Security officials arrest a man on July 23, 2024 during the March to Parliament anti-graft protests in Kampala. PHOTO/MICHEAL KAKUMRIIZI
We salute all the brave young Ugandans who marched in protest this week. Article 29(1)(d) of the Constitution guarantees your right to assemble and to demonstrate together peacefully and to petition.
Article 17(1)(i) gives every citizen a duty to combat corruption and misuse or wastage of public property. It is, therefore, unconstitutional and gross abuse of power to arrest, detain and prosecute any Ugandan for performing their patriotic duty to denounce corruption through peaceful protest.
We strongly condemn the sinister and treacherous weaponisation of the justice system (also known as lawfare) by the Judiciary and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to discourage Ugandans from free speech, peaceful protest and other non-violent methods to fight corruption, lack of democracy and human rights violations.
Security operatives arrest human rights activist Nana MwaAfrica during the ongoing anti-graft March to Parliament protest in Kampala on July 25, 2024. PHOTO/MICHEAL KAKUMIRIZI
It is now standard practice for the DPP staff to sanction every disgraceful charge sheet presented by police in retaliation against an activist and for the Judicial staff to endorse these repugnant charges blindly and remand every accused person for weeks or months instead of hearing bail applications instantly, especially when the offences are minor and do not involve violence or harm to the public.
Arrested
More than 100 Ugandans were arrested and detained this week. Of the dozens charged on the frivolous charges of ‘common nuisance’ and ‘being idle and disorderly’, not a single accused person was released on bail.
Her Worship Caroline Kyoshabire at Buganda Road Court was reported to have declined to hear bail applications because it was late. She remanded the accused to Luzira prison until August 5 without scrutinising the legality of the charges or even the jurisdiction of her court.
Chief Resident State Attorney Eunice Mbaine at Nakawa Court was reported to have refused to return to work despite several calls on Tuesday afternoon.
Detained anti-corruption activists gesture as they are led to a police vehicle, after they were remanded to Luzira Prison until July 30, 2024 for participating in the March to Parliament anti graft protests on Jult 23, 2024. PHOTO/ABUBAKER LUBOWA
We remind the Judiciary and the Director of Public Prosecutions of the damage they do to constitutionalism when they undermine the right to liberty, which includes freedom from fictitious and malicious prosecution, presumption of innocence and the right to bail on reasonable conditions. Absent of a lawful charge, the accused persons should be immediately set free.
The President castigated the Uganda Police Force way back in 2019 and even earlier, for “the anti-people and colonial practice (for arresting people) … for a nonsensical so-called crime of idle and disorderly conduct”.
Police acknowledged this and posted it on their website. In addition, the offence of common nuisance cannot stand in the face of a lawful act done in the exercise of a constitutional right.
We strongly condemn police and the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) for impeding the citizen’s enjoyment of constitutional rights and for the violent arrests. This conduct is in contempt of court, is a violation of human rights and attracts personal liability under the Human Rights (Enforcement) Act (Cap. 12)(Section 10 Personal liability for infringement of rights and freedoms).
Several plain clothed or non-uniformed men and women were throughout Tuesday captured on streets arresting March to Parliament protestors in Kampala on July 23, 2024. PHOTO/ISAAC KASAMANI
The acts of police in manhandling and stuffing arrested Ugandans under the mounted seats on their pickups like firewood, is cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, prohibited by the Constitution and must stop immediately. (Article 24, Respect for human dignity and protection from inhuman treatment).
The further acts of police in holding accused persons incommunicado, denying them access to their lawyers, friends and families is yet another egregious violation of human rights which the courts have also ruled as cruel, inhuman and degrading. (Article 23(5(b), Protection of personal liberty).
Under the Human Rights (Enforcement) Act (Section 11 Derogation from non-derogable rights and freedoms), the cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment meted out to the arrested persons and their incommunicado detention means that their trials must be declared a nullity and the accused acquitted forthwith.
Civil society is investigating potential claims for personal liability against specific commanding officers under the Human Rights (Enforcement) Act and against prosecutors and judicial officers for violating the Uganda Code of Judicial Conduct.
We remind the Inspector General of Government, Ms Beti Kamya, and her deputies Patricia Achan Okiria and Anne Twinomugisha Muhairwe, the Leadership Code Tribunal chairperson Roselyn Karugonjo, and the Director of Public Prosecutions, Ms Jane Frances Abodo, that we are here only because you have failed to do your statutory duty.
We call upon you to act upon the well-documented claims against public and political officers and all persons adversely named in the reports of Parliamentary Committees and the Auditor General.
We commend the Uganda Law Society led from the front by president Bernard Oundo, Chapter Four, Human Rights Defenders, Agora Discourse, Public Square and other civil rights organisations, whose members ran from scene to scene, incident to incident, police station to police station, and court to court to provide counsel to the arrested Ugandans.
People atop buildings cheer anti-graft demonstrators as they moved towards the legislature, during the March to Parliament protests in Kampala on July 23, 2024. Security forces denied the protestors access to parliament. PHOTO/ISAAC KASAMANI
We commend the courageous and public-spirited Ugandans who stood up to be counted, offering financial, moral, spiritual and physical support, feeding the arrested, offering to stand surety and consoling distraught relatives.
We join the Uganda Human Rights Commission to demand the immediate and unconditional release of all Ugandans arrested in the protests. The exercise of human rights to demonstrate, to protest, to assemble and to fight corruption cannot be criminalised.
This article was written by Eron Kiiza, Sarah Kihika Kasande, Primah Kwagala, Anthony Odur, Morgan Muhindo, Stephen Kalali, Lillian A. Drabo, Peter Arinaitwe, Phillip Karugaba and Isaac Ssemakadde
