Kalungu West MP, Joseph Sewungu has criticized the Human Rights and Defence committees of Parliament for looking on as Ugandans get brutalized by soldiers of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF).
Sewungu was Wednesday speaking to journalists at Rubaga hospital where he together with Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah were visiting ailing MP for Mityana municipality, Francis Zaake.
The legislator is asking members of the two committees to hold the army leadership to account by revealing the soldiers who assaulted and tortured people in Arua including the mysterious shooting of Yasin Kawuma (Bobi Wine’s driver) to death.
“The army has a Section, Company and a Platoon. The soldiers that guarded the President in Arua on that day, and who beat up these people were about 100. We want to know which Lieutenant Colonel was commanding these soldiers,” Sewungu said.
“We also want to know from the transport officer for SFC which vehicles were deployed”.
Instead of condemning the acts, he said, the two committees have ignored these violations of rights.
“They must summon the army commander and the SFC commander to tell us who exactly beat up these people and killed the driver of Bobi Wine,” said Sewungu.
He stated that whenever soldiers are deployed to guard the President, they sign for allowances which could offer some leads to the probing into the Arua rights abuses.
“They have to reveal to us which units were deployed from the start in Arua and which vehicles were dispatched”.
Four Members of Parliament including Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine), Gerald Karuhanga, Paul Mwiru and Kassiano Wadri were arrested a week ago in Arua on the last day of campaigns during the municipality by-election. Police accuses them together with close to 30 others of endangering the President by hurling stones at the Presidential convoy.
But some of the suspects who are detained in Gulu district say they were tortured during their arrest. Atleast four of them were lifted to and from court last week since they could not support themselves due to the alleged torture.
Meanwhile Sewungu said that he has already obtained the number plates for the vehicles that were used by the army in quelling protests in Kampala on Monday.
“I have some of those number plates for those cars that soldiers who beat up journalists were using. That will be our starting point. We shall summon the drivers so they tell us who beat up people,” he said.
He also criticized government chief whip, Ruth Nankabirwa who is accused by Francis Zaake of intimidating the medics who are treating him at Rubaga hospital.
