By Stephen Lwetutte
LONDON-UNITED KINGDOM/NEWSDAY:
Just as the country thought state institutions could not stoop and sink any lower in a quest to act at the whims of President Museveni, the Chairperson of a major constitutional organ decides to disabuse us of that view. Within months of appointment, the Chairperson of the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) reportedly issues a warning about portraying Uganda’s security agencies as the main human rights violators. To any seasoned observer, that is a loaded statement wrought with dire consequences, and pretty much sets the scene in the context of the state of human rights in Uganda, going forward.
The UHRC, a constitutional organ, was set up 26 years ago under the 1995 Constitution “ in recognition of Uganda’s violent and turbulent history that had been characterized by arbitrary arrests, detention without trial, torture and brutal repression with impunity on the part of security organs during the pre and post independence era”. Its purpose, among others, is “create and sustain within society the awareness of the provisions of this constitution as the fundamental law of the people of Uganda” and “to monitor the Government’s compliance with international treaty and convention obligations on human rights,,,”.
Several media reports of New Years Day, 1 January 2022 have,, however, quoted its newly appointed Chairperson, Fauzia Mariam Wangadya, as “caution[ing] individuals trying to tarnish the image of security agencies by portraying them as the leading human rights abusers, and on a mission to discredit security and other government agencies”.
This sends an ominous signal and amounts to thinly veiled threats and intimidation by yet another state organ, hitherto perhaps considered to be the last refuge, however ineffective, for the thousands upon thousands of victims of human rights abuses by Uganda’s state security agencies. The courts mostly are corrupt, compromised and closed to most victims, leaving most victims to their devices.
As suspected, the creation of the UHRC under President Museveni was, to all intent and purposes, all along considered to be a cosmetic exercise and a façade to hoodwink and try to persuade the country, but particularly the outside world in order to attract economic and military support for his illegal regime. Today, the truth and reality have caught up the regime, with the International community documenting detailed worse atrocities than those against which the UHRC was created in 1995 – you can only hide and conceal so much and only for so long, a classic case of running and not being able to hide.
The UN Treaty Bodies, AU regional treaties, Foreign governments Human rights reports, Intergovernmental Organisations, International Non-governmental Organisations, Regional and National Non-governmental organisations, as well as the UHRC itself have all documented and expressed persistently and consistently serious concerns about Human rights violations in Uganda during the entire period of President Museveni’s rule. Taking it out on local Human rights activists, defenders and victims is unfair, cowardly and unlikely to have the desired effect – the regime is and has been in the spotlight for years.
More disturbingly, as if the failure to investigate and/or sanction the culprit was bad enough, Human Rights activists, defenders and victims are set to face further wrath from the regime for “discredit[ing] security and other government agencies”, as the Ms Wangadya has warned. Anyone familiar with how Mr Museveni works, will know that such a warning is not idle and empty talk and must not take his warnings lightly – he invariably follows through with his signature “l will crush you (local Runyoro language: nja kubamalaho)” warning.
It is all together a different matter that he fails to achieve the desired effect of completely stifling dissent in the face of a determined population not to be subjugated with costly consequences – the mission to “crush” National Unity Platform (NUP) leadership, membership and support has cost thousands in lives, mutilations and illegal incarcerations, for which demands for investigations and accountability are still being made in vain.
The UHRC is saddled with thousands of pending cases with critical lack of funding after Mr Museveni, out of paranoia, prohibited foreign Human rights funding that was bridging the financial gap, yet despite this backlog, its Chairperson can find the guts and time to intimidate Ugandans. It is a clear sign that, not only will things get worse before they can get better, but also that the depravity of Museveni’s regime has hit the absolute bottom and, although it is a sad day, things can only get better – after all, the darkest hour is just before the dawn’, as the English theologian and historian Thomas Fuller once said.
As 2022 begins and this being my first column of the year, l would have loved to offer better news and prospects for Uganda, unfortunately l am unable to do so. It would be responsible and prudent in the meantime for everyone, to brace themselves for the harsher times ahead, but still continue to call Mr Museveni to order regardless – far from being part of its mandate, the UHRC will not succeed in sprucing up his image at this late hour where all other state coercive organs have failed to do so for 36 years. It is already too soiled to be sanitised.
Happy New Year to you all, nevertheless!
The writer is a Multilingual Human Rights Practitioner, formerly at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London for over 20 years and now Legal and Human Rights Consultant.
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