{UAH} Uganda: All men are equal, but some are more equal than others; women don’t count
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Uganda: All men are equal, but some are more equal than others; women don't count
It's a man's world, we women often say. In Kampala however, it is not all men, but rich men. And the women, rich or poor, hardly have a place. Dona Katusabe, both poor and a woman, sadly found this out as she was dying some ten months ago when several men stabbed her to death in broad daylight a few metres from the central police station.
What crime had Ms. Dona committed to annoy the menfolk so much? Well, she had tried to buy a car, which traditionally is a man's privilege. Then she did pay upfront, remaining with a balance of only Ugandan Sh9 million (that is about Sh250,000).
Unfortunately, her business started faltering and it became hard to clear the balance. The car dealer demanded payment but Dona pleaded for more time as she sought a customer to buy the car so that she could clear the balance. The seller lost patience with her and swung into action.
You might imagine that the action meant repossessing the car and refunding her whatever she had so far paid. Or maybe he could be mean and only refund her a bit of what she had paid. Or you can imagine that he was so bad, he took back the car and refused to return any money to her.
He did not to do any of those things. Instead, according to the prosecution, he caused her arrest but when the arresting persons reached the city centre, instead of taking her to the Central Police Station (CPS), they took her to an office a few metres from there.
Here, the seller started beating and stabbing Dona. Well, according to the prosecution, the commander of CPS, also a man, came into the torture chamber and witnessed the cruelty. On seeing the uniformed officer Dona apparently thought she was going to be saved.
After all, many male thieves are saved from lynching by police from irate mobs. Only last week, a man in Wobulenzi just north of Kampala was on national TV blaming the police for saving his robber son from being killed by a mob.
So poor Dona thought that the appearance of the police commander was her salvation. She pleaded with him to save her but he allegedly left her to be killed. Through torture, she lay dead several hours later.
The press made noise and the car dealer was arrested and charged with the gruesome murder of Dona Katusabe. The police commander was also accused of murder and was summoned to court. He did not turn up.
An arrest warrant was issued, but the court issuing it was under a female magistrate. The policeman ignored the warrant. It has taken ten months of public uproar for the officer's male superiors to let him turn up in court. They even praised him for taking himself to the court.
A couple of days later, a male judge granted the officer bail, despite protestations that the man who had defied court summons for months shouldn't qualify for bail.
A day later, the first accused, the male car dealer was also granted bail. Dona's sisters started crying loudly but their cries were disturbing the ears of the male court officers, so they were dragged away. Those are the facts, but we must not give opinions as the matter is "before court".
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