Semujju petitions Speaker Among over rising 'human rights abuses'

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Kira Municipality legislator, Ibrahim Semujju Nganda, has petitioned Speaker of Parliament, Anita Annet Among, over what he is calling rising human rights abuses in the country.

He raised this during plenary on Wednesday, October 23, 2024.

Part of his concerns accrues from an incident in August where he and 13 others, including MPs Francis Mwijukye (Buhweju County, FDC) and Dr Nicholas Kamara (Kabale Municipality, FDC), were arrested during a march to the Kenyan embassy.

These were at the time taking a protest note to the embassy over 36 Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) activists who had been arrested from Kisumu on terrorism-related charges.  

While addressing Parliament, Semujju expressed frustration over the prolonged court proceedings.

“We (lawmakers) are now actually reporting to court almost twice a month. When I raised this matter, the Attorney General made an understanding to come and brief Parliament on why three MPs were roughed up like chicken thieves,” he said.

“This Government is squeezing people. You have just had 16 members of the National Unity Platform (NUP) coerced by the army to plead guilty for offences they did not commit. We have 36 are there on terrorism,” Semujju added.

Dismissing procedural orders, he told National Resistance Movement (NRM) lawmakers that if 'militarised politics' is not curbed, it will ultimately impact them too.

“The other day, the Fort Portal mayor was nearly killed by NRM and he is NRM. So, those of you shouting 'order', wait for your day tomorrow,” he said.

Govt responds

In response, internal affairs state minister, Gen. David Muhoozi, described the matter as sophisticated.

“All these matters are in court. Maybe what I can do is to find out how far the matter is in court and then come back and give a report,” Muhoozi remarked.

Contributing to the discussion, Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Joel Ssenyonyi, emphasized the importance of youth affairs state minister, Balaam Barugahara, updating the House on the promises he made regarding the release of NUP political prisoners shortly after his swearing-in.

“He did commit and asked that I re-table names of missing persons, those incarcerated, political prisoners and so on. I said but we had tabled them severally, they are even in the library. But for the avoidance of doubt, I re-tabled a list here,” Ssenyonyi argued.

“He said he would take the law into his own hands, circumvent the legal processes and so on to ensure that people are freed. I think it would be prudent that Balaam comes and gives this House an update on machinations he has been up to and how far he has gone about this whole process,” he implored.

Speaker Anita Annet Among dismissed Enos Asiimwe's (Kabula County, NRM) procedural order to halt the debate, arguing that the issues raised do not violate legal maxims before ordering the Government to this end.

“There is only one person who can determine whether a matter is subjudice or not. It is only the Speaker, so I have not yet ruled. The member is just asking something simple to understand where these people are and how these people are being treated. Basically that,” Among ruled.

“Minister, you give us that information in two weeks',” she said.