patricia Democracy, Elections, FDC, Human Rights, NRM, Police brutality, sexual abuse, Torture, Uncategorized, Unlawful arrest, Women rights

Police Brutality: An upcoming MP speaks out.

No amount of words can express the anguish and pain of watching innocent Ugandans being gunned down just for letting their voices be heard. No conviction sentence can be long enough to pay for the crimes against humanity committed in such a short period – in broad day light.Fellow Ugandans, how long shall we stay silent? How many more must die before we all come out in unison to condemn and even demand the immediate arrest and prosecution of the Commander in Chief of such criminals? Where are you mothers of this land? Where are you fathers? Brothers and sisters, shall you stay in your confines of your comfort zones as more blood defiles our land?

I say again, this impunity must stop and there is no one to stop it but all of us – Ugandans who love our mother land.It makes one wonder, is it just for the love of power that you are killing your own ‘grandchildren’ or are you protecting what has become your cash-cow? We are aware that you and your mafias have robbed this country clean and have left we – your grandchildren with debt that even our own grandchildren may have to pay. Could this be the real reason you are murdering innocent blood?

Mr. Dictator Sir, I would like to remind you that 37 years ago, you claimed you were fighting for democracy for this country, have you totally lost your memory or were you simply fooling Ugandans? Today, you cannot stand seeing the love Ugandans have showed Hon. Kyagulanyi wherever he goes. How is it possible is the ‘democracy’ you fought for does not allow a Uganda to wave to his fans and supporters?

When you say, you will compensate those who have lost their lives, when you kill a man’s only son, is the money you are going to give going to raise sons for him so that his lineage will continue? Or will your peanuts be there to walk a girl down the aisle on her wedding day? Be informed that no amount of money can replace lives.

I know you are used to grazing cows and can pick and kill one for beef at any time you please, Ugandans are not cows that you can just slaughter and get away with it. The world is watching. The cameras are rolling. The pens are noting. You either stop this madness now and ask for amnesty while you still have a chance, or …………..!I call upon all those who haven’t spoken against this brutality to please come out and join the struggle to stop this slaughter. Do not wait until one of yours becomes a statistics. Speak up now.

I continue to thank Ugandans for coming out boldly and letting your voice be heard and those who have come out to condemn the bloodshed.

People Power. Our Power!

NYEKO DERRICKNUP FLAG BEARER – MP MAKINDYE EAST

nico Democracy, Elections, NUP, Police brutality

Grenade attack on Bobi Wine’s car

WRONGFUL ARREST BY THE REGIME

Bobi Wine’s bodyguard Nobert Elber Arihoin was pulled off the campaign trail and wrongfully arrested by the regime for a crime the regime committed on camera. He almost got hit by the same expired tear gun canister that injured both Bobi Wine’s music producer Dan Magic and personal bodyguard Kato. The NBS video proves that he did not throw the canister. The operatives carrying pistols on Bobi Wine’s campaign trail are walking free but People Power supporters are being intimidated and unjustly arrested. #ugDemocracyNow #MuseveniMustGo#PEOPLEPOWER_OURPOWER#FreedomUganda#StopPoliceBrutalityUG#WeAreRemovingADictator

Sofi Democracy, Elections, Human Rights, NUP, Police brutality

Mbale campaign violence

Bobi Wine’s car after a teargas canister was thrown inside with him and comrades in it.

On Sunday 15th November Bobi Wine, presidential candidate for National Unity Platform, had a teargas canister thrown into his vehicle as he was heading for his campaign venue in Mbale city. This was done at the orders of ASP Asiimwe Abraham.

Asiimwe Abraham who pepper sprayed Bobi Wine in the eyes two months ago.

This happened right after his vehicle was rammed into by Uganda police both in the front and the back injuring a member of his security team. His security swiftly moved him to another car and drove off to the campaign venue.

Canister that was thrown into Bobi Wine’s car.

Uganda police and the army has spent the entire day unleashing unnecessary violence (including live bullets) on his waiting supporters in the city in a similar manner. Bobi Wine managed to get to his campaign venue but it was already too late for him to address the supporters. One man is reported to have lost his life during the violence in Mbale on Sunday 15th.

Bobi Wine helped out of his teargas filled car to another by his security.
patricia Democracy, Elections, FDC, Human Rights, Police brutality

Nsibambi campaign attack

On Monday 9 November the attack on the campaign of Yusuf Nsibambi was filmed and shared on Social Media.

Yusuf Nsibambi is a FDC candidate of Wawokota North district.

According to New Vision journalist Simon Ssekidde Police Commander Frank Natamba fired teargas canisters to disperse hundreds of the supporters who were following him. The campaign was accused of not following up on Covid-19 regulations.

This is another example of how Covid-19 regulations are abused by Ugandan government to prevent non-NRM candidates from campaigning.

Helen Epstein Human Rights, NUP, Police brutality, Torture

Francis Zaake Torture

On April 19, 29-year-old opposition member of Parliament Francis Zaake, a fierce critic of Museveni’s, hired motorcycle taxis to distribute bags of rice and sugar to his destitute constituents. “I could not stand starving mothers and their children camping outside my gate every day for help,” he told reporters.

That evening, Zaake heard commotion outside his house. He was taking a shower, and as he rushed out to put on some trousers, police and army officers broke down his bedroom door and dragged him into a waiting police vehicle. On the way out, they ransacked his house and made off with about $4,000 in cash, according to Zaake and his wife. For the next four days, Zaake said, he was ferried from one detention center to another and kicked, punched, and beaten with sticks while being subjected to periodic interrogations. A stinging substance was poured into his eyes, rendering him temporarily blind—his sight only returning weeks later. At one point, his upper arms were tied behind his back in a position known as the “three-piece tie,” a notorious Ugandan torture method that can damage the shoulders and breastbone. He was then suspended, face down between the seats of a speeding pickup truck, enduring excruciating pain as his body swung to and fro.

Zaake’s captors, who spoke the language of Museveni’s home area, made tribalist slurs against his ethnic group, stepped on his head, and ordered him to swear allegiance to Museveni and his wife, Janet.

While Zaake was in custody, his wife, lawyers, and colleagues were not permitted to see him. He, however, did meet dozens of other Ugandans who had been assaulted and detained for supposed Covid-19-related offenses. University law student Ronald Mark Kizito claimed he was beaten by members of Uganda’s Local Defense Unit—a hastily trained auxiliary force with “shoot to kill” orders—for leaving his lights on. The police say he was beaten by acquaintances for trying to rape a girl and denied that LDU officers had anything to do with it. A woman died of her wounds after being shot by police for supposedly violating the Covid curfew. Another woman was packing up her fried chicken stall in order to meet the curfew, when security men arrived and doused her with hot oil from her own saucepan.

Unable to see, stand, or even sit up, Zaake was eventually delivered to a hospital, where he remained under armed guard, charged with defying presidential orders. He had to be carried to his court hearing, where he lay prostrate on a bench, moaning in agony.

Parliament was incensed. Speaker Rebecca Kadaga ordered Internal Affairs Minister Jeje Odongo, who oversees the police, to explain what had happened. The following day, ruling party MP Obiga Kania presented the results of the ministry’s investigation to Parliament. Zaake had injured himself deliberately by banging his body against the side of the police vehicle, Kania declared. He then suffered further injuries in a “scuffle” when he tried to resist being moved from his cell by clinging to the bars.

No Ugandans I know find this credible, and on May 4, five Ugandan opposition leaders wrote to UN Secretary General António Guterres urging him to call on the UN Security Council to suspend all but the most essential humanitarian aid to their country. In Uganda’s fractious political landscape, the five signatories—including popular MP and musician Bobi Wine, whose torture in detention made international headlines in 2018—normally agree on very little. But they do agree that much donor funding to Uganda does more harm than good. They warned Guterres that unless foreign aid is conditioned on strict human rights criteria, it will be used to rig Uganda’s forthcoming election, expected in early 2021, and further militarize the country. A group of civil society activists—including me, the only non-Ugandan—wrote to the IMF a few days later, endorsing this view.

Original article in the Nation by Helen Epstein

Helen Epstein Democracy, Elections, Human Rights, NUP, Police brutality, Torture, Unlawful arrest

Bobi Wine Arua arrest & torture

On August 13 2018, Wine, along with four other MPs and dozens of others were arrested and beaten while campaigning for the opposition in Arua, a town near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. During the operation, security forces shot and killed Wine’s driver. Museveni was also in Arua that day, stumping for the ruling-party candidate. After the campaigns ended, the president’s convoy collided with a procession of opposition supporters on a main road, and, according to witnesses, ran some of them into the ditch by the side of the road. The police claim that members of the angry crowd began shouting and throwing rocks, one of which broke the window of one of Museveni’s vehicles. On social media, many have questioned this claim, since pictures showed the window in question to have been cleanly removed, with no hanging shards of glass, and in any case, presidential vehicles are normally armored, bulletproof, and impervious to stones.

The convoy delivered Museveni to his waiting helicopter, and then unleashed terror, arresting and torturing Wine and the others. The detainees, who included members of the opposition campaign team as well as bystanders who happened to be on the scene, have all been charged with treason. When they emerged from a police bus for a bail hearing on August 27, several, including Wine, were on crutches and had to be carried down the steps. Wine and several others are scheduled to be flown out of the country for specialized treatment in the coming days.

After the arrests, anti-Museveni demonstrations broke out in London, Nairobi, Stockholm, Melbourne, Washington, Boston, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, and other cities around the world. Wine’s family has retained a high-powered Washington legal firm, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on Uganda to investigate the torture of the detainees and other acts of police violence. More than 80 prominent musicians and artists—including Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, and Chrissie Hynde—signed a letter supporting Wine and the other Ugandan detainees. Lawmakers in the United States, the UK, Kenya, and elsewhere have expressed shock at Museveni’s brutality.

Originally published in the Nation by Helen Epstein