up under the Constitution.

It is not sensible; and it is neither fair nor fitting that we should hold our peace when, in our very faces, a hyena is sitting in adjudication over the fate of the meat market.

Mr Tegulle is an advocate of the High Court of Uganda     [email protected]