President Yoweri Museveni has defended his record on human rights, saying torture, maiming and extra-judicial killings have never been part of his approach to dealing with political opponents.
Museveni made the remarks while responding to journalist Andrew Mwenda over the controversy surrounding Stephen Nuwagaba, a young man he said came to him after allegedly suffering torture, maiming and threats from some elements within the security services.
The President said acts of torture and physical abuse were incompatible with the ideals of the liberation struggles he led, arguing that such actions were both morally wrong and strategically harmful.
“Coming back to torture, let alone maiming, these are immoral, counter-revolutionary, not strategic and not necessary for we the freedom fighters,” Museveni said.
Museveni said alleged abuses by security personnel were particularly disturbing because they involved institutions established to protect Ugandans.
“The terrible thing is that these alleged torturers and maimers were belonging to our security forces. Is this what we and the People of Uganda fought for?” he asked.
He added that Ugandans had sacrificed heavily to end eras associated with violence and repression.
“Do you know how much we, and all the People of Uganda, sacrificed to get freedom from killers, torturers and dictators?” Museveni said.
Museveni says he has never ordered torture
The President later directly addressed allegations surrounding the use of torture, saying he had never personally engaged in torture or directed others to do so.
“In the last 56 years I have been fighting, I have never tortured, or ordered anybody to torture, an opponent, because of the reasons mentioned above,” Museveni stated.
He said the National Resistance Movement, the National Resistance Army and the Uganda People’s Defence Forces had always succeeded without relying on torture as a method of dealing with adversaries.
“However, the FRONASA, the NRA, the UPDF always win,” he said.
Museveni acknowledged, however, that some individuals within the security establishment had abandoned the principles of the organisations they served.
“However, the NRM/NRA/UPDF had been infiltrated by some corrupt and non-patriotic elements that were committing crimes with impunity,” he said.
He warned that security agencies must not commit abuses while attempting to fight criminality.
“Nevertheless, the UPDF and the other security forces, in fighting impunity, they should not commit their own crimes, such as torture, extra-judicial killings, etc,” Museveni said.
Nuwagaba allegedly suffered torture and maiming
Museveni said his involvement with Stephen Nuwagaba began after the young man allegedly became a victim of torture and threats by some security personnel.
“Nuwagaba is a young man in his mid-twenties who came to me as a fugitive, a victim of torture and maiming, whom some elements in the Security Services were trying to silence, including threatening with death,” Museveni said.
He said Nuwagaba required medical attention because of injuries allegedly linked to torture.
“He has actually been a patient on account of torture and maiming (okumuzya), and trauma because of the torture, for many of the months he has been under my care,” Museveni stated.
“I had to send him to the hospitals in Uganda and abroad to save his life. He seems to have improved, but some of the maiming is still there.”
Museveni said the alleged perpetrators were security personnel, adding that some were facing legal action.
“The torture and the maiming are allegedly by elements in the Security Forces, some of whom are now facing charges in courts,” he said.
Museveni rejects torture as a security strategy
The President argued that torture, maiming and assassinations were not effective methods of governance or conflict management because they destroy opportunities for reconciliation.
“Worse still, torture, maiming or assassinations of opponents, etc., are not strategic,” Museveni said.
“Why? It is because Mao Tse Tung pointed out that when heads are cut-off, they do not grow again.”
He argued that eliminating opponents permanently denies a country possible future contributions from those individuals.
“Apart from the permanent divisions in society such acts bring, there is the issue of not preserving all possible contributors. What if the country needs the contribution of person X when he has already been killed or maimed?” he asked.
Museveni also distinguished what he described as disciplinary measures used during the bush war from torture.
“FRONASA/NRA would use what they called adhabu (punishment). It would not really be punishment, because it would even be before trial. The aim was to inconvenience the suspect so that he says the truth,” he said.
He cited an example involving a fighter who was placed in an underground trench as a disciplinary measure.
“I put him in andaaki prison (underground trench), shirtless. The cold of one night was enough for Bagarukayo to become a good person. No beating, no maiming, but getting what we want: discipline,” Museveni said.
Security personnel accused of blocking information
Museveni said the controversy surrounding Nuwagaba should not distract from what he described as a larger problem of corrupt individuals within government institutions.
“The reality on the ground is that the main problem of Uganda is not Nuwagaba seizing State House and the Security Forces, but the criminals, including some in the Security Forces and other organs, that have been blocking the flow of information about the criminals, covering them up, and ensuring information does not reach leaders like the President, so that they can continue with their criminality,” he said.
He added that some security personnel had become compromised.
“However, some security personnel have become corrupt, or have been compromised by the enemy,” Museveni said.
Museveni described Nuwagaba as “a traumatized, maimed young man,” arguing that wider issues of corruption and abuse of authority should receive greater attention.
“This is actually the main problem of the country: corrupt or compromised Security Personnel, not Mwenda’s Nuwagaba, a traumatized, maimed young man,” he said.
The president’s statement on torture was issued days after a leaked video showed missing former Kizza Besigye aide Sam Mugumya in a bad condition about a year after he was abducted. His mother says she is afraid she may die without seeing his son. (See Details Here and There).
