MITYANA MUNICIPALITY MP ZAAKE's LAWYER; I WATCHED MINISTER KANIA SPEAKING FABRICATED LIES BEFORE PARLIAMENT OVER MP FRANCIS ZAAKE TORTURE CLAIMS.

*ON HONORABLE ZAAKE, AN ELDERY CID OFFICER (ZARUGABA TINKA) AND AN ELDERLY MINISTER MINISTER (OBIGA KANIA)*

Yesterday afternoon, i tuned in to UBC.

I was waiting for the Minister of Internal Affairs to make a statement on Hon. Francis Zaake’s torture, having been directed by the Speaker to do so in a previous session on Tuesday. My eyes were glued on television. I thought finally we were going to see a victim of torture get justice! Finally, the time came, and the Honorable Minister took to the floor. A grey haired elderly Minister. When I was growing up, I was taught to respect grey hair. You could make fun of anyone as a child, but anyone whose head bore grey hair was to be revered. As my mother would say, “You do not know what they have gone through to reach that age.”

Therefore, grey hair was sacred- a symbol of of honor! Things are now upside down. The gods must be crazy. You see old men lying through their teeth and shudder. You see them stealing public funds without shame and cringe! You struggle to revere grey hair when those whose heads bear it have no respect for themselves and their age. 

Anyway, as Minister Obiga Kania began speaking, I was enthusiastic with expectation. My expectation was not born out of nothing. It was born out of a promise from another old man. 

On Monday 5th April, some two CID operatives came to Lubaga hospital. They had been requesting Hon. Francis Zaake to record a statement with them since the previous week. At the time, the doctors advised that Zaake was not ready to record a statement as he was still very weak. 

But Zaake also, had reservations about recording a statement with the same people he accused of torturing him. It took some of his lawyers who are also Members of Parliament to convince him to record the statement. Why did he initially refuse to record the statement? He thought the State was going to use the statement against him. In law, when your opponent fully understands your case and knows all the evidence you intend to rely on, it is easy for them to destroy your case. Especially, if you do not know their case! It turns out Hon. Zaake was right! I remember after the Arua incidents, the State tried to do the same thing. Both the UPDF Board of Inquiries as well as the CID wrote to Hon. Kyagulanyi asking him to come and record a statement with them ‘so that they punish those who tortured him.’ Thankfully, his legal team did not see the need to record the statement, given the statements that had come from different government officials- including a bizarre claim that he had two machine guns in his room. A State in this part of the world always moves many steps ahead of you when they have violated your rights. They know that under international law, international bodies will only investigate torture claims if domestic avenues have been exhausted or have not taken any steps to investigate. What better way to preempt those processes than staging sham investigations! 

Therefore on Monday when the CID officers came to record the statement, they pulled the same trick. I was present in the room with Joel Ssenyonyi! The elderly officer called Zarugaba Tinka (Acting Commissioner narcotics) told Zaake that his boss had received instructions to prosecute the people who tortured him. He clearly stated that the CID Director (whom he spoke to every few minutes) wanted the matter to move very fast so that the people who tortured him are arraigned before court as soon as next week! He was unmistakable-  "All of us saw you being arrested when you were fine, only to turn up with injuries. We know that you were tortured. We only need to find out who tortured you and from where." 

This elderly man even offered some unsolicited advice – “Hon. Zaake, if anything happens to you in future, make sure you interact with the CID. They are always well intentioned.”

 The elderly man asked Zaake questions as the younger one recorded. Every few minutes throughout the statement recording process, they reminded Zaake that he was not being interrogated! “You are our chief complainant. Please make sure you give us an accurate account. We do not want this case to die because of any inconsistences,” the man said! They behaved in a very cordial manner. Every few minutes, doctors would come in to attend to Zaake- first the ophthalmologist, then a nurse who came to give him injection, and later a physiotherapist. The good CID officers would each time step out of the room, saying that Zaake’s health was more important at such a time. At some point, Zaake got an episode of a severe migraine – and they seemed very sympathetic. They gave him a few minutes and resumed. 

When Zaake gave a graphic image of how he was tortured- they seemed ashamed about the actions of their colleagues. The elderly officer pleadingly mentioned that, “All of us are not like that. Those are bad apples and that is why we are here to make sure they are punished.” 

The statement recording took about five or six hours. And they left. As they stepped out of the room- Hon. Zaake, his wife, Joel and myself were all expectant. They promised that the following day at 9:00am, they would return to interview Hon. Zaake’s wife about the stolen 15 million shillings. They also mentioned that after recording her statement, they would proceed to his home in Mityana to interview the maid whose phone was taken away, as well as checking on the bedroom door which was broken! Of course they never returned to the hospital the following day as promised, having received the information they wanted!

You can now imagine how I felt when another old man, a grey haired Minister took to the floor of Parliament and said that Zaake caused his own injuries. I watched him speak in disbelief. He stated that whatever he was reading was based on the investigations conducted, including Mr. Zaake’s statement which had been recorded in the presence of his wife, Joel Ssenyonyi and his lawyer David Lewis! The very first paragraph of a statement attributed to Hon. Zaake was false! The Minister purporting to quote from the statement said, “He (Zaake) accepted that he bought food items that included rice, matooke, posho and distributed them to his village mates on 18th and 19th April, 2020.” At no point did Hon. Zaake mention this! What he told them was that he bought rice and sugar and distributed them through boda boda riders on the 19th of April! The reasons for adding matooke and posho are clear! There are pictures of Zaake giving out Matooke to some people in Mityana at the start of the COVID19 threat, before the lockdown and before food distribution was banned. Please do not be surprised if they bring out to show that Zaake personally distributed food items. If the first paragraph bear falsehoods, you can tell what the rest of their statement looks like. I could underline a statement in every paragraph bearing a lie! 

When the Speaker of Parliament tasked Minister Kania to demonstrate how a handcuffed man would hit his arms and legs on rails, he responded by saying that he was only reading what CID had given him, even though the statement he was reading bear his signature at the end! A prudent Minister does not come to Parliament to just read out statements- he must question the things written down for him! For example, he stated that Zaake did not have any injuries at the back of his body even when a video of Zaake recorded 16 days after his torture shows a bruised back with marks of strokes! Then, he did not explain how a handcuffed Zaake fought and overpowered 23 police and military officers! He did not explain why Iran hospital referred Zaake to an ophthalmologist if his eyes did not have any problem. He did not explain how Zaake ended up before a court of law in an ambulance crying and writhing in pain! He did not explain how Zaake is out on police bond, with charges still hanging on his head, even when a court in Nakawa had ordered for his unconditional release. 

My mind went back to the days when we were handling the Arua matter. I was one of the very few people who had chance to see Hon. Kyagulanyi while he was locked up at Makindye Military prison.

On that day, almost one week after his torture, we went in with officials from the Uganda Human Rights Commission, Hon. Kyagulanyi’s wife, Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago as well as his brother, Eddie Yawe. I went in to represent his legal team. The late Honorable Meddie Kaggwa coordinated the visit! I have never been searched as much!

I have never seen people being searched to such detail- not even when they are accessing the head of state. Our pens were taken away, those who put on eye glasses were asked not to go with them. Each button on the shirt or coat was critically examined in case it has a recording device. We sat in the room and waited! When Kyagulanyi was brought in- being lifted by two soldiers, no single person in the room could control themselves. Each one, as if by prior arrangement, started wailing! Not even representatives from the Human Rights Commission could hold their tears. Ask the Lord Mayor! 

Everyone took to a corner in that small room and wept.  It took several minutes for people to compose themselves and talk to the prisoner! I will not go into details here- but when I saw Kyagulanyi on that day, he looked like a thug who has just been beaten by a mob for snatching a phone in downtown Kampala. Picture that! And they were right to ensure that Bobi Wine's picture in that state did not go out- if it had, I do not know where we would be. 

The following day when we went in to see him, the officers requested his wife to bring some good clothes- specifically a suit, ahead of his next court appearance which was about five days away. They knew that by that time, with all the medicine he was being subjected to, he would be in better shape physically. If he wore a suit, they were sure the world, outraged by reports of his torture would see a man ‘who tried to fight security operatives and was boxed a few times before being gently arrested’, as they would later say!

Right after Minister Obiga Kania finished speaking, I called my brother Joel and told him, “Every day will be a day of learning.” We both could not believe that we had been fooled again. Once again, officers and institutions of the State are staging a grand conspiracy to defeat justice! When I spoke to Hon. Zaake on phone, he forced a laugh that was followed by some coughing – he still has pain in the chest. “I knew this was their plan, it is my wife who is in shock.” 

Of course this case will pass. Hopefully Hon. Zaake will fully recover from his injuries. But as I write this, I am very saddened by two things. How shall we tell our children to respect old age? How shall we tell citizens to have any trust in public institutions? How shall we tell Our Children, that,  "CID is your friend. Please record a statement"?.

David Lewis

#osutayusuf