On death row for the murder of a living man

On death row for the murder of a living man -- If the State kills 100 convicts, and one of them is innocent, the State has committed murder By Kikonyogo Ngatya and Florence Nakaayi Life has been an unfair and worthless mystery to Edmary Mpagi. For 19 years, the 46-year-old man has been languishing on death row at Luzira Maximum Security prison for a murder he did not commit. On April 29, 1982, Masaka High Court, Late Justice Katinti sentenced Mpagi and his cousin, the late Masembe, to death. The two had been accused of armed robbery and the murder of one George William Wandyaka, their neighbour. Despite their pleas of not guilty, the court handed down the conviction. The person they were alleged to have killed is alive and up to now, he lives in Jinja town. Mpagi says there was overwhelming evidence to the effect that Wandyaka was alive, but Court insisted that they had killed him. A close source to Wandyaka’s family living in down town Kampala confirmed to The New Vision Monday that he was alive. A report to the High Court by J.K Senyonga, the then Masaka district executive secretary, which The New Vision has seen, also indicated that Wandyaka had not been murdered. It asked court to drop the case, but in vain. Mpagi, who was a taxi driver in Kampala, recalls the evening of June 5, 1981, when all the trouble began. He calls that day ‘doomsday’. First, his vehicle, which he had been using as a taxi in the city, had been robbed from him along Rubaga Road some two weeks back. “Life became difficult then. I couldn’t cope with the high standard of living in Kampala,” Mpagi recalls. So he made the decision to go back to his home village of Kyambaale, Kibenge sub-county, Masaka District, with his family. That ugly evening, Wandyaka, who owned a small retail shop near Mpagi’s home, was coming from Mityana where he had lived and worked for some time. He was coming home on holiday. Wandyaka had some money, that Mpagi can not recall, although in Court, he was told that his cousin and he had robbed sh108,000. Wandyaka was to buy a piece of land on his village. He arrived home on June 4, 1981, in the afternoon. The person he was to purchase the land from had reportedly travelled to Kampala, and it meant that he was to keep the money till the following day when he returned for the deal to be sealed. Mpagi and his uncle had travelled to Masaka that day. They returned in the evening and parted at around 9:00pm. Mpagi’s parents were immediate neighbours of Wandyaka. The two families had for a long time had very serious disagreements over land. That night, thugs broke into Wandyaka’s house. They beat him up before making off with his money. He was reportedly stabbed with a knife in the stomach area. The following day, while visiting his parents, Mpagi was arrested by the Police. He said that he was beaten up to almost losing consciousness. After spending more than two months in custody, Mpagi and his cousin were taken to court and later convicted of armed robbery. The judge had received reports from the Mayumba Kumi(currently known as village Local Councils) that Wandyaka had not been killed. The two were transferred to Luzira, from Masaka. On February 22, 1983, Mpagi and his cousin Masembe, who later died in prison from skin infection, appealed to the Court of Appeal. After two months, the court of appeal upheld the death penalty. This time around, the allegations of murder had been added to the case. The state prosecutors kept alleging that Mpagi and Masembe chopped Wandyaka to death with a panga. Throughout the trial at the Court of appeal, the two were being represented by a state attorney. They had lost contact with their family members because during that time, there was a lot of rebel activity in the country. For one to go to visit a prisoner in Luziira, they had to first acquire permission from prison headquarters in the city centre, an idea that was full of bureaucratic processes. Mpagi and Masembe kept telling the state attorney on their behalf that they had not killed the man. “Instead, he kept saying otherwise. We told him to request Court to shift the hearing to the village for the residents to testify that Wandyaka was alive, but he kept dodging,” he added. Till July 12 last year, when he was released under a presidential pardon, Mpagi has been in Jail. “It is a horrible place. It is not a place for humans,” he said. He has suffered skin infections and his eyesight greatly affected. “We were always confined to small, dark and filthy chambers throughout the 1980s. We were entitled to only 48 minutes of sunshine - 24 in the morning, the rest in the evening,” he said. There was no food, especially during the war. I almost died in there. That was the time Masembe died,” he says. Mpagi recalls many heart breaking moments while in jail. Throughout his stay there, five executions have been carried out. All the people that were executed found him there. Some were his close friends, and the memories of their last words before death haunt him every second. “We could be seated there, then the prisons officer comes and picks one. Only a chit returns that he is gone to Death,” he says. Some told him that they were innocent, others that they had committed the crimes, but were ready to reform. Mpagi, while in prison, became a leader. First he knew how to go about the environment, but also as a catechist, preaching the Bible to the others. He was always seen as their source of courage. Life outside jail is completely a new phenomenon to him. His wife and four of his seven children died. He is currently trying to look for his children, but cannot find them. Some got lost during the 1985 war and have never come back home. the people who knew where they had relocated, have since died. Mpagi is now studying at the Catholic diocese in Kiyinda Mityana to be a professional catechist. Ever since he was a young man, he always had this feeling to spread the gospel. “I have forgiven whoever wronged me. I look forward to shaking hands with Wandyaka,” Mpagi tells us. He says he has learnt many lessons in his life and considers himself ‘the living hope.’ He says when he finishes his studies he wants to reach out to the prisoners and teach them to reform. “Even those who committed the crimes can reform, some were mentally sick, some out of grudges, others were misled. There are also some people who are victims of a poor investigation system by the police,” he noted. Mpagi wants to be part of the campaign against the death penalty in Uganda. “Death is not a penalty. If I had died, I would not be able to tell you all this,” he says. He adds: “It is true people commit crimes which deserve death, but if the state kills 100 convicts, and one is innocent, the state is a murderer and an abuser of the laws of natural justice and humanity.” “Corruption has killed this country. Bribes! Bribes, everywhere. People out there look at prisoners as animals, but in such a corrupt society, it can be you on death row tomorrow for a crime you have no idea about. Mpagi has not started getting used to eating other foods. In the meantime, he is keeping his eyes open to finding a new wife. Ends