Bank of Uganda sued over Military Police torture

Jun 14, 2017

The complainants want court to declare that BoU and its agents tortured, assaulted and battered the duo and compensate them

 

By Betty Amamukirori

Bank of Uganda (BoU) has been dragged to the courts of law over the torture of a trailer driver and his conductor by Military Police officers who were escorting its bullion van.

The suit comes a few months following the release of a Police report from Lugazi Police Station pinning a group of Military Police officers led by a one Lt. Karugaba for the torture of a trailer driver, Waibi Awali and his conductor, Dan Matovu in Mabira Forest, along Jinja-Kampala highway.

According to the report dated February 2, 2017, the officers who were armed with guns, used excessive force on Awali and his turn boy Dan Matovu, who were harmless.

According to the report signed by the Buikwe district Criminal Investigations Director (CID), Fauzia Nakyandiba, the incident happened on January 3, 2017, at around 5PM in Mabira Forest.

On that fateful day, Awali, 44, and Matovu, 34, were driving a trailer vehicle Reg No. UAN 068A and UAL 176X along Jinja-Kampala highway, transporting cement from Tororo to Hardware Market Ltd in Kampala, when they met with Military Police in Mabira Forest escorting a bullion van from Kampala towards Jinja.

Awali, according to the report, who was at that time following other vehicles, stopped and parked his vehicle besides the road to allow the bullion van and its escorts to go past. 

"After the entourage of the bank's vehicles had passed, all the vehicles started moving including Awali's but within a short while, the entourage came back and stopped in front of his vehicle. The Police officers came out, directly went to the steering wheel and pulled him out. He fell hard on the tarmac," reads part of the report.

The officers kicked and hit him with the batons until he became unconscious while Matovu was also seriously beaten. 

Having realised the gravity of what they had done, the report states that the officers bundled the duo onto their boot and dumped them at Mabira Police Station.

At the Police station, Karugaba introduced himself to the Police officers at the counter and informed them that the men were thieves who should be dealt with accordingly.

However, given the state the duo was in, Police rushed them to Kawolo Hospital for treatment and provided security for the abandoned trailer at Mabira Forest.

A medical examination done at the hospital indicated that Awali suffered a concussion, multiple scars and soft tissue injury while Matovu suffered injury on the left elbow and the rib area.

"Lt Karugaba and crew were in a better position to have the driver and his conductor be arrested and escorted to the nearby Police facility for the law to take its course against them if at all they had committed any offence but instead they put the law in their hands," said Nakyandiba.

She however said that an inquiry into the case is still ongoing and when done, the file will be referred to the resident state attorney for perusal and legal advice.

In their suit, the duo, through Mulindwa Associates and Co. Advocates, state that they also lost sh1.5m and a Tecno phone worth sh50,000 when the incident happened.

Hudson Mukasa, the owner of the trailer also joined the suit stating that when the vehicle was detained for three days at the Police station, he lost a contract of transporting the cement to Hardware Market and thus lost business at a rate of sh1.8m per trip. He stated that the contract to transport cement to Seroma Ltd in Kampala was also cancelled.

"The defendant (BoU) is viciously liable for actions of its agents who were acting in course of duty for battery, assault, mis-imprisonment, torture, economic loss and illegal detention of the trailer," reads part of the suit.

They want court to declare that BoU and its agents tortured, assaulted and battered Awali and Matovu and order it to compensate the duo for the brutality they suffered at the hands of Military Police.

They also want BoU to pay special damages of sh4.4m to the complainants. The suit was filed on May 25, 2017.

In its response, the acting legal counsel of BoU, Isaac Teko said that when they were served a notice of intention to sue, they engaged the Police Professional Standards Unit to verify the veracity of the Police report but were told that the medical reports were forged since the medical superintendent of Kawolo Hospital disowned it.

He said that it was also revealed that the Police officers at Mabira and Lugazi Police stations did not carry out the necessary inquiries with the intention of investigating the matter to its logical conclusion.

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