Respect inmates rights - UHRC
Mr Muhammad Ssegirinya, the Kawempe North MP (left) and Mr Allan Ssewanyana, the Makindye West MP, in a Masaka court. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- UHRC says the rights and freedoms of all inmates are important regardless of their social status or standing in the society.
Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) representatives have emphasised the need for recognition and respect of rights of prisoners regardless of their status in society.
This comes in the wake of the plight of two National Unity Platform (NUP) legislators. The legislators — Mr Muhammad Ssegirinya (Kawempe North MP) and Mr Allan Ssewanyana (Makindye West MP) — are currently battling a string of charges over their alleged involvement in the killings that took place in the greater Masaka region this year.
“I constituted a team led by Fr Simon Lokodo to go and visit Muhammad Ssegirinya together with Allan Ssewanyana after we heard informal reports that they had been victims of torture. I want to emphasise that rights and freedoms of all inmates are very important regardless of their social status or standing in the society,” Ms Mariam Wangadya, the chairperson of UHRC, said yesterday.
Ms Wangadya made the remarks while presenting a statement ahead of the commemoration of the International Human Rights Day 2021.
The day will be marked this Friday under the global theme: “Reducing inequalities, advancing human rights.”
Fr Lokodo, who is currently serving as a commissioner at UHRC, said Mr Ssewanyana told the team that he has not been tortured during his incarceration.
“The Honourable told me, ‘In prison, I was not tortured. Even when I was arrested, I was not touched. It is only when the security got hold of me that some scratches were inflicted on my legs which fortunately (have) cured’,” Fr Lokodo said, adding that the MP said he is being treated with dignity as he awaits a verdict from the courts of law.
Fr Lokodo, however, said they could not readily establish Mr Ssegirinya’s condition as he “had been transferred to (Luzira’s sick bay facility) for better management.” Mr Ssegirinya was last week granted bail by Buganda Road Court ahead of the hearing date for his case scheduled for December 22.
The legislator is accused of posting on his Facebook fans page a message calculated to incite violence among members of the public.
Ms Shifrah Lukwago, a commissioner at UHRC, said the commissioner has nearly 1,000 files stuck at the tribunal, which decides disputes according to the law.
Other files are still at the investigation level. These have already been allocated to presiding commissioners in the respective districts of Kampala, Masaka, Jinja, Mbarara, Fort portal, Soroti, Arua and Gulu.
The commission also pronounced itself on the issue of mandatory vaccination vis-a-vis individual freedoms.
“There is nothing like a right not to be vaccinated. You are endangering those who are vaccinated and are (currently) enjoying the right to health,” Mr Meddie Mulumba, a member of the Commission, said.
