HRCU WEEKLY UPDATE: ISSUE NO. 27 OF 2022
THE HUMAN RIGHTS CENTRE UGANDA
(HRCU)
WEEKLY UPDATE ON COVID-19 AND KEY
EMERGING HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES WITHIN THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT OF HRDS IN UGANDA
THE WEEK OF 25TH TO 31STJULY,
2022
Dear
reader,
Welcome
to the new month of August 2022!
Please receive and read through our weekly summary containing COVID-19 updates on and some key emerging human rights issues
within the environment that HRDs across Uganda operate. We hope that by sharing
with you these updates, you are kept informed on the trending issues to provide
possible advocacy and redress mechanisms.
This week’s editions contains some of the issues
that have resounded in our previous editions and yet are very sensitive towards
the working environment of HRDs; among these compiled includes; discussions on
the right to bail, the walk for justice for the two jailed legislators, and some
other stories that made headlines in the week such as the Soroti East By-elections and the human rights
issues that arose, the resume of pre-trial for the Kasese Rwenzururu Kingdom
King, Charles Wesley Mumbere among others as documented below.
COVID-19
UPDATES
Results of COVID-19 tests done on 27 July 2022
confirm 41 new cases. The cumulative confirmed cases are 169,230. The breakdown
of the new cases is: 41 Alerts and Contacts; Kampala (28), Nakasongola (6),
Wakiso (2), Jinja (2), Adjumani (1), Mbarara (1), Kyotera (1)
Source:https://twitter.com/MinofHealthUG
UGANDANS
HEADING TO MIDDLE EAST FOR JOBS PAYING SH100, 000 FOR COVID-19 CERTIFICATES
Migrant workers are paying more than sh100,000 to
acquire COVID-19 vaccination certificates through agents at labor export
companies and data entrants at certain vaccination sites across the country.
Some of the migrant workers reported that they paid
to get vaccination certificates to travel to mainly the United Arab Emirates,
Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. The three countries require incoming passengers to
present either negative PCR COVID-19 test certificates or vaccination
certificates for those who are fully vaccinated.
Some migrant workers who have failed to generate the
vaccination certificates online say they had to pay money.
KEY EMERGING HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES
ACCESS
TO JUSTICE: PRE-TRIAL OF JAILED NUP LEGISLATORS FAILS AGAIN
For
the second time running in about two weeks, the pre-trial of jailed Opposition
Members of Parliament (MPs) Allan Ssewanyana (Makindye West) and MuhammadSsegirinya
(Kawempe North) flopped due to unreadiness of the prosecution.
When
the matter came up for further pre-trial before the International Crimes Division
of the High Court, majority of the defence lawyers said they had partly or
completely not received evidence from the prosecution as earlier ordered.
The
duo is accused of being behind the spate of killings in Masaka Sub-region that
left about 26 residents killed between March and June 2021.
They
face charges ranging from terrorism, murder, and attempted murder to aiding and
abetting terrorism.
THE RIGHT TO APPLY FOR
BAIL:JUDICIARY OUTS NEW BAIL GUIDELINES
The
judiciary unveiled new bail guidelines aimed at promoting uniformity and
consistency by courts while considering bail applications.
Launched
by chief justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo on July 27, 2022 at the judiciary
headquarters, the new guidelines require courts to consider and dispose bail
applications expeditiously within 30 days from receipt of the application with
the intention of reducing incidences of pretrial detention.
In
the past, there was no time frame for considering and determining bail
applications. While presenting the bail guideline, former Uganda Law Society
(ULS) president, Francis Gimara, said that it would even take even between one
and six years for a simple bail application to be disposed of in some cases.
According
to the guidelines, where an offence is triable by both the High court and
Magistrate's court and the accused person has been on remand for 60 days before
the commencement of trial, the person shall be released on bail on such
conditions that the court considers reasonable.
The
same guidelines also indicate that when the offenses are triable by the High
court only and an accused person has been on remand for six months before the
case is committed for trial, the magistrate shall immediately refer the file to
the High court for mandatory release on bail.
Source:https://observer.ug/news/headlines/74538-judiciary-outs-new-bail-guidelines
2016 KASESE CLASHES:
MUMBERE'S PRE-TRIAL RESUMES
The Pre_trial of Rwenzururu King Charles Wesley Mumbere resumed before
the International Crimes Division of the High Court in Kampala on July 28, 2022
The state led by chief State AttorneyLilian Omara told Court presided
over by pre trial judge, Alice Komuhangi that all evidence to be relied on to
confirm charges against Mumbere and 201 other suspects was completely disclosed
to the Defence Legal Team.
The Court will make a rulling on the said witnesses protection Application on the 26th of August 2022 when the case will come up again.All the state's submissions were made in the presence of Mumbere's Lawyer Makasi Alfred and his Prime Minister ThemboKatsumbire.
Mumbere and his co accused who are his royal guards are on
remand at Jinja and Kirinya Prison and followed the Court proceedings via
Zoom.
Rwenzururu King Charles Wesley Mumbere, his Prime Minister
ThemboKitsumbire and his royal guards were charged and committed to the High
Court to start trial over the March and November 2016 incidents in Kasese where
over 100 lives were lost.
They were arrested in November 2016 following clashes between Security
Forces and suspected Rwenzururu Kingdom.
Source:https://capitalradio.co.ug/news/2022-07-28-mumberes-pre-trial-resumes/
SOROTI EAST
BY-ELECTIONS: NRM'S ARIKO DECLARED
WINNER OF SOROTI EAST PARLIAMENTARY BY-ELECTION
The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM)
candidate, Mr Herbert Edmund Arikowas declared as the duly elected Member of
Parliament forSoroti East Division following hotly contested by-election.
Ariko got 9,407 votes while his closest contender,
Mr Moses Attan of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) got 8,771
votes.
Uganda
People’s Congress (UPC) candidate Pascal Amuriat garnered 115 votes in the
Thursday July 28, 2022 polls that were characterized by high presence of the
armed forces - police and the army- and massive arrests of FDC members,
including the party president, Mr Patrick Amuriat.
There
were also reports of voter bribery the day before and ballot stuffing on
polling day which saw four suspects arrested.
Soroti
East returning officer, Ms Christine Eyu said the total number of valid votes
cast for candidates were 18,293 with 107 spoilt ballot papers.
UGANDA
POLICE QUESTIONED OVER UNRESOLVED HIGH-PROFILE MURDERS
Parliament’s Human Rights Committee quizzed officials from both the Uganda Police Force and the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) over the unresolved high-profile murders. This was during Christine Nanding, Deputy Director of Legal and Human rights Uganda Police update into the investigations over the murder of former Arua Municipality MP Ibrahim Abiriga.
This followed questions raised by MPs on the Committee on the unresolved high-profile murders including former Abiriga, former Prosecutor Joan Kagezi, and the former spokesperson of police Felix Kaweesi among others whose cases have limited progress made on both investigations and prosecution.
While responding to Police’s statements, Bugiri Municipality MP Asuman Basalirwa said the force has no excuse for the delay because Parliament has always prioritized funding to security agencies even at the expense of other crippling sectors.
Meanwhile, Fox Odoi,
Chairperson of the Committee issued a six months ultimatum to the DPP to
constitute a committee to lead investigations into these high-profile murders,
instead of abandoning the duty to Police.
Source:https://www.kfm.co.ug/news/uganda-police-questioned-over-unresolved-high-profile-murders.html
THE RIGHT TO LIFE: MBALE FLOODS: UPDF OFFICER KILLED AS DEATH
TOLL RISES TO NINE, SCORES MISSING
A Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) officer was
among nine people whose bodies have so far been recovered following floods that
swept through Mbale District in Eastern Uganda. Several other people are said
to be missing with fears that the death could be higher than what is reported
so far.
This is after the rain that started on Saturday
July 30, 2022 at 8pm until about 7am on Sunday July 31 2022 leftNamabasa,
Busajabwankuba, Busamaga, Nkoma, Milo taano and Mbale industrial park
where properties worth millions of shillings have been devastated by
floods.
Three vehicles were also said to have plunged into
river Namatala where some of the victims are reported to have died from.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
1.
Every
citizen has the right to exercise their right to vote. It’s important that the
right holder (the citizen) enjoys this right while upholding the law and its
requirements. Citizens ought to desist from acts amounting to violence while
exercising their right to vote. In addition, the duty bearer (the state) also
has a primary role of refraining from any acts that may hinder or violate the
enjoyment of this right. Security personnel ought to apply the Human Rights
Based Approach while supervising election processes.
2.
As
discussions on the right to bail continue and the judiciary launching new
guidelines on bail, its key for any guideline to be based on the notion of
human rights and to uphold and enable citizens enjoy the right to a fair
hearing/trial and exclusively access justice fairly and expeditiously.
3.
HRCU
condoles with the families and friends who lost loved ones during the Mbale
floods. HRCU urges the concerned stakeholders especially the government through the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) and the Minister for
disaster preparedness to allocate the necessary support and response to the
victims of these devastating floods.
We thank you for
reading and wish you a happy new week
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