The government of Uganda says it is
baffled by a recent US government report titled ‘2020 Country Reports on
Human Rights Practices: Uganda’ released on March 30, 2021.
In the report, the State Department of the United States of America
raises various concerns and allegations of torture, kidnap, arbitrary
arrests and murder, human rights violations against members of the
opposition, refugees, gays among others. Based on the report, the US
imposed travel sanctions against unnamed top Ugandan officials.
Now, in an undated and unsigned response released by the Uganda Media
Centre, the Uganda government reminds the US government of its
sovereignty and that their partnership and sustenance of that
relationship depends on principles of mutual respect, non-interference.
Uganda reminds the USA that more than anyone, it knows
its responsibility of safeguarding and upholding human rights and that
it will not be bullied by anyone and ordered through undue pressure on
when and how to uphold human rights having already suffered the blunt
realities of political insurgencies, political instability,
dictatorships and uncontrolled media.
Uganda's response goes on to claim that the US compiled their report
based on blatant limited knowledge about the realities on the ground in
Uganda and biased media reports, which it says were planted by
opposition politicians and their sympathisers. It also reminded the US
that no government in the world can tolerate violent riots and every
effort has to be made to nip the riots from the onset hence the heavy
security deployment and arrests.
Government says it responded highhanded to opposition politicians
during the runup to and after the January 14 election, particularly
Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine of the National Unity Platform
(NUP) and Patrick Oboi Amuriat of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC)
because they publically declared 'Plan B' and disregarded and violated
nearly all COVID-19 pandemic regulations.
"The government in its approach to the pandemic has prioritized the
protection of human life. Since without the right to life it is
impossible to enjoy any other right. The report deliberately ignores the
conditions under which the elections were held. A total lockdown was
declared on March 18, 2020, because of the pandemic given the rate and
speed of infection at the time and the fact that how to manage it was
unknown then," the response reads in part.
Security officers chasing after the media at the UN Human Rights offices in Kampala earlier this year On the freedom of the media, the government says it strongly believes
that the media is an important part of a democratic society and is
essential to the protection of human rights, fundamental freedoms and
socio-economic transformation. Uganda says the media is "fiercely
independent" to the point that government is always engaged in diffusing
'lie after lie' planted in the media by the opposition and their
sympathisers. It further said in Uganda, the content published in the
media is not controlled or influenced by government but rather business
interests and the private sector.
"The report also strangely makes baseless allegation of restriction
and trampling on the freedom of expression and media. Uganda presently
boasts of 322 privately-owned radio stations, 40 television stations, 56
licensed online publishers, and many newspapers with national coverage.
Through these outlets, citizens of Uganda are free to express their
views. In 2016 alone, Uganda spent Shs 350 billion (about $95m) in media
advertising. The top twenty spenders were all private-sector
institutions while more than 90 per cent of the media channels that
consumed the money are all privately owned. Government of Uganda has
only 24 media houses that command a small listenership/viewership and
miniscule revenue. This is out of 322 stations across the country, since
the airwaves were opened in 1992."
"This state of affairs openly contradicts the false narrative in the
report. It is the private sector in Uganda NOT the government that
largely determines major commercial and by extension, editorial
decisions. Uganda’s media is fiercely independent and the same media has
no recourse to intelligence services information used against
opponents, often the way the same media relies on their intelligence
agencies as sources of news to shape public opinion. As many Ugandans
and foreigners who live in the county know, the Government in Uganda is
always on the backpedal, rebutting lies after lies and heading into
‘storms’ almost always created and/or emanating from the privately-owned
media houses; the same houses that gobble all the advertising revenue
including the government’s own promotion expenditure."
Uganda says heavy deployment of security to curtail riots is not unique to Uganda, even the US does it On free and fair elections, the government says except once in 2011,
all the five elections held since 1996 have been subjected to the
scrutiny of the Supreme court, the highest court in the land and on all
occasions determined that they'd been held in compliance with the
Ugandan laws.
"Needless to say, a number of electoral reforms have been implemented
on the basis of the lessons learned from the elections of 2016 and we
call upon all our partners to interest themselves in those reforms, in
order to appreciate the robustness of our electoral legal framework
which, by most accounts, is one of the most progressive in Africa and
beyond." the report states.
On errant conduct of security officers, government says it objects
the 'false impression' that Uganda security officers Ugandan officers
who take the law unto themselves and make mistakes in their line of duty
are not apprehended.
It says, "in 2019 alone, some 2,175 complaints were registered
against errant Police officers and the Police Standards Unit (PSU)
investigated to conclusion some 1,446 while 729 are still under
inquiries. As is the case with UPF, the UPDF too deals sternly with
errant officers. For example, on February 19, 2021, the UPDF
court-martial took action against seven soldiers who were implicated in
the assault of some reporters. The Chief of Defense Forces (CDF) later
publicly apologized to the Media fraternity on this matter."
On prisons conditions, Uganda says the US report omitted to comment
on the milestones that the government of Uganda has registered in
detention centres especially the prison services with Ugandan prison
services rated among the best on the African continent and a benchmark
for best prison services in developing countries.
"The Government of Uganda has taken demonstrable steps to improve the
prison conditions affecting all prisoners and especially those with
disabilities. This, it has done by increasing prison holding capacity
from 14,334 in 2012/2013 to currently 19,456, expansion and construction
of disability-friendly prisons for example Rukungiri and Mutufu;
Kyangwali, Butyaba and Kitalya Minimax. Mutukula, Nebbi, Adjumani, Ragem
and Orom-Tikau.. There is no such thing as ‘Forced Labour’ in Uganda
Prisons Services as alleged in the report. [On] the contrary there are
existing Policies and legislations regarding prison labour, composition
of prison labour, nature of work done, earning scheme and payment of
prisoners, employment of vulnerable persons in place. Strict measures
are in place to ensure that officers in charge (OCs) comply with these
regulations.
The report further perpetuates a falsehood that female suspects are
detained in the same cell as men that is utterly baseless. In Uganda,
all police cells have both female and male and the fake pictures that
made their round on social media purporting to show female suspects
jointly in detention with males were taken in the police station waiting
area during statement taking. The report reaffirming this false goes
confirms the limited knowledge of the authors of the reports on prison
services conditions in Uganda."
