Uganda’s Security Minister, Gen. Elly Tumwine has admitted the existence of ‘Safe Houses’ that are referred by many as detention torture chambers.
He further told off MPs on the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights that they have no mandate to visit some security places especially the ‘Safe Houses’, saying that they are being used to house hard core criminals for close monitoring.
“There is nothing which is open for everyone. There are limitations to everything. Even in your house, there are areas which people don’t reach. There are areas for security reasons which this Committee isn’t allowed to visit,” Tumwine said.
He made the remarks today while appearing before the Committee that is investigating claims that Government has established safe houses in Kalangala and Kyengera after closing down Nalufenya detention facility and that Ugandans being held in the facilities are being tortured, in contravention of their rights.
The request by MPs to access the ‘Safe Houses’ was turned down by Tumwine, who argued that Parliament’s Rules of Procedure do not supersede the constitution and therefore, there is no way the Committee will be allowed anywhere near the ‘Safe Houses’.
The Minister’s response left MPs furious including Robert Kyagulanyi (Kyadondo East), Raphael Magyezi (Igara West), Angelline Asio Osegge (Soroti Woman MP) who called out Tumwine for being disrespectful to the Committee and threatened to raise the matter with Speaker for further interpretation of Tumwine’s constitutional claims.
Kyagulanyi tasked the Minister to confirm if his position as a Minister supersedes the rights of Ugandans, “This has been the biggest cause of impunity in our country. This is a mandated committee and the Minister must respect this Committee. I suggest we dismiss the Minister and he comes back when he is more respectful and more informed. Is the Minister categorically saying that his security work supersedes the rights of Ugandans?”
Osegge also weighed into the matter noting, “We appreciate your gentility but the Minister is just fooling us, you aren’t assuming that our rules of procedure were made according to the constitution and they aren’t unconstitutional at all, he just wants to waste our time, retain us and at the end of the day he isn’t going to give us any information.”
Magyezi said, “For him (Tumwine) now to elaborate other answers is totally useless, we simply have to say we have come to a standstill and we go back to the one who gave us the assignment. The Minister for Security says Parliament can’t go to ‘Safe Houses’, that is unconstitutional according to him.”
The meeting turned more chaotic when Tumwine declined to answer a number of questions raised by MPs especially on the number of ‘Safe Houses’ in the country and the process followed to arrest suspects detained in there, availability of necessities in these ‘Safe Houses’ and accessibility to the detainees.
Tumwine instead asked for more time to prepare responses to their questions, prompting Nantume Egunyu, Chairperson Human Rights Committee to adjourn the meeting and promised to summon the Minister to clarify on the questions raised in the next meeting.
Earlier, Latif Ssebaggala Ssengendo (Kawempe North) had tasked the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee to move out of the comfort zones and visit the alleged torture/safe houses for a fact finding mission.
Ssebaggala told the Committee that he had received information that John Johns Lugumbya (Director Operations) Internal Social Organisation has camped in Lwamayiba and started transferring over 300 people to unknown places to prevent the committee from seeing what is happening inside the safe houses.
Ssebaggala added that 75% of the people inside the safe houses are being tortured because of their political ideologies and it was about the Committee moved out of the Air conditioned rooms and reach the detention places and interact with the alleged victims.
