Govt explains status of missing persons 

The Executive has finally responded to the concerns raised by the Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP), Mr Mathias Mpuuga, over human rights abuses.

The responses follow the Opposition’s one-month demand for answers on missing Ugandans and other human rights violations across the country.

Addressing MPs yesterday, Gen David Muhoozi, the State Minister for Internal Affairs, in a statement signed by the Internal Affairs minister, Maj Gen Kahinda Otafiire, said the police investigations into the matters of alleged missing persons faced several challenges and constraints which compromised the integrity of the findings from the people given as next of kin.

“The next of kin of the reported missing persons did not cooperate with the police investigators. The police team had to hold out as members of an NGO to interview these people,” Gen Muhoozi said.

“For example, Ms Florence Nabakkoza, the next of kin of Dennis Wangolo, alias Shafik, declined to meet the investigators stating that she had got instructions from NUP (National Unity Platform) not to meet any person. Ms Oliver Nanyonjo, the reported next of kin to Mustafa Luwemba, made further reference to one Musisi, who became hostile when the team requested to meet him,” he added.

Other challenges included individuals declining to make statements, the many alleged disappearances never being reported to the police, fictitious people and inconsistencies in the numbers and testimonies in the various claims of reported disappeared persons. Some cases, Gen Muhoozi added, where the LoP attributed alleged disappearances to security operatives, had been reported earlier by the relatives as unwitnessed disappearances.

“The cases of George Kasumba, Godfrey Kisembo, and John Bosco Kibalama fall in this category. In the case of Kibalama, his vehicle was reportedly found abandoned along the road, and all the belongings that he had at the time, were intact, including a mobile phone, laptop and an iPad,” the minister said.

Questions relating to missing Opposition supporters began surfacing before and after the 2021 elections. The government and Opposition have been in a ping-pong over the matter. As the Opposition demanded answers from the government, they also proceeded to stage a boycott of House plenary sitting until the Executive accounts for citizens whose whereabouts relatives and respective political parties know nothing about.

Despite the boycott, the Opposition MPs returned to the House to listen to the responses from the Executive. There was, however, tension at the beginning of the sitting when Opposition members learnt that the minister had delayed to arrive. Some members were preparing to leave the chambers but Mr Mpuuga advised them to wait.

There was no debate on the statement after Mr Mpuuga requested Speaker Anita Among for ample time to scrutinise the responses alongside his team before giving a rejoinder next Tuesday. Ms Among granted his request before adjourning the House. 

ON DISCRIMINATIVE ARRESTS

The State Minister for Internal Affairs, Gen David Muhoozi also spoke about alleged political prisoners in custody and affirmed that the government does not arrest people because of their political inclination but are charged for suspicion of commission of crimes that are clearly prescribed under the law.

On allegations of victimisation of Muslims and that there are more of them in detention than any other denomination, the minister made a reference to the September 30 statistics from the Prisons Service. They indicated that Muslims constitute only 16.4 per cent of the inmates in all prisons falling behind Catholics who are 43.1 per cent and Protestants at 29.5 per cent.

“It is, therefore, clearly not true that the number of Muslims in prisons is bigger than that of the other denominations,” Gen Muhoozi said. 

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