Medi Kaggwa

Government has been tasked to uphold the economic, social and cultural rights of Ugandans even as it pursues the campaign to transform the country’s economy. Uganda has been a signatory to the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Treaty since 1987 which mandates the country to uphold those rights.

Now speaking ahead of the third International Conference on economic social and cultural rights slated for tomorrow, the chairman Uganda human rights commission Medi Kaggwa said that the ongoing investments is gradually infringing on people’s human rights. He explained that currently the country government is fronting interests of investors yet people are losing land, health service provision is neglected cultural cites and languages are vanishing, food is becoming a problem yet government is reluctant to intervene. He challenges government to take its responsibility to balance between the public interests and those of investors.

The conference is set to attract all human rights advocates from across Uganda.

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Uganda Human Rights Commission wants the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to append a signature on the regulations which guide the implementations of the Anti-Torture Act 2012 which was passed by Parliament on 18th September 2012.

The Acting Chairman of the Commission Dr. Katebalirwe Amooti says since the law was passed in 2012 it has never been implemented because the enforcing Authorities like Uganda police have no regulation to follow when enforcing the laws.

Dr. Amooti says the number of victims of torture is on increase every year from Organization, work places, security operatives among others yet the law which would have used to crack down all oppressors is inactive.

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Uganda Police in Kasangati, Besigye’s residence

Members of parliament on the legal and parliamentary Affairs committee have grilled the Uganda Human Rights commission officials over their slow intervention on the house arrest of the FDC leader Dr,Kiiza Besigye by security agents. This was raised by the member of parliament for Busiro south Joseph Balikudembe on the legal committee  while the officials of the Uganda Human Rights led by the commission’s commissioner Agaba Maguru and the secretary to the commission Mr.Gordon Mwesigye  appeared before the committee over the commission’s budget for the financial year 2016/17. The MPs queried that the Uganda Human Rights commission has not done much to restore the rights of Dr.Kiiza Besigye .

However, the commissioner Uganda Human Rights commission Agaba Maguru confirmed to the committee members that Dr. Besgye filed a case with the commission and it’s hearing is delayed because of there being another case in court. He said that the Besigye case hearing by the commission will start if the case in court is concluded. Agaba added that the Uganda Human Rights commission is going to meet president Yoweri Museveni  and the prime minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda over Dr. Besigye’s house arrest and other human rights related cases.

Dr. Kiiza Besigye has been kept at his home by security since after the February 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections.

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The  Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) is in a financial crisis  if government does not provide funding for the 2016/17 budget as donors are set to stop funding the commission. 

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Other violations cited include violation of the freedom from torture and cruel inhuman treatment, denial of child maintenance and violation of the right to property.

Most of the 348 complaints registered were against the Uganda Police Force.

“The detention beyond 48 hours occurred due to the Police force’s failure to release suspects on Police bond either intentionally or for the fear that the suspects could be a risk to the community or fail to appear for trial in court,” Commission Chairperson Med Kaggwa revealed

He noted that complaints on the rights to freedom from torture had also increased by 30%, with most of the cases reported being against state security agencies.

The Commission also decried the poor conditions in places of detention citing the imprisonment of juveniles together with adults in the same cells. The report called for the complete phase out of the bucket system where open containers are used for disposal of human waste inside the cells.

UHRC Chair Med Kaggwa urged Parliament to fast track the introduction of a Witness Protection Law, domestication of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and also ensure that all laws are aligned to International Human Rights Standards.

He also called for amendments to existing laws to prohibit the detention of civil debtors in prisons. This, he noted, had contributed to the overcrowding in prisons across the country.

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Dr. Thelma Awori addresses the participants at the Women in Public Service Project Uganda Institute 2015

A number of women activists in Uganda have been calling for 50/50 women representation in public service. But will they get what they want? Zakaria Tiberindwa explores the possibilities

Time check, it is 8:00am here in Entusi Resort and Retreat Centre, an island on a Lake Bunyonyi in Kabale District. In 30 minutes time we shall be live streaming the launch of the Women in Public Service Project Institute Uganda. The theme is Leadership for Transparent and Accountable Leadership.

We have been told that the Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) was founded by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2011 in partnership with the Department of State and seven sister colleges. To date, WPSP has grown to include over 80 collaborating academic institutions and government entities globally.

WPSP seeks to empower women worldwide in a move to increase women representation in public service: To achieve a 50/50 representation by 2050.

I must confess that I am not a gender enthusiast but I have to listen in because my job description for the day demands that I should pay attention, listen to every speaker and live report the event. Not that I am an antagonist of those that advance the woman’s cause. It’s just that my passions lie elsewhere.

In essence I am the typical modern man who won’t proudly confess to not being sexist but who harbors a certain mentality that makes him assume that he is superior to women.

Dr. Thelma Awori the Chair Emeritus and Co-founder of the Board of the Sirleaf Market Women’s Fund calls it social-cultural conditioning. Whereas the conditioning is advantageous to men, Dr. Thelma believes it disadvantages women.

It is the kind of conditioning that demands women to be good in all circumstances and yet gives the men an inherent right not to be so conformist and not get punished for it. In many of our cultures, the women must must play lesser than or second to men without lifting a finger to protest.

“We have to fight this conditioning, the conditioning to be a good woman,” Awori asserts.

She says women must fight the conditioning because this generation has “fought very hard to ensure that women don’t have to take this kind of minimizing.”

“We have put the laws in place.” she says “Please don’t let us down by succumbing to that kind of pressure.”

The Former Minister for Agriculture and Founder of Speakers Forum, Victoria Sekitoleko is of the view that this kind of conditioning is what has prevented many women from progressing beyond the kitchen role that the society has restricted them to.

“The world is very happy with women when we are cooking, nurturing and nursing for free,” she argues

“The problem arises when we start asking about paid labour. When we want to stop being very patriotic, and go into the work place and be paid, leave the bed room and go into the board room and chair in the board room,” she adds.

Sekitoleko believes that ultimately women should play a much bigger role in public service placements because women bear the biggest brunt of public policy.

“It is we the women who use the maternity services, it is we the women who form 80% of Agriculture, and unfortunately we are the ones at the bottom where there is production, where we need extension services.”

She notes that it is the women who form the bulk of nursery school and Primary 1 teachers.

“When it gets to P.3, the men appear. By the time you get to senior 6 the tables are so skewed towards men. This is really unfortunate because in Uganda when you don’t get to Senior 6 you cannot become a Member of Parliament. When you don’t get to university you can’t get a job in public service,” Ssekitole laments.

Sekitoleko is concerned that if this trend continues, the children will assume that when you are a woman teacher you can only teach primary and nursery school.

“If you aspire to be a big person then do something else but don’t become a teacher.”

The graph here below illustrates the percentage of teachers across the different levels of education

Ssekitoleko is also concerned that the police and the army are more or less in charge of Uganda but the number of women in the armed forces is meager.

Are women shooting themselves in the foot?

Over the years women have been pointing fingers at the men and accusing. However, now some women seem to have realized that men may just be part of the problem, not the entire problem. Though, for the women to understand where the problem really lies, there may be need for more evidence of the extend of disparities between men and women.

Violet Akurut a commissioner with the Uganda Human Rights Commission acknowledges this shortcoming in research and says we need Gender disaggregated Data about women, women in decision making positions, how many CEOs and related statistics to show how much women are disadvantaged in terms of position in public service.

But she’s also quick to note that it’s not just about having the numbers.

“The numbers should translate into something. Calling for 50/50 by 2050, that’s just having the numbers but what is the impact of the numbers.”

For example she questions the essence of creating more elective positions for women. “Has it translated into better laws for women?” Akurut says women including those elected under affirmative active (district women MPs) lose their voice and stop advocating for issues that concern women when they get into Parliament.

 “Before we get there as women, we are very enthusiastic, we want to move things, we want to change things but when we get there it is the view of the caucus. It is this and that.”

Besides, Akurut believes there should be term limits for the Women affirmative action seats. “Because they have been open, some women have been there forever. There should be term limits for these seats so that we have as many women benefiting from the policy as possible. I assume those who will have been there will have acquired the capacity to compete with the men for the general constituency seats,” she says

Should the men get involved?

Dr. Masibo Lumala, a Communications Consultant and Lecturer in the Department of Communication at Moi University says for a very long time women have reduced gender to being a women affair. Dr. Masibo thinks it’s time we redefined the whole concept of gender so that men can see themselves as being part of the gender process.

“Gender equity is a good thing, 50/50 is a good thing but it will not be achieved if it is one sided,” Lumala argues

Speaking at the Lake Bunyonyi conference, Masibo said there is no way you expect men to support a cause for which they do not feel a part of.

“The men cannot do everything alone, and the women cannot do everything alone,” he asserts

Akurut agrees with Masibo and cautions that as long as the women continue to treat the men as outsiders in their advocacy efforts for equality, women may not succeed.

“We need these men because they are our brothers, they are our husbands. So, we need them to support the initiatives we have,” she says.

For now, women must continue to contend with the unfavourable statistics showing a dismal presence in especially top public service positions in Uganda. To get the statistics on the percentage of women in public service in Uganda visualized in this graph, play around with the cursor as creatively as you can

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The chairperson of the committee Steven Tashobya says the current buildings on Buganda road where the commission is housed is in a dilapidated state and could fall on the occupants any time.

Tashobya says the commission had requested for 600 million shillings from government to enable them have an alternative offices but the money has not been provided in their budget for this financial year 2011 to 2012.

Tashobya adds that the ministry of finance has also ignored the recommendations made by this committee to offset the money owed to government inform of compensations and court awards yet the money was accumulating interest.

He says out of the 196 billion shillings in court awards and compensations the ministry of finance has provide only 4.3 billion shillings during this financial year.

Ultimate Media

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One of the commissioners Agaba Maguru told MPs on the legal and parliamentary affairs committee that the rights body has no powers to investigate the allegations of rape but it is only handling the complaint regarding paternity.

Makerere Vice Chancellor, Prof. Venansius Baryamureba

Agaba says that the public has a lot of confidence in the commission and it will be impartial while handling this complaint.

 The inquiry follows a complaint filed with the rights body on July 15 by the woman who says she is now more than two months pregnant as a result of the alleged rape by Baryamuleeba.

Baryamureba issued an official statement to university staff denying the allegations but saying the investigations should go ahead to clear his name.

According to Sec 123 Penal Code Act, rape is defined as: Any person who has unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman or girl, without her consent, or with her consent, if the consent is obtained by force or by means of threats or intimidation of any kind or by fear of bodily harm, or by means of false representations as to the nature of the act, or in the case of a married woman, by personating her husband, commits the felony termed rape.

By Isaac Senabulya

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The report cites a 1.5% increase in complaints received in the year 2010 compared to2009 with the commission registering 979 complaints compared to 785 in 2009 and on these complaints, the police force accounts for the highest (36%) followed by private individual (27%) UPDF (10%) RRU (6%)

Uganda Police Chief, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura

The report also assemble acts highly abused which include, torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, child maintenance, the right to personal liberty, property and right to life.

Even when the commission is trying hard to handle numerous cases to do with rights violation, they are still faced with a number of challenges naming, civic education which he attributes to insufficient funds.

However, some rights activists are dissatisfied with the commission for not paying enough attention on issues to do with politics, health and freedom of expression among others which they recommend the commission to look into.

By Isaac Senbaulya

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The Chairperson of Uganda Human Rights Commission  Med Kagwa while presenting the13^th Annual report to Parliament said Government Instituted Commission of Inquiry but such reports have never been made public and the families have been compensated yet Government promised to assist the families.

Kagwa also asked Parliament to set up a special Committee of Parliament which will handle on issues related to human rights because the current Committee on Legal is overloaded and has not addressed their issues as far as annual reports are concerned.

In her response the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga said Parliament is going to look into the demands of the commission.

She assured the commission officials that she is going to do everything possible to see that a special Committee is put in place so that issues related to human rights are given first priority.

Ultimate Media

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