{UAH} Open letter to IGP on state of cells
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Open letter to IGP on state of cells
Posted Thursday, November 13 2014 at 02:00
I am a suspect having been charged with two others for inciting violence because of championing a petition to Parliament seeking signatures over the long overdue construction of Kigumba-Kyenjojo road. It is on this ground that I was resident to your cells at Masindi Police Station for a weekend.
I can't hide my happiness being in your cells because it added a new chapter in my life, which could change the face of the Uganda Police Force, which is struggling to uplift its image.
There is no flowing water, the toilet cisterns are nonexistent, the toilet doors were removed, and there are no lights. Suspects ease themselves in the open for all to see and smell, yet there is no ventilation.
It is not possible that suspects stole the doors of the two cells I kept being shifted to. Neither can it be the responsibility of the suspects to procure a Shs5,000 scrubbing brush to clean the toilets, detergents, a once- in -a-while insecticide to fight off cockroaches, which run around, and rats which I doubt are biological spies.
In the poorly ventilated juveniles section where I spent more than 70 hours, which is about 13 square metres, there were 23 of us. We would get 120 litres of (sometimes) dirty water in 20 litre plastic jericans. The once white tiles in the toilets are falling off, the cement floor is fast becoming sandy. In another cell, I was the 25th person to be brought in. The walls of cells which are washable, have since lost colour, and the corners just like in the rest of the police station are a habitat for spiders.
I am aware that there is money sent to the station to sort out these and other issues. Besides, isn't this a health hazard to police officers who keep entering the place every other time?
Masindi produces the best maize in this country and farmers are stuck with most of what they produced last season and yet suspects at this station are fed on bitter posho. Aren't we maiming these people many of whom could even turn out to be innocent? And even when guilty, suspects deserve to be treated with some dignity. Majority of those I shared the cells with, were victims of poor service delivery, lack of community policing, poverty and a broken-down in society.
Jonathan Akweteireho,
akweteireho@gmail.com
I can't hide my happiness being in your cells because it added a new chapter in my life, which could change the face of the Uganda Police Force, which is struggling to uplift its image.
There is no flowing water, the toilet cisterns are nonexistent, the toilet doors were removed, and there are no lights. Suspects ease themselves in the open for all to see and smell, yet there is no ventilation.
It is not possible that suspects stole the doors of the two cells I kept being shifted to. Neither can it be the responsibility of the suspects to procure a Shs5,000 scrubbing brush to clean the toilets, detergents, a once- in -a-while insecticide to fight off cockroaches, which run around, and rats which I doubt are biological spies.
In the poorly ventilated juveniles section where I spent more than 70 hours, which is about 13 square metres, there were 23 of us. We would get 120 litres of (sometimes) dirty water in 20 litre plastic jericans. The once white tiles in the toilets are falling off, the cement floor is fast becoming sandy. In another cell, I was the 25th person to be brought in. The walls of cells which are washable, have since lost colour, and the corners just like in the rest of the police station are a habitat for spiders.
I am aware that there is money sent to the station to sort out these and other issues. Besides, isn't this a health hazard to police officers who keep entering the place every other time?
Masindi produces the best maize in this country and farmers are stuck with most of what they produced last season and yet suspects at this station are fed on bitter posho. Aren't we maiming these people many of whom could even turn out to be innocent? And even when guilty, suspects deserve to be treated with some dignity. Majority of those I shared the cells with, were victims of poor service delivery, lack of community policing, poverty and a broken-down in society.
Jonathan Akweteireho,
akweteireho@gmail.com
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