Ugandan opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine has spoken out on US sanctions against four police officers named in the torture of his right hand man, Francis Zaake, the Mityana Municipality MP.
US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller announced the designation of Uganda Police Force officials due to involvement in gross violations of human rights on behalf of Joe Biden’s government on October 2024.
The police officers facing sanctions are: Bob Kagarura, who was Wamala Regional Police Commander of the Uganda Police Force (UPF) at the time of the human rights violations against MP Francis Zaake; Alex Mwine, who was District Police Commander (DPC) for Mitanya District; Elly Womanya, who was a Senior Commissioner and Deputy Director of the UPF’s Criminal Investigations Division in charge of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU); as well as Hamdani Twesigye, who was working with the SIU.
“The Department of State is taking action today to promote accountability for human rights violations committed in Uganda by designating four members of the Uganda Police Force (UPF) due to their involvement in gross violations of human rights, namely torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment,” announced Miller.
“These public designations are made pursuant to Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2024 (Div. F, P.L. 118-47).”
The Department of State relied on documents from courts of law, civil society organizations and press reports to reach a decision for announcement of US sanctions against the four police officers.
“The reports that Kagarura, Mwine, Twesigye, and Womanya were involved in gross violations of human rights, as documented by Ugandan civil court documents, civil society organizations, and independent journalists, are serious and credible,” explained Miller.
“By publicly designating these individuals, the United States reaffirms its commitment to advancing the human rights of all Ugandans and promoting accountability for those responsible for human rights violations.”
On what the sanctions mean, Miller said: “As a result of today’s action, Kagarura, Mwine, Womanya, Twesigye and their immediate family members are generally ineligible for entry into the United States.”
BOBI WINE SPEAKS ON US SANCTIONS AGAINST UGANDAN POLICE OFFICERS
Saluting the US government, Bobi Wine has welcomed the sanctions. “We are very thankful to the Government of the United States for continuously listening to the pleas of the people of Uganda about those who violate rights with impunity and remain untouchable by the captured institutions in Uganda,” he noted.
He rapped the Museveni government for not punishing the errant police officers enough. Bobi Wine also reminded security officers involved in human rights violations that they will one day pay for their crimes and that they will face the music as individuals even if that takes years.
“As always and despite the massive evidence against them, the regime shielded them and even promoted them! These sanctions are yet another reminder that the wheels of justice may come slowly, but they will eventually arrive,” he wrote.
“They’re also a reminder to all overzealous senior, mid-level and junior security officers that they will be held individually responsible for the crimes they commit against the people of Uganda.”
The US sanctions against the four police officers are the latest against Uganda security officers. Others facing sanctions are prisons boss Johnson Byabashaija, who is, among other crimes, accused of superintending over the forceful examination of gays; as well as former CMI boss Maj Gen Abel Kandiho. (See Details Here, There and Over There).
Speaker Anita Among and leads the list of politicians recently sanctioned, which includes Museveni’s ministers. (Read Stories Here, There and Over There).
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