"Madam Chairperson, you have shamelessly told the mothers, spouses, and children of our missing persons that their missing loved ones were ghosts!” he said.
Tensions
flared at the Uganda Human Rights Commission offices Monday morning as
musician-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, alias Bobi Wine,
withdrew his petition challenging the Police for blocking his musical concerts.
Kyagulanyi, accompanied by his lawyers Benjamin Katana and George Musisi,
appeared before the commission chaired by Mariam Wangadya.
He accused
the commission of violating his right to a fair hearing and acting with
partiality and a lack of independence. The petition stemmed from police actions
led by then Kampala Metropolitan Police Commander Frank Mwesigwa, now Assistant
Inspector General of Police-AIGP in charge of Operations, who canceled the
concerts in November 2018 allegedly to prevent Kyagulanyi from inciting
violence.
Mwesigwa
also accused Kyagulanyi of failure to differentiate between Bobi Wine, the
musician and Kyagulanyi the Legislator. "We have noticed that Bobi Wine
has been turning into Hon. Kyagulanyi to make political statements at Music
shows, that is not what we agreed upon,” Mwesigwa said. The concerts
came shortly after Kyagulanyi took his parliamentary oath and amidst heated
debates over constitutional amendments regarding the presidential age limit.
As
Kyagulanyi read his statement, Wangadya interrupted, accusing him of attacking
the commission. "Excuse
me, if that is the personal statement you are making, it is an attack on the
commission. You are free to withdraw your complaint. We shall not allow you to
undermine, emancipate, or disrespect this commission," Wangadya stated.
She further insisted that Kyagulanyi's accusations of the commission violating
human rights were unacceptable and called for security when he attempted to
continue.
“You are
represented you can speak through your lawyers. I will not allow you to accuse
this commission of violating human rights.
You will not speak. Where is the security…?”.
In response,
Kyagulanyi criticized Wangadya for mocking victims of human rights abuses and
declared his intention to withdraw his complaint due to the commission's
perceived lack of impartiality and independence. "I hereby withdraw my
complaint from this commission because it lacks impartiality and independence.
This is supposed to be the Human Rights Commission helping people,"
Kyagulanyi stated.
He condemned
the five-year delay in addressing his complaint, during which security agencies
allegedly blocked his concerts, confiscated equipment, and denied people their
livelihoods due to his political affiliation. Kyagulanyi questioned the
commission's ability to protect constitutional rights when it seemed complicit
in human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial
killings, torture, and enforced disappearances.
"Madam
Chairperson, what kind of commission are you presiding over?" Kyagulanyi asked.
He highlighted the ongoing plight of his supporters, many of whom have faced
severe abuses without any intervention from the commission. He also criticized
Wangadya for dismissing the concerns of families of missing persons by calling
their loved ones "ghosts."
"Madam
Chairperson, you have shamelessly told the mothers, spouses, and children of
our missing persons that their missing loved ones were ghosts!” he said. Given
these grievances, Kyagulanyi stated that the commission's actions had severely
undermined their confidence in its ability to deliver justice.
//Cue in: “So ladies and….
Cue out: ….human rights violations,”//
Luganda Audio
//Cue in: “Ensonga tuzijeyo kubanga…
Cue out: …edembe lyabuntu”.//
He labeled
the hearing a mockery and withdrew his case, expressing concerns for his safety
and citing Wangadya's previous remarks about commission members carrying guns
to meetings. "Having said this, I beg to leave because am not even sure of
our safety here, seeing that you, recently said that some members of this
commission possess and come to meetings with guns"!
As
Kyagulanyi left, Wangadya called for security to arrest him but ultimately
ruled the petition dismissed due to his withdrawal. This is not the first time
Kyagulanyi has withdrawn a petition. In 2021, he withdrew his presidential
election petition from the Supreme Court after being denied additional time to
file evidence against President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni's victory by Chief
Justice Owiny-Dollo's panel.
