General Haji Abubaker Jeje Odongo, the Internal affairs minister
Orungo County Member of Parliament Jeje Odongo has said that Government cannot simply act on requests to release suspects being held in relation to the 2021 election.
Odongo was asked by journalists at Parliament on the calls by the former Mufti of Uganda sheikh Shaban Ramadhan Mubajje to have all political prisoners released since elections were over. Mubajje also called for the many motorbikes being held in Police stations to be given back to owners.
In March, Odongo as the Minister of Internal Affairs then tabled a list of 177 people held in different facilities, and were reportedly thought to be missing or kidnapped.
Now in response to the calls to have them released, Odongo said that the best demand or request that can be made is that the process of law should be expedited.
Odongo says that they cannot just release suspects, and yet these are people with links to certain criminal events. He says that the best is to let the process that is currently going on happen so that those that are not guilty are released.
Asked on his tenure as Internal Affairs Minister, Odongo said he was proud of what he has done, and since June 2016 when he was in that office, he has been able to achieve.
On his part, Charles Okello Engola, who held the position of Minister of State for Defense said by the security team arresting suspects presented a situation where the Government will be doing a post-mortem on crime that has happened.
He says that the only problem is that the people who were arrested were thought to be kidnapped which is not true. He also said that it is not okay for someone to be arrested and taken by security without being told what was the issue.
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