Police 'ignores' Human Rights Commission complaints on torture of female MPs

UHRC Chairwoman, Mariam Wangadya, in a statement this Thursday morning, said she had written to the IGP seeking an explanation for the actions of his men, following the brutal arrest of Mityana Woman MP Joyce Bagala.

Bagala had organised a belated Women’s Day celebrations in her district on March 30th when police came in and used teargas and live bullets to disperse the meeting. She and several members of her team were hurt in the process.

Wangadya says she wrote to the IGP on April 3rd but her complaint has been ignored.

“Unfortunately, we have not received any response from police to our communication, an act we consider contemptuous,” she wrote.

Yet just days later, Wangadya says she was shocked to stumble upon even more disturbing footage of Police assaulting the Buvuma District Woman MP Susan Mugabi, on April 21st.

Hon Mugabi, who was also blocked from holding a women’s day celebration, was severely injured in the incident and rushed unconscious to hospital. She is yet to be discharged according to Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa.

The IGP has since suspended all 11 police officers who were involved in the Buvuma incident.

Nonetheless, the UHRC boss says she is “concerned about the growing trend of highhandedness in public order management, incidents of which cannot be simply dismissed as isolated and by a few errant officers.”

“Elected leaders by virtue of their mandate must interact with members of their constituencies in order to ensure meaningful representation…The recent events are therefore not only very unfortunate, but also illegal, incantational and must stop.”

The Buvuma incident took place only days after Deputy Prime Minister Rukia Nakadama ordered all RDCs to stop disrupting events organized by members of parliament.

Her directive followed complaints raised in Parliament by several Women MPs led by Sarah Opendi, the chairwoman of the Uganda Women Parliamentary Association (UWOPA)

Hon Stella Opolot Isido, the woman MP for Ngora district (FDC) said she had her women’s day celebrations cancelled last year and this year by the RDC, one John Stephen Ekoom.

“Last year Mr Ekoom blocked our event at 9:30pm when it was happening the following morning; there was no explanation, nor compensation,” she said.

Other Woman MPs who have had their women’s day events cancelled include Hon Florence Kabugho (FDC) of Kasese District and Hon Brenda Nabukenya (NUP) of Luwero.