The Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) Tribunal sitting in Mbarara City has ordered government to compensate two families with a total of Shs160 million after finding that their loved ones were unlawfully killed by police officers in separate incidents.
The decisions were delivered during the Tribunal’s ongoing week-long sessions at UHRC’s Mbarara Regional Office, where 19 complaints of human rights violations are being heard by the Chairperson Hon. Mariam Wangadya and Commissioners Simeo Nsubuga, Shifrah Lukwago, and Jacklet Atuhaire Rwabukurukuru.
In the first ruling, Hon. Wangadya awarded Shs80 million to Mr. Visensio Mucunguzi, a farmer from Mitooma District, whose son Serestino Tumwijukye, a boda boda rider, was shot dead on March 1, 2015, by the then Officer-in-Charge of Kashongororo Police Post, Sgt. Bagambireryo Apulinali.
The Tribunal found that Sgt. Bagambireryo discharged three bullets toward a busy boda boda stage at around 8:00 pm, an act the Commission said amounted to intentional killing.
“Sgt. Bagambireryo shot three times in the direction of a boda boda stage, in a trading center. He must have known that the bullets he fired in that direction would most probably hit and kill a person. He fired three times in the same direction and after the 3rd bullet hit its target, he fled. He knew he had killed a person,” Wangadya noted.
The panel also relied on a letter by the then Mitooma District Police Commander, ASP Adam Kakaire Mulondo, who confirmed that a murder case had been opened and the officer remanded.
“The fact that Sgt. Bagambireryo’s bosses in police preferred murder against him as opposed to manslaughter shows that they too in their assessment believed he had intentionally killed Tumwijukye,” the tribunal emphasized:
Of the Shs80m award, Shs5m will go to the deceased’s mother Leticia Birungi and another Shs5m to his widow Scovia Twikyirize, while the remaining Shs70m will be managed by Mr. Mucunguzi for the benefit of Tumwijukye’s children, Isaiah Taremwa and Victor Nabasa.
In the second ruling, delivered by Hon. Shifrah Lukwago, the Tribunal awarded Shs80 million to Peruth Abigaba, whose husband Bernard Muhoozi died inside a police cell at Kishozi Police Post in Sheema District in 2013.
Muhoozi, a trader, had earlier been involved in a dispute with the area LC1 chairman Samuel Kabaranzi. After agreeing to pay compensation of Shs150,000, he was detained when he brought only part of the money.
Two days later, Abigaba was informed by Muhoozi’s friend that her husband had died in custody.
“On October 14, 2013, David Asiimwe Mweebe, Muhoozi’s friend, informed her (Abigaba) that her husband had died in the cell. Muhoozi’s body was delivered to her home by a vehicle belonging to Sheema Police Station,” the Commission heard.
While the two families were awarded compensation, the Tribunal dismissed two other cases after the complainants failed to prove their allegations.
The Commission is using its powers under Article 53 of the Constitution to hear and determine human rights complaints and offer redress to victims. The ongoing sittings in Mbarara will continue through the week as the panel concludes the 19 cases scheduled.
