By Mulengera Reporters
Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) Chairperson Mariam Wangadya has revealed that her Commission has interfaced with Eddie Mutwe who is currently remanded at Masaka prison. Follow this link to the full video interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDM7G1xwk6w.
She says that a team from UHRC Masaka regional office on Tuesday gained access to Eddie Mutwe and recorded his statement. She says she is surprised the NUP leadership and Eddie Mutwe’s family members haven’t bothered formally complaining to UHRC yet they are ready to intervene and help.
In an exclusive interview with Mulengera News crew on Wednesday, Ms Wangadya explained that the Constitution mandates them to intervene and protectively investigate human rights violations wherever they occur without even having to wait to be petitioned by the victim or his next of kin.
She explained that they moved themselves and intervened into the Edward Sebuwufu human rights situation because the CDF Gen MK’s tweets, owning up to be having him at his basement, made the case unique and different.
She is proud that her intervention, namely issuing an order for his production in court, impacted the situation and the Bobi Wine bodyguard was finally arraigned before court in Masaka. Her order was issued and served on the CDF on Friday and Mr. Sebuwufu was produced before Court on Monday. The UHRC boss says it’s very likely he would still be missing up to this point in time had her Commission not intervened.
Wangadya says that when Eddie Mutwe was arraigned and shielded from media cameras, the Commission was concerned about the state he was in and that’s why a team of investigators was dispatched to his prison cell. They interacted with him on Tuesday.
She explained that the purpose was to ascertain the state he was in and to also establish what exactly happened to him for the days he spent in illegal detention or confinement before his eventual arraignment. She couldn’t disclose much regarding the state he is in because she said she was waiting for the UHRC Masaka regional office to finish their report and forward it to her office in Kampala.
She clarified that the UHRC investigators have to interact with several stakeholders, including those Mr. Sebuwufu claims to have tortured him, before their report can be concluded and submitted.
She admitted that the act of lining up plain-clothed security operatives to shield Eddie Mutwe as he arrived at Court didn’t make the Ugandan state, whose agents NUP says tortured their man, look good at all. The UHRC boss, who is mandated to protect citizens against Eddie Mutwe-like human rights violations, revealed that she had information that arrangements had been made for Eddie Mutwe to access the appropriate medication from a health facility, for his torture wounds.
She also revealed that her Commission had come under a lot of pressure to intervene and act, including from the UN Human Rights Council based in Geneva. The international media too has been mounting pressure on relevant GoU agencies including Wangadya’s UHRC.
Mariam Wangadya also encouraged NUP and family members to collaborate with her Commission more in finding the appropriate remedies for the abusive treatment Eddie Mutwe has been subjected to. His family members are free to visit the UHRC Lumumba Avenue-based headquarters in Kampala or any of the Commission’s regional offices.
She asserted that there is no reason for NUP or Mutwe’s next of kin to be lukewarm towards the Commission because it’s not biased or hostile towards President Museveni’s political opponents as the leadership at Kavule thinks.
That the fact that they intervened without waiting to be prompted is proof that the Commission is here to protect human rights of all citizens of Uganda regardless of their political affiliation. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
