Prison series: Blind convict certain he has no home to return to

By Petride Mudoola

At the age of 27 years, Geoffrey Lwanga has not enjoyed the vitality and vigour that comes with the prime of his life.

Completely blind, Lwanga a prisoner at Mbale Prison, Maluku, has so far served 12 years over defilement, a charge he insists was trumped up by a watchman.

Lwanga, the only blind inmate, is due to complete his sentence. But as his sentence draws to a close, he faces uncertainty; he neither has parents nor relatives to receive him.

“I never knew my parents. I was abandoned because my blindness was considered a bad omen, but was adopted by David Byaruhanga, a businessman who died before I completed school,” narrates Lwanga.

He confesses, he has no clear information regarding his family background, but his late caretaker Byaruhanga, informed him that, he may have originated from either Mbarara or Luwero districts.

He adds that, Byaruhanga assumed that Lwanga may have been thrown away as a result of the war in the Luwero Triangle.

After the caretaker’s death Lwanga, who was then at St Francis Madera School for the Blind, was stranded for some time until Sister Mama Gertrude, one of the nuns at Magali Girls Primary School in Mbale, decided to take him on while he helped the school as a music trainer.

A few years later, he was accused of defilement. Lwanga says on the fateful day in January 2001 as he was at home listening to the 7:00pm news when the school’s watchman came to tell him that the headmistress wanted to see him. He then held Lwanga’s hand and led him to the headmistress.

On reaching there, the watchman accused him of defiling his daughter.

“Without question, she ordered that I be taken to the Police station,” Lwanga narrates.

Managing in prison

Coping with disability in prison was the most challenging. Some inmates bullied and taunted him, asking what a blind man could have done to be imprisoned. “Others would knock me down and then ask me to guess who had done it,” narrates Lwanga.

Prisons lack special needs infrastructure and as a result, accessing lavatories is a challenge especially when there is shortage of water and they have to use pit latrines.true

According to the prison’s administration, prisoners serving long sentences are often referred to Luzira prison and later taken back to their mother stations towards completion of their sentences.

Similaryly, Lwanga was transfered to Luzira where he has spent the 12 years of his jail tenure and later referred to Mbale Prison since he is due to complete his sentence.

He will complete his sentence on October 10, a day after Uganda’s golden jubilee independence celebration.

Asked about life in Luzira compared to that in Mbale, Lwanga says, as regards movement, Luzira is flat and comfortable unlike Mbale, which is hilly and unfavourable for the visually impaired.

Back in the upper prison, inmates like Kooky Sharma and Johnson Wavamuno used to support him with basics having realised that he lacked assistance from relatives, unlike in Mbale where he has to support himself.

Besides the breakdown of the braille machine that assist blind learners to read and write, prison schools lack special needs teachers, yet it calls for specialised instructors to train disabled people, hence affecting their education.

Time in prison has been a blessing in disguise to Lwanga. Having dropped out of school in Senior Three, Lwanga resumed studies in Prison and was among the inmates who sat for A’ level in 2009.

The visually impaired man is determined to leave prison a learned man. Having not perform well, in 2011, Lwanga decided to sit the exams a second time and scored six points.

Lwanga says he wants to use the opportunity of free education in prison to achieve his goals. Although he did not perform well in the A’ level exams, he is still optimistic that his life will take a turn for the better.

Before his arrest, Lwanga declares that he was not keen on preaching, but while in jail he acquired skills in theology and is capable of counselling his fellow inmates.

Although he maintains he did not commit the crime, he holds no grudge against anyone. “As a Christian, I am required to forgive and forget in order to be forgiven in heaven.”

Asked whether he was remorseful, Lwanga insists he did not commit any crime and has nothing to be remorseful about.

Being the first blind man to be convicted by the courts of law, Lwanga contends that he is better placed to represent people with disabilities in Parliament. He intends to have a shot at elections for the tenth Parliament in 2016.

“I will also ensure that I fight for the rights of persons with disabilities especially those who happen to be in conflict with the law.

Weak laws have led to innocent people being convicted. The investigations into the allegations are inadequate,” says Lwanga.

But before that, he has to find where to stay. “I do not know where I will stay after I am set free. I cannot go back to my accusers. I have no one to turn to. The nuns and the late Byaruhanga were the only family I knew. No one has ever visited me in jail. I feel unloved,” laments Lwanga.