Written evidence submitted by International
Lobby for Reform in Uganda (ILORU)
UGANDA: WEAKENED
STATE INSTITUTIONS—THE
PRIMARY CAUSE
OF GROSS
HUMAN RIGHTS
ABUSE
Background
The International Lobby for Reform in Uganda
(ILORU) applauds the British Government for its positive foreign
policy statements in relation to human rights.
ILORU recalls that within the first few days
of taking office in 1997, the then Foreign Secretary Mr Robin
Cook published a Mission Statement setting out four key roles
for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), one of which stated
in part:
"We shall work through international forums
and bilateral relationships to spread the values of human rights,
civil liberties and democracy which we demand for ourselves."
[www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?]
ILORU also recalls that the current Foreign
Secretary Mr Jack Straw confirmed this policy in the Queen's Speech
debate on 22 June 2001, when he said:
"We shall continue to uphold the values
which underpin our own security and prosperity, and that of our
allies—human rights; democracy; fundamental freedoms to
which every human being is entitled—and we shall use our
influence in the world to help confront tyranny, oppression, poverty,
conflict and human suffering". [Hansard. 22 June 2001]
In this submission, ILORU is calling on the
British government to translate these words into action, particularly
in Uganda where, thanks to weakened institutions of state, the
suppression of human rights; democracy; fundamental freedoms including
the freedom of association, are on the increase.
Under the Movement Act 1997, the ruling Movement
political "system" and its Soviet-style "pyramid"
committees from village to national levels, President Yoweri Museveni
is not only the head of state. He is also the supreme institution
of state. Under the Act, the State House is fused with state institutions
including the army, the police and prisons, state intelligence
and security and the civil services. This has had a serious impact
on the administration of law and order, accountability in the
management of public affairs and most of all, on the protection
of fundamental rights.
Other countries where the heads of state were
also the supreme institutions of state were Zaire under Mobuto
and Somalia under Said Bare. Both counties became failed states
following the departure of individuals who were also institutions.
The impact of weakened state institutions was
reflected in the unprecedented incident on 23 November 2004 when
four Members of Parliament were publicly flogged and humiliated
by the army. The incident validated Human Rights Watch Report
2004, "state of pain", which states:
"In summary, conditions facilitating torture,
illegal arrest and detention and unlawful death by state and military
forces in Uganda include:
— A political climate of suspicion
that political opponents are inevitably engaged in armed rebellion,
the allegation most frequently used to justify illegal measures;
— Erosion of the sole authority of
the police to detain suspects;
— Use of military intelligence officers
in the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), and use of
intelligence officers in the Internal Security Organization (ISO)
to detain and interrogate unarmed civilian suspects;
— Creation of ad hoc and unauthorised
detaining agencies, such as Operation Wembley and its successor,
the Violent Crime Crack Unit (VCCU);
— Adoption of the 2002 Anti-Terrorism
Act, containing a broad definition of terrorism, referencing "opponents
of the state," permitting the government to declare an organization
terrorist, conferring broad powers on the ad hoc Joint
Anti-Terrorism Task Force (JATF), and reducing the rights of terrorist
suspects;
— Constitutional provision for detention
without evidence of treason and terrorism suspects for up to 360
days;
— Disregard by military, security and
intelligence agencies for lawful detention and interrogation,
including holding suspects for weeks or months longer than the
legally permitted 48 hours without charge;
— Lack of right to be represented by
counsel from the time of detention;
— Use of ungazetted and illegal places
of detention, such as "safe houses" and army barracks;
— Police fear of or reluctance to confront
military, security and intelligence agencies detaining suspects
contrary to law;
— Lack of, or reluctance to use, judicial
authority to confront the military, security and intelligence
agencies' illegal procedures and acts; and,
— Impunity for illegal detention, torture,
prolonged arbitrary detention and deaths in custody.
The positive impacts of British development aid
ILORU especially applauds the British Government
for the generous development aid package, which it has been giving
to Uganda over the years. As a result, Uganda made tremendous
advances in economic and social development fields, particularly
between 1990-1997. Some key indicators, which were not comparable
to any Sub-Saharan African country, include:
— A liberalised economy, which achieved
an average annual growth rate at 6%;
— Reduced the proportion of the population
living on less than a dollar a day to 38%;
— Increased access to clear water to
58% of the population;
— Reduced HIV/AIDS infection rate to
10% of the population, and;
— The enrolment of 7 million children
under the Universal (Free) Primary Education (UPE).
Drawbacks
Since 1998, these impressive achievements have
being going into reverse particularly because of the following
reasons:
— The insistence by government to end
war in the north and east of the country by military means;
— The invasion and occupation of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which diverted a lot of
resources;
— The diversion to defence of 23% of
all departmental budgets including education and health;
— The creation of three different tribal
militia armies (Arrow Boys-the Teso tribal militia) and (Rhino
Boys-Lango tribal militia), and Frontier Guards-Acholi tribal
militias), ostensibly to fight the Lords Resistance army (LRA)
— The use of Special Military Tribunal
to tray civilian opponents of the government;
— The creation of at least 12 different
para-military state and security organisations with powers to
arrest, detain and even to murder suspects;
— The continued restriction on political
activities and the monopoly of power by the ruling Movement system;
and
— The encouragement by the president
for Ugandans to have more children, and
— The encouragement by the president
for the population to shun the use of condoms in favour of abstinence.
Reality on the ground
The impact of weakened state institutions has
led to harrowing incidents of gross human rights abuse, which
have reached intolerable levels as illustrated by the following:
— On 8 December, the government rejected
the ruling by the Constitutional Court for 25 treason suspects
who had spent more than one year in remand to be released for
lack of evidence. The suspects include Mr Samuel Okiringi, Denis
Nabireema, Julius Muhumuza, Abbey Basemerwa, Amon Byarugaba, Matsiko
Kyarisima, Stephen Asiimwe and Didas Atunga-Bantu.
— On 23 November four Members of Parliament
(MPs) including Professor Ogenga Latigo, Reagan Okumu, Michael
Ochula and Otto Odonga, were flogged and humiliated by the Uganda
People's Defence Forces (UPDF) as they tried to consult their
constituents on controversial government proposals to change the
constitution.
— On 13 September, the Movement Communication
Director, Mr Ofwono-Opondo, a civilian, acted as a policeman,
prosecutor, judge, jury and publicly executed one Geoffrey Lubega,
a suspected car robber. The executioner was applauded by the Internal
Affairs Minister, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda.
— Since November, the dreaded Chieftaincy
of Military Intelligence (CMI) has arrested many opposition supporters
on the pretext that the are linked to rebels bent on using force
to topple the government. The latest victims include two leading
Kampala businessmen, Mugisha Kyalimanya and Joseph Musasizi.
Previous politically-inspired murders by state
security
— On 12 January 2002, the police randomly
fired AK47 rifles at a public rally, and killed a trainee journalist,
Jimmy Higenyi.
— On 13 August 2002, Patrick Muhumuza
Mamenero was tortured and killed by Chieftaincy of Military Police
(CMI). His body was found dumped near his home in Ntungamo, in
Western Uganda. The autopsy showed that he died from internal
bleeding caused by a blunt instrument while in detention.
— On 16 September 2002, Peter Oloya
Yumbe, a remand prisoner in Gulu, Northern Uganda, was shot and
killed by the members of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF)
led by Lt Col Otema Awany. The Acholi Parliamentary Group (APG)
condemned Mr Oloya's killing, which they described as "unconstitutional,
uncivilised and barbaric". Oloya's remains have never been
released to his family.
No one has been prosecuted for these murders.
Drawbacks in social and economic areas as follow:
— The acclaimed record on fighting
HIV/AIDS has also been questioned, particularly in war zones in
the north and east where the infection rate is as high as 40%.
A leading HIV/AIDS expert has written in the Economist: "The
official story, repeated often and with reverence at AIDS conferences,
is that infection rates were stratospheric when Yoweri Museveni
seized power in the 1980s...The epidemic was rolled back: earlier
this year, the president said that his government had cut HIV
prevalence from 30% in 1990 to 6.1% last year . . . But an American
medical researcher now questions the precision of this miracle.
In an article in the Lancet last month, Justin Parkhurst,
of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, argues
that it is based on flimsy evidence. Much of the data come from
testing pregnant women seeking treatment at urban health clinics,
which, he writes, is "hardly indicative of a nation where
about 87% of the population live in rural areas." Nationwide,
he suggests, infection rates were never as high as 30%. The oft-cited
dramatic drops in HIV prevalence were recorded only in a few places.
Elsewhere, the decline was more modest. [AIDS in Uganda. Was the
miracle faked? Economist, 25 August 2002.]
— Poverty rate in the war zones in
the north and east has increased to 58% against a national average
of 30%.
— A 75% dropout rate is undermining
the Universal Primary Education (UPE) enrolment. Education director
Dr. Richard Akankwasa, has recently acknowledged that of two million
pupils who enrolled in Primary One in 1997 when the UPE programme
was introduced, only 406,000 sat the Primary Leaving Examination
(PLE) last year. This year, 2004, out of about two million pupils
who joined primary one in 1998, only 433,010, sat the PLE examinations.
Political corruption
As a direct result of weakened state institution,
political corruption has become routine:
— In October 2004, the government paid
between £1,666-£5,000 to each 223 Members of Parliament
(MPs) including the Prime Minister, elected and unelected Ministers
who are ex-officio MPs, and eight of the ten-army representatives,
to bribe their support for the constitutional amendment, which
may allow the president to rule for life.
— On 20 September 2004, asked by the
BBC's Tim Sebastian about corruption government ministers and
the UN report on the illegal pillage by top army officers of resources
in the Democratic Republic of Congo, President Museveni said:
We do not reprimand them because "we are Christians and we
believe in repentance and forgiveness and rectification and further
guidance".
— On 17 May 2003, Justice Julia Sebitunde
issued a report on into the purchase of junk helicopters and criticised
the President for advising his brother, Lieutenants General Saleh
to accept a cash bribe of $800,000.
— Since April 2004, several army officers
have been on trial in "camera" for their roles in the
creation of thousands of "ghost soldiers".
Summary
Although it is less than 14 months to the expected
to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in 2006, not
only are political activities still effectively banned. The President
is showing ever more determination to amend the constitution,
a move which would enable him to stay in power indefinitely. He
is also pushing for another constitutional amendment to allow
the Movement system of governance to be retained in the Constitution.
This is in spite of the fact that the country is scheduled to
revert to a multi-party system in 2006. Meanwhile, the Chairman
of the Electoral Commission Badru Kiggundu has stated that the
army will be required to provide security during the elections.
Conclusion
Clearly, the values which underpin British security
and prosperity, and that of their allies—human rights; democracy;
fundamental freedoms to which every human being is entitled, are
non-existent in Uganda.
As the largest bilateral aid donor to Uganda,
the British government should recognise its political and moral
responsibility to the 25 million Ugandans and help to stop the
current slide toward the political and social abyss of the 70s
and early 80s. As a guide, they should note the United Nation's
Human Development Report (2002), "Deepening democracy in
a fragmented world", which states:
"Politics matter for human development.
Reducing poverty depends as much on whether poor people have political
power as on their opportunities for economic progress. Democracy
has proven to be the system of governance most capable of mediating
and preventing conflict and of securing and sustaining well-being.
By expanding people's choices about how and by whom they are governed,
democracy brings principles of participation and accountability
to the process of human development."
The British government will recall that not
too long ago Zimbabwe was the bread basket of Southern Africa.
They may agree that if they, the Commonwealth and the European
Union had taken a firm action against Mugabe 10 years ago or earlier,
the current political and social upheavals in that once rich country
would have been averted.
They should also recognise that Sierra Leone
was King Solomon's mine in Africa, and the Ivory Cost was the
Switzerland of Africa. All these countries have today become failed
states. ILORU is seriously concerned that Uganda has already acquired
the critical ingredient that makes a failed state—weak or
the total absence of national institutions that can stand the
test of time.
More worryingly, President Museveni has unwittingly
placed the country on a slippery slope towards self-destruction.
In addition to creating tribal militia armies in three traditionally
rivalling tribes as stated earlier in (Acholi, Lango and Teso),
he has also trained "millions of fighters" outside the
regular army. Writing in a local daily, the president said:
"In the last 17 years we have trained two
million fighters through mchakamchaka. Therefore, the Local Defence
Units (LDUs) in all parts of the country are all part of the vast
national defence capacity. Those who have been making trouble
should know the consequences of their treason." (See Museveni
explains Arrow Militia force, the Monitor, 7 September 2003).
To avoid a catastrophic political and social
crises in Uganda, the British government should act urgently and
translate into action the current Foreign Secretary Mr Jack Straw's
words when he said: . . . "we shall use our influence in
the world to help confront tyranny, oppression, poverty, conflict
and human suffering".
Recommended actions
In immediate term, the British government should
work with their allies in the Commonwealth, the European Union
and in the G8 to achieve the following:
— Stop the constitutional amendment
to remove the presidential term limit;
— Stop the constitutional amendment
to allow the Movement system of governance to be retained in the
Constitution;
— Stop the harassment and intimidation
of the opposition;
— Bring about the full and unconditional
levelling of the political field including funding the opposition,
the barring of the army from playing any role in the elections
and the creation of an independent Election Commission, which
represents all political parties; and
— Step up efforts to help Uganda to
ensure a clear separation of power between the Executive, Judiciary
and the Legislature.
Institutional development
In the medium to long term, the British government
should step up efforts to work with their allies in the Commonwealth,
the European Union and in the G8 to help Uganda to develop impartial
and effective national institutions, which will stand the test
of time.
Without effective institutions, no amount of
British and other international development aid donations will
help reduce poverty in Uganda. On the country, the country will
remain firmly locked in a vicious cycle of wars at home and across
its borders, famine, deceases, refugee exodus and an ever more
poverty.
Sam A Akaki
Director
International Lobby in Uganda (ILORU)
December 2004
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