{UAH} OBOTE & TRIBAL HENCHMEN: DEATH AT KIREKA (TESTIMONIES)
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12:46 PM |
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There are police cars constantly
going up and down Kireka hill. It is
is a place not to be visited
unless one has business there.
This is how another law graduate
recalled his time there in the 80s after being picked up from Standard
Bank on Kampala Road.
Kenneth B. (Witness):
"They drove us on Jinja road. I
thought I was being taken to
Namamve because that is where
people were being killed and
dumped dead. Instead I was taken
to Kireka Barracks and tortured
until I experienced a lapse of
memory. On being taken to the
cell, immediately inside I
collapsed and the prisoners
helped me remove my clothes and
lying on the cement which was
said to be good for taking the pain
and healing wounds"
……………..
After more inmates were brought
in, it was standing room only
except for the weakest for whom
the others could make room to lie
down. Routinely they were all
tortured by Shadrack Okello and
Charles Alemo. This included
terrible beatings and being burnt
by hot coals. [I] was ordered to
guide Alemo to [my] sister at
Makerere, Dr. Beatrice Kemigisha.
She and a cousin, Ellen Bahemuka,
were finally brought to Kireka
bruised and bleeding, smelling of
alcohol. The soldiers had forced
them to finish two and a half litres
of waragi. Around 3:30 pm,
Beatrice died. Her body was tied in
an old canvas, and put in an army
land rover and taken.
……………………………………………
" Staff Sergeant Okoth who
appeared drunk came and told us
he was going to shoot down the
inmates of the quarter-guard cell.
He had a rifle and a torch. We
could see through the windows of
our cell what was happening there.
The windows were bare but with
only iron bars. When he reached
the quarter-guard we could see
first torchlight, then gunfire
started.
There had been 55 inmates, two
died on their own and three had
been transferred to our cell that
night. Therefore, there were 50
people. Okoth shot them all dead.
The following day we were taken to
wash the cell. It was full of blood
as the bodies had been removed
in the late hours of the night, and
taken away in a military truck. Staff
Sergeant Okoth is now with the
NRA band. I don't know whether he
is based in Mbuya or in Jinja. He
is I understand a 2nd [Lieutenant].
I don't know of Omwoya's
whereabouts. Rumor had it that he
was in Nairobi"
…………………………….
The goings on in Kireka apparently
were recorded by an Australian
film crew. The testimony of James
Namakajo [see earlier posts] is that
around the first half of 1985,
Seventh Day Adventist Pastor
Kyambadde of the SDA church
near Kireka Hill informed him
[Namakojo] of dead bodies near
the institutions school. These
bodies, the Commission thought,
were probably from the Kireka
Barracks, the same that Bateyo had
witnessed. Pastor Kyambadde's
daughter led Namakajo down the
"panya" or footpath to where the
bodies were piled " women,
children, young men, battered
bodies, amputated bodies; and
rotting bodies."
(Other testimonies soon)
--
Hussein Juruga Lumumba Amin
Kampala, Uganda
--
UAH forum is devoted to matters of interest to Ugandans. Individuals are responsible for whatever they post on this forum.To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: ugandans-at-heart+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com or Abbey Semuwemba at: abbeysemuwemba@gmail.com.
going up and down Kireka hill. It is
is a place not to be visited
unless one has business there.
This is how another law graduate
recalled his time there in the 80s after being picked up from Standard
Bank on Kampala Road.
Kenneth B. (Witness):
"They drove us on Jinja road. I
thought I was being taken to
Namamve because that is where
people were being killed and
dumped dead. Instead I was taken
to Kireka Barracks and tortured
until I experienced a lapse of
memory. On being taken to the
cell, immediately inside I
collapsed and the prisoners
helped me remove my clothes and
lying on the cement which was
said to be good for taking the pain
and healing wounds"
……………..
After more inmates were brought
in, it was standing room only
except for the weakest for whom
the others could make room to lie
down. Routinely they were all
tortured by Shadrack Okello and
Charles Alemo. This included
terrible beatings and being burnt
by hot coals. [I] was ordered to
guide Alemo to [my] sister at
Makerere, Dr. Beatrice Kemigisha.
She and a cousin, Ellen Bahemuka,
were finally brought to Kireka
bruised and bleeding, smelling of
alcohol. The soldiers had forced
them to finish two and a half litres
of waragi. Around 3:30 pm,
Beatrice died. Her body was tied in
an old canvas, and put in an army
land rover and taken.
……………………………………………
" Staff Sergeant Okoth who
appeared drunk came and told us
he was going to shoot down the
inmates of the quarter-guard cell.
He had a rifle and a torch. We
could see through the windows of
our cell what was happening there.
The windows were bare but with
only iron bars. When he reached
the quarter-guard we could see
first torchlight, then gunfire
started.
There had been 55 inmates, two
died on their own and three had
been transferred to our cell that
night. Therefore, there were 50
people. Okoth shot them all dead.
The following day we were taken to
wash the cell. It was full of blood
as the bodies had been removed
in the late hours of the night, and
taken away in a military truck. Staff
Sergeant Okoth is now with the
NRA band. I don't know whether he
is based in Mbuya or in Jinja. He
is I understand a 2nd [Lieutenant].
I don't know of Omwoya's
whereabouts. Rumor had it that he
was in Nairobi"
…………………………….
The goings on in Kireka apparently
were recorded by an Australian
film crew. The testimony of James
Namakajo [see earlier posts] is that
around the first half of 1985,
Seventh Day Adventist Pastor
Kyambadde of the SDA church
near Kireka Hill informed him
[Namakojo] of dead bodies near
the institutions school. These
bodies, the Commission thought,
were probably from the Kireka
Barracks, the same that Bateyo had
witnessed. Pastor Kyambadde's
daughter led Namakajo down the
"panya" or footpath to where the
bodies were piled " women,
children, young men, battered
bodies, amputated bodies; and
rotting bodies."
(Other testimonies soon)
--
Hussein Juruga Lumumba Amin
Kampala, Uganda
--
UAH forum is devoted to matters of interest to Ugandans. Individuals are responsible for whatever they post on this forum.To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: ugandans-at-heart+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com or Abbey Semuwemba at: abbeysemuwemba@gmail.com.
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