{UAH} LOOMING CATASTROPHE AS MUSEVENI MOVES TO 'PROFESSIONALIZE' THE PRISON SERVICES

In his new scheme to tighten his grip on power,  Museveni has been carrying out schemes to to personalize the security forces.  According to him, Uganda's security forces includes the Army, the police, the prison services and the Game Rangers.  He started with the army by creating an officer corps that is loyal to his son Gen. Muhoozi who commands his elite SFG that is an army within an army.  Its sole objective is to ensure his stay in power.  Next was the police force whereby he deployed army officers to take over command and control as he militarised the entire police force while getting rid of the people from the northern region who as had been the case with the army had dominated the force.  With the top leadership of the police now in the hands of his people from the western region, the force is now the coercive branch of his regime.  Its main objective is to instill fear into the population by brutally silencing any form of training of training political dissent.

Next was the wildlife services whereby he deployed military officers were deployed to the sector as game rangers received training from military academies.  As a consequence, the carnage against wildlife - flora and fauna is alarming.
 Well placed army officers are the leading traffickers and illegal dealers in prohibited wildlife trophies like ivory.  Over one ton of ivory was the other day stollen from the government strong room by Col. Charles Tusiime but nothing could be done to him just because he is from Museveni's home and one of the 27 men who started the war.  He been posted to the sector as in charge of security and intelligence.

After realising that the prison services play a vital role in his schemes to of suppressing political dissent throughout arbitrary detentions and imprisonments, he is hatching a scheme to 'professionalize' it too.  However as had been the army and the police , the prison services are still dominated by personnel from the so called northern region which covers eastern and West Nile regions. During the last sham and violent general elections, thousands of prison warders  were part of the terror machine that was unleashed on the population.  They were also part of the joint security strategies for the so called election security.  Therefore once the he succeeds in making it a branch of the regime, then it will be total chaos.  Members of the security forces and intelligence services and top regime cadres will have signed detention warrants ready to arrest and send to prison anyone they feel like imprisoning without going through courts of law.  They will have powers of getting anyone prone at any time of the day or night  for torture, and forced disappearances. They will have powers to shoot and kill any prisoner under the guise of preventing an escape
  Suspected criminals will be able to bribe their way out of prison through mysterious frequent escapes and jail breaks in connivance with 'professional' prison warders.  In some cases, prisoners with good political and financial connections will be able to be escorted out of prison by warders so that they spend nights and weekends at their homes.  Convicted prisoners will not serve their full period of imprisonment but will instead bribe their way out after a shorter period.  Prisoners on remand will be able to influence investigations of their cases through bribery, threatening of witnesses and trial judges, and destruction of evidence with the connivance of 'professional prison warders.

Above all, Museveni is planning to build more prison facilities in remote areas of the country including islands where he can hold political dissenters with less access to their friends, relatives and human rights organisations.  He has the parliament, he has the  top echelons of the Judiciary, he has the army, he has the DPP, he has the Police and intelligence services; will he fail to tame the prison services into being part of the coercive arm of his brutal regime!  Soon the prison services will be hit by nepotism, abuse of office, brutality, inefficiency, corruption, Katebe, infighting and all sorts of evils that have characterised the other security forces and it will be disastrous.  Members of the Prison Services were incorporated into the operation to rescue Ugandans from South Sudan!!!!!!

INFORMATION IS POWER AND DEFIANCE IS THE WAY TO GO.

--

Where there is a will, there is always a way.

--
Disclaimer:Everyone posting to this Forum bears the sole responsibility for any legal consequences of his or her postings, and hence statements and facts must be presented responsibly. Your continued membership signifies that you agree to this disclaimer and pledge to abide by our Rules and Guidelines.To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: ugandans-at-heart+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com