America Condemns Uganda for Bribery and Rights Violations

As expected, the report was met with a sharp reaction in Kampala, with Junior Foreign Minister Henry Oryem Okello stating that the US government’s human rights record did not give it the moral authority to criticize others.

“Every country has its own human rights problems. America completely denies any human rights information about them. America threatened to impose sanctions on a prosecutor and his staff as the International Criminal Court sought to investigate the killings of civilians in Afghanistan. The same thing happened when prisoners died in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, but when it comes to human rights in Africa, they want to come out with the biggest drums you can hear,” said Minister Oryem.

However, the minister hastened to defend the government against accusations that it is not doing enough to punish rights violators.

“People were prosecuted and others were prosecuted by the Military Court. Soldiers were asked to take responsibility for human rights violations and killing of civilians. Those who use weapons given to them by the military to kill civilians are ultimately punished by execution in the same place where they killed individual people. It always happens in the open. So why would anyone suggest that those involved in rights violations should go unpunished?” asked the minister.

Oryem also accused the U.S. government of practicing double standards, saying it has always been at the forefront of condemning a government that has victimized killers.

“When we decided that those who kill civilians should be executed if found guilty, the same people told us they should not be executed,” Oryem said.

Accusations that the Ugandan government is allowing itself to go free from rights abuses are among many others that include torture, forced disappearances of political opponents and arbitrary arrests of government critics.

A report recently released by the Department of State also sheds light on interference with other freedoms, including freedom of the media, freedom to criticize the government and its actions and officials, freedom of peaceful assembly, and freedom of association.

Oryem, however, insists that restricting the activities of political parties and actors is not official government policy.

“The government of Uganda has no policy that the opposition should be confronted and its accountability should be limited,” he said.

The report accused the government of failing to fight corruption. Although the law provides criminal penalties for corruption, the Ugandan government, the report noted, had not “effectively implemented the law.”

“Officials often engaged in corrupt practices with impunity, particularly through public procurement cost inflation, bribery, kickbacks, and diversion of public resources for private use, while many corruption cases remained open for years,” the report states in part. He also pointed out that the government had combined with several provisions of the law to not only protect itself from public criticism but also to limit the activities of the political opposition.

“The government has restricted citizens’ ability to criticize its actions and officials and to discuss certain matters of public interest. The law prohibited “writing, sending, or sharing any information via computer that may ridicule, demean, or demean another person, group of people, tribe, ethnicity, religion, or gender.” Authorities used this law to intimidate Internet users from criticizing government policies,” the report said.

Arbitrary arrests, killings

The report accuses the government and security officials of involvement in a range of violations, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and torture against people identified by the government as dissidents or accused of engaging in criminal activities.

“There were several reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings, during the year (2023),” the report said.

However, Oryem accused some security agency officials of some of the crimes mentioned in the report.

“There will always be one or two human rights violations. This applies to all countries, including the United States. These abuses are committed by people in security or other positions of responsibility who take the law into their own hands due to their character, human nature or lack of training,” he said.

The report named Coster Muhongya, a 70-year-old supporter of the National Unity Platform (NUP) in Kasese District, who was arrested by plainclothes security personnel and died at the Special Investigations Department in Kireka.

According to the report, the police and army detained many politicians and opposition activists for political reasons.

NUP legislators Muhammad Ssegirinya and Allan Ssewanyana, who are still fighting murder and terrorism charges; Anthony Agaba, who was arrested for publishing a video mocking Parliament Speaker Anita Among; and 30 supporters who are fighting charges of illegal possession of firearms and treason at the Court Martial are listed as some of the politically motivated arrests.

The report also singled out the Chiefs of Military Intelligence (CMI) – renamed Defense Intelligence and Security (DIS) – and the Special Forces Command (SFC) and police for detaining numerous people, mainly political opposition supporters, in “unidentified locations without charge.” ”, and in some cases, keeping them incommunicado.

“Human rights lawyers report that police and military detention centers sometimes deny political prisoners access to and communication with lawyers,” the report said.

The issue of missing NUP supporters has been a major topic of conversation since the 2021 elections and is the subject of an unresolved dispute between it and the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC). Citing international human rights organization Amnesty International and other local human rights activists, the report said security forces used torture and other atrocities.

Minister Oryem insists that it is official government policy not to subject any person to torture or other forms of inhumane treatment.

“Torture is not institutional. No government institution has a plan or program that intentionally advocates human rights violations or permits the torture of people in custody. This is condemned and punished,” he said.

The report said the Ugandan government did not always respect the independence and impartiality of the courts, adding that it often interfered with court decisions. The documents show that in many cases, “security agencies resisted court orders to release detainees or prosecute persons detained without charge,” adding that in some cases security officials intimidated judicial officials into denying bail political prisoners.

However, Justice spokesman Ereemye Jumire James Mawanda downplayed the alleged lack of independence.

“The judiciary is and will exercise its mandate independently. While we have observed some interferences, the Chief Justice has clearly condemned these interferences and reaffirmed that the judiciary will continue to be positive towards other weapons and ensure justice for all without interference,” Ereemye said.

The report also indicated that suspects are arrested without arrest warrants and in most cases are held in custody for longer than the mandatory 48 hours, with some detained for periods ranging from 10 days to a month.

Citing Lawyers Without Borders, a non-profit corporation whose mission is to support the global rule of law, the document points to the high level of abuse of the right to bail and police bail due to lack of awareness of the right and inability to afford the costs of legal fees.

“The law provided detainees with the right to legal representation and access to a lawyer, but authorities did not always respect this right,” the report said.

However, Mr Ereemye blamed the state’s failure to provide legal services to those who cannot afford them, lack of resources and lawyers’ reluctance to work for little or both.

“This is due to the lack of a clear legal aid program and lack of financial resources. The judiciary receives insufficient state funding, but a state summary program is available for some of these cases. The problem is that supporters are not willing to work for the low wages available under the program,” Ereemye said.

However, he hastened to add that a state-financed legal aid program is being developed. He added that once approved by Parliament, the program would be able to address some of these challenges.