Busia locals claim torture by forestry officials

On July 19, 2018, Mr Patrick Wabwire and his brother Moses Oundo reportedly left home in Buhumi Village, Namungodi Town Council in Busia District to harvest wild yams in West Bugwe (Busitema) Forest Reserve.

However, that would be the last time Oundo would be seen alive by his family as he was allegedly shot dead by Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) soldiers guarding the forest.

Mr Wabwire said they were experiencing a severe food shortage at home and they went to West Bugwe forest to look for the wild yams to make a good meal for their sickly mother, wives and children.

The two were able to harvest a good quantity of the yams. However, as they were about to retire home, they were reportedly stopped by UPDF soldiers deployed by the National Forestry Authority (NFA) to guard the forest.

Mr Wabwire said amid fear and panic, they dropped the yams, and hoes and started running.

The chase
“I heard gunshots ring out behind us, but I continued running and when I exited the forest, my younger brother (Oundo) was nowhere to be seen,” he narrated on Saturday.
He said when he returned to the forest later, he found his brother lying dead in a pool of blood.

Mr Wabwire said at that moment, the soldiers, who appeared to have been taking cover at a close range resurfaced and started beating him, while forcing him to carry his brother’s heavy body to a waiting police pickup car.

Ms Budesta Aguttu, their mother, said she was waiting for her sons to bring yams home for lunch when news filtered through that one had been killed by UPDF soldiers.

She said she keeps wondering whether her son would be shot dead “just for harvesting wild yams in the central forest reserve”.

Oundo’s death highlights one of the several alleged cases of human rights abuses and violations that residents of Busitema, Bulumbi and Namungodi in Busia District have reportedly suffered at the hands of NFA officials deployed to guard the forest.

Mr Amosiah Ogatai, a resident of Habuleke Parish, Busitema Sub-county, said the harassment reportedly manifests in the form of torture, unlawful detention at ungazetted places in the forest, and extortion, where residents pay colossal amounts of money to buy their way out of detention.

Over the past two weeks, three residents have allegedly been tortured by soldiers as NFA officials watched on, while Mr Vincent Erima Kapanga and Mr Dennis Bogere were reportedly arrested, tortured and illegally detained at an illegal facility and were only released after each paid Shs800,000.

The two were arrested over the burning of charcoal from one of the trees they had felled inside the forest reserve.

Mr Kapanga, who bears suspected torture marks on his buttocks and stomach, says he had gone to the forest to harvest charcoal when he was arrested and tortured by UPDF soldiers who first tied his hands and led him to the NFA camp inside the forest.

Mr Kapanga, who was found at his home in Sidimbire Village, Namungodi Town Council, also said his mobile phone was reportedly destroyed.

Mr Bogere, who was reportedly arrested together with Mr Kapanga, bears suspected torture marks on the neck, back and thighs.

“My mother had to pay Shs800,000 to secure my freedom from the NFA camp,” Mr Bogere said.

His mother, Ms Aidah Nabwire, said whereas they were aware of the importance of the forest and the need to protect it against encroachers, NFA officials have become “highhanded”.

Dreadlocks cut off
Mr Godfrey Wafula, a resident of Wamuswi Village, Bulumbi Sub-county, says three weeks ago, he was beaten by “men in uniform”, who “reduced his clothes to rags” and cut off his dreadlocks.

The Busia District Councillor for Namungodi Town, Mr Stanley Wejuli, said reports of torture and extortion of residents arrested in the forest at the hands of NFA officials have become rampant.

“Many of my residents have sold their only pieces of land to raise money to bail out their sons from NFA detention,” he says.

UPDF, NFA speak out
The Defence Public Information Officer, Big Gen Felix Kulayigye, when contacted, said he was in a meeting and that he would comment later, which he hadn’t done by press time.

The NFA Forest Ranger in-charge of Eastern region, Mr Michael Kusuro, said their officials were never involved in the said torture, extortion and holding suspects in illegal detention facilities as alleged.

“We follow the set crime justice system where suspects are arrested, taken to police, statements taken and paraded before court,” Mr Kusuro said in a brief telephone interview.

The officer-in-charge of public affairs at NFA, Mr Aldon Walukamba, said he was not aware of the said human rights violations.

But when furnished with additional information, including details of the victims, he said: “Our policy is against torture, but I can’t comment on that because I have not received any complaints.”

The report further revealed that 34 percent of Ugandan girls are married by 18 years.

Worrying trend
Cases of alleged torture by government security officials guarding natural resources are not new. The people living near Mt Elgon National Park claimed to suffer gross human rights violations at the hands of the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) staff.

Several victims, who spoke to Monitor recently, said they have been shot and injured on the borders of the park while their gardens have been cut down by UWA rangers.

The Mt Elgon Conservation Area currently has about 5,000 individuals living within its boundaries. However, UWA have often denied the allegations.