By Mulengera Reporters
Outgoing Bugiri MP Asuman Basalirwa was on Friday interviewed for CBS radio news program and told the interviewer Alex Nsubuga why he is unhappy with how his ally Anita Among has been treated.
Basalirwa said that he won’t deny being Anita Among’s person even when it has lately increasingly become risky to do so. He said that, whereas fighting corruption is a good thing, it’s repugnant and unconstitutional for the Ugandan state to violate the human rights of Anita Among yet she is just a mere suspect of wrongdoing.
He asserted that no wrongdoing had so far been proved against his client, which is why none of her rights should be deprived.
Basalirwa castigated the Ugandan state for dehumanizing Anita Among and for taking away the posh vehicles which are her personal property, which she is entitled to keep under Article 26 of the 1995 Constitution.
He also registered his discomfort with how Anita Among, for whom he serves as a personal lawyer, had been subjected to harsh media publicity.
He said that much as the state wants to fight corruption, the law, procedure and rules of natural justice must be followed and adhered to at all times.
The opposition Jeema President also responded to Kagoma MP Brandon Kintu (also the spokesperson for NRM Caucus in Parliament) who days earlier had appeared on the same CBS radio and commended the state for cracking the whip so hard on Anita Among.
Brandon Kintu said that the action was justified because Anita Among has no authority to bring into Uganda unauthorized guns.
Kintu also claimed that the former Speaker was also in the habit of importing valuable things like cars into the country without paying adequate taxes.
Basalirwa downplayed all these claims against his master Anita Among and demanded to know why CBS editors didn’t task Brandon Kintu for proof. Basalirwa laughed off Kintu who he said was nothing more than a mere blogger, which is why no one should take him seriously.
But the same Basalirwa hesitated when called upon to contradict PLU’s stand against Anita Among. He said he was unprepared to criticize David Kabanda or Gen MK because he isn’t a member of their Patriotic League of Uganda.
He said all right-thinking Ugandans have a duty to condemn the dehumanizing treatment that has been visited onto the outgoing Speaker. He insisted that human rights of individual citizens of Uganda should not be violated under the guise of amplifying the fight against corruption.
