{UAH} Kayihura needs to respect the rights of suspects -i told you so
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Kayihura needs to respect the rights of suspects
Written by Pius Muteekani Katunzi
Last week, after pitching camp in Busoga for about two weeks, the general emerged with some murder suspects, and he thought the public should know that his stay in this troubled land was not in vain.
Kayihura went to Busoga to hunt down the killers who slaughtered Sheikh Kadir Muwaya and another leader. Earlier, before his departure to Busoga, he had declared that the Muslim leaders had been gunned down by remnants of Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), suspected to be scattered in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) jungles.
Upon his arrival, he reshuffled the police chiefs in the area and appointed others. The reasoning was that crimes had been committed under their noses. And so the hunt for the 'criminals' began. In fact, the police boss swore: " Sijja kuva wano nga tetubakutte", meaning: "I will not leave this place before we arrest them."
Indeed, he and his 'A' team from police headquarters, including the Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Directorate (CIID) boss Grace Akullo, swung into action and managed to arrest some people whom they have declared murderers straightaway.
However, prior to these dramatic arrests, as the general was trying to get the grip of lawlessness in Busoga, unknown assailants gunned down two police officers attached to the security detail of Justice Faith Mwondha. Again the general, in full glare of the cameras, assured the shaken judge that the culprits would be arrested.
I would like to assume that Kayihura is being carried away with the urge to be seen to be working by his appointing authority and Ugandans in general.
Have you noticed that whenever police is caught napping or whenever rogues pull fast ones on the police, Kayihura is quick either to make outrageous pronouncements or board a chopper and head to the troubled area?
When the Bamba and Bakhonzo in Kasese and Bundibugyo clashed last year, Kayihura flew to those areas and claimed to have taken charge. It has become a tradition for the police force to abuse, mistreat, and humiliate the suspects of whatever kind in their custody and control.
Often police officers, perhaps learning from their boss, parade suspects before cameras. They are interrogated in public; they are almost compelled to admit to crimes they never committed for fear of being mistreated by police. Those who try to hide their faces from camera are forcefully unveiled by police officers.
Last week, the police chief was at it again in Busoga. He paraded suspects for the cameras, children and other locals. Fortunately, they were veiled or hooded, but the locals who know them could easily recognise them.
They were humiliated. Remember these people have been living in those places where they were paraded. They were humiliated before their wives, relatives and children. Other Children who attended the parade will no doubt later taunt the children of the suspects.
Never mind that later, the police may fail to produce any incriminating evidence. Already the police boss was referring to them as murderers. Basically, the police boss had constituted himself into a prosecutor and judge and, in his wisdom, these people deserved the label "murderers"!
If some, or all, of the suspects are found innocent, will Kayihura return to Busoga and report that they have been found innocent therefore they should be accepted once again into society? We are talking about reputations and livelihoods here.
The Constitution protects the rights of the accused. According to Article 28 (1) (a), every person who is charged with a criminal offence is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty or until that person pleads guilty.
The parading of suspects not only violates the accused's rights; it leaves ill-temper and a foul taste in many a mouth. And the general knows this but he and his men and women choose the media and public opinion courts to prove that they are working.
You should have seen the alacrity with which CIID boss Grace Akullo was trying to outdo herself before her superior as they paraded the suspects. What has happened to her once over-praised professionalism?
The folly of relying on the mediated and public courts is that the viewers are able to identify the weaknesses of police or those who are trying to prove a point. Kayihura has an uphill task to justify his huge budget.
His domineering self also comes to the fore as he tries to display his micro-managing traits. Certainly it is humanly impossible for Kayihura to do everything himself. He may have sloughed his guerilla persona nearly thirty years ago, but it does appear that arbitrary "bush" tactics in handling public affairs still reigns strong.
He harbours ideas of turning the police force into a police service, but he seems unprepared to abandon the 'force' spirit.
pmkatunzi@observer.ug
The author is the finance director of The Observer Media Limited.
Comments
Kayihura to respect the rights of suspects? You are talking to a wrong man, a bush fighter about Human rights!!!
Like his boss, These words do not exist in their vocabulary let alone in their actions , Due to their incompetence all they know are cover ups, violence and corporal punishments as form of interrogations ofcourse a recipe for law and human rights abuse.
They belong on frontlines planning guerrilla wars but not managing societies , BUT the higher the rise, the harder the fall and time will tell .
Even police officers narrating their missions detailing steps taken to nab criminals such as kidnappers is just uncalled for since criminals will develop new ways, what happened to the professional Special Branch anyway??
These People are then crowded in their stinking Police cells where they stay up to eight days before being allowed to contact their relatives to bail them out on Police bond of 100.000 UGX....it is supposed to be 1000K
Kale Kayihura praises the Idol Of the Big Boss!
He is ready to arrest Mosquitos if it will please the big Chair!
Ugandans deserve something better..maybe Prayer
They say,"what goes around comes around": Does Gen Kayihura remember the day Gen M7 bragged to the people of Mayuge, how as the leader of NRA while passing thru Mayuge, he (M7) together with his driver killed a UNLA soldier at a road block?
Kayihura might have felt great to hear his boss brag. But now that two of his own duty police officers were innocently shot dead by alleged ADF rebels; just like M7 the NRA rebel gunned down an innocent on-duty UNLA officer, how does he feel?
Since the law does not discriminate nor rot; professionally, can Gen Kayihura now request Afande, Akullo to open a murder charge file for M7 for killing a Ugandan soldier, and wait for him at the door steps of State House and arrest him the day he leaves office?
In other words, who is a killer? If a president is also a killer, why should any sane person be working with defending and/or voting for a killer to be the president of this country?
We would expect him to be doing technical details required of him behind closed doors but not contaminating the scene.
If indeed he was a qualified police chief like u say but him at the crime scene
Where and what should the crime scene investigators be doing? In his office? Just wondering.
Are you aware these victims of injustice can sue the state for miscarriage of justice in any legitimate government?
Suing for miscarriage of justice is not always possible even in a legitimate government. Consider The Central Park Five:
"In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem were arrested and convicted of raping a white woman in New York City's Central Park.
They spent between 6 and 13 years in prison before a serial rapist confessed that he alone had committed the crime, leading to their convictions being overturned.
The Central Park Five tells the story of that horrific crime, the rush to judgment by the police, a media clamoring for sensational stories and an outraged public, and the five lives upended by this miscarriage of justice." Ken Burns DVD made available through PBS
While your system of justice may well be corrupt, American justice is too often prejudiced.
Kale kayihura himself not only as a cadre, historical but also as a senior military officer and ardent lawyer knows that what he is doing is illegal and inhumane.
Kayihura knows very well where the ADF rebels are in the country; he does not take any steps to root them out but only assembles innocent civilians before media pronouncing that they are guilty of rebellion offences because someone somewhere has announced that he intends to stand for presidency to challenge his godfather M7,
I hope the ICC is watching and documenting these heinous crimes against humanity being committed by Kayihura and will bring him to book when the right time comes.
We have carefully watched botched moves by Kayihura many times whenever there is threat to the presidency both in years preceding elections or any period should anyone attempt to show interest in the topmost job of this country.
M7's leadership is composed of violence/force, corruption, tribalism/nepot ism, among other inequities. I can't emphasize enough how leadership is important to a country. The other day the Observer Administrator pulled a plug on our comments for calling M7 disparaging names, stating that, "It is legitimate to have differences on what is appropriate language and what is not."
I agree with that statement, however, I beg to disagree with this one, "It is true the president has used offensive language against his opponents, it doesn't mean that we should follow his example; we aspire to higher standards."
It is the other way around. It is M7 who has to be an example as a leader. As we aspire for higher standards, we look up to our leaders for inspiration. Unfortunately, M7 has inspired us with name calling, violence, corruption, tribalism and nothing else. Afende Teargas Kayihura can't be any different from his master M7.
That is why the police is violent, corrupt and based of tribalism. Therefore, that is why Afende Teargas and the entire police force are not professional. Now, how could they be, if the head is rotten? We need to change M7 and replace him with a true transformationa l leadership/lead ership. Until then, we are stuck in the quagmire.
This is an education for all of you trolls...the world over even here in the States where i live criminal suspects are always on TV and radio even before they appear in court.
Its only human nature. If all of you were well read you would know that there are so many innocent people who have been exonerated and some already executed in US jails. My father used to say if you don't have anything useful to say don't open you mouth...
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