Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) Spokesperson Brig.Gen. Flavia Byekwaso has spoken out on why the army has not yet come out to punish it’s officer Lt. Col Namanya Napoleone for allegedly commanding an operation that led to the assault of journalists early this week.
On Thursday, seven officers were arraigned before the military police disciplinary committee, charged and consequently sentenced in connection to the brutality.
The UPDF Chief Gen. David Muhoozi also came out with an apology to the press and the general public as he insisted the errant officers had acted individually. He also pledged to help the victims with medical bills while also committing self on an amicable relationship with the industry going forward.
” I am here to tell you that this was a mistake by individuals. The operation was not sanctioned by us,” Muhoozi said.
“No body sent them because when we send people out, we give them rules of engagement but these went into excess and that’s why we are working on establishing what happened and to hold the culprits accountable.” He added.
However, Bobi Wine is disappointed said that the leader of the errant group he ably identified as Lt.Col. Namanya Napoleone was not among those paraded before the Col Gai chaired committee to serve justice to the victims.
He notes that the same officer had in the past been involved in a string of offensives against him and his supporters as Commander. He names these to include his arrest in Luuka on November 18 last year, the one in Bulenga where a journalist Kasirye Ashraf was knocked down, the Kalangala saga in December where over 100 were arrested and some yet to be released. He also pins the officer of being behind the death of Frank Ssenteza, a member of his security team.
Bobi Wine further claimed that Nuwamanya, a former Director Operations Military Police and formerly from SFC who used to head Museveni’s inner security circle was also linked to the March 16 Kasubi shooting which left three people dead and five gravely injured.
He was named in the Kasubi tombs shooting on 16th March 2010 which saw three people dead and five injured.
“Yesterday, the same man, Namanya commanded the group soldiers who beat up and badly injured journalists and elected leaders and also smashed and vandalised their vehicles at the UN Human Rights office when we had gone to deliver a petition against the ongoing Human Rights violations in Uganda. Namanya personally hit NTV’s John Cliff Wamala on the head, causing a deep wound.” Bobi Wine said.
Not seeing Namanya among those according to the politician from Magere shows some people in this country are held accountable for the sins committed by others who seem too big and we’ll connected for the law to handle them.
However, Brig Byekwaso says there was no clear evidence to connect their officer to any wrongdoing as alleged by Bobi Wine and some of the journalists in question. She said that gone were the days when a Commander would get reprimanded for the actions of their subordinates but the law has since been changed.
” We have not landed on any clear evidence to suggest that he ordered his officers to commit the offence. It was only in the past that a command was held responsible for the actions of their subordinates but now it is different.” She explained.
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