Opposition politicians and human rights Activists have asked government not to convict only junior officers over the November 2020 riot killings. They say also the top senior security officers who gave orders to kill innocent Ugandans should face the law.
Last year on 18th and 19th of November, violent protests erupted in Kampala and other major towns following the arrest of the then National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential flag bearer Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine. The musician turned politician was arrested in Luuka District for violating measures put in place by the Ministry of Health to prevent the spread of Covid-19 during the campaigns.
As a way of subduing the two day protests, security forces were deployed in Kampala and in the process, over 54 lives of innocent Ugandans were lost while hundreds sustained severe bullet injuries. According to the internal government investigation reports, 72 percent of people shot dead were hit by “stray bullets”.
Following the pressure from both internal and external forces, President Yoweri Museveni ordered the prosecution of security personnel culpable in the November 2020 shootings as well as making the investigation report into the incident public.
President Museveni also promised that his government would compensate for the lives and property of innocent victims of the violent protests, although this promise has never been fulfilled.
“When a person complains, we get details of their case and the person makes their claim. There is a process that is currently ongoing to see that these people are compensated which is part of the justice that they deserve.”
As a way of executing the president’s order, on Wednesday the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Force (UPDF) First Division court-martial convicted two soldiers; one Lance Corporal and a private, for killing three people in operations to stop the November 2020 riots in Kampala.
The trial, conviction and sentencing of the accused took place within the enclosure of the UPDF First Division headquarters in Kakiri, Wakiso District, where L/Cpl Augustine Mugisha was sentenced to life imprisonment while private Mustafa Ssali was sentenced to 35 years. According to the prosecution, while deployed at Wandegeya Police Division, on November 18, 2020, Ssali shot dead Ibrahim Kirevu Mutaasa who had been arrested as a suspect.
However, a section of Ugandans were not convinced by the conviction of the junior officers. They demand that senior officers who gave orders to their juniors should also be convicted.
Dr Livingstone Ssewanyana, a human rights lawyer and the founder of Human Rights Initiative says that the country will still be blindfolded on the massacre that took place last year in November until government comes up with a clear and well-detailed report that includes all the names of senior military officers who gave orders to their subordinates to shoot and kill civilians.
“This is not enough, the country still needs to know who gave orders and why. Therefore we need the report. Convicting juniors while those who gave them orders are still free it’s an insult to justice. There is also a need for the government to release all those who were arrested during that time plus compensating that the victims’ families as they had promised.”
Alex Waiswa Mufumbiro, the Deputy Spokesperson of NUP added that the mayhem which lead to mass killing and arresting of innocent people was not done by only two soldiers, therefore the conviction of the two is like a stunt set by the state to fool Ugandans.
“This is an act of obstructing justice, in other words convicting the two nobodies is going to protect some of the big generals who were behind this gruesome act. As the party, we have gained nothing from the convictions of the two as long as the leaders and commanders who ordered them are still free.”
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