COVER STORY

Geoffrey Byamukama narrated his torture experience to the MPs on

May 19. COURTESY PHOTO How I was
In the early afternoon of Friday, May 19, nine of the 30
MPs on the Human Rights Committee of Parliament
visited Nalufenya Police Station to investigate cases of
tortured
torture at the detention facility. One of the 21 suspects
the MPs interacted with during the six hours they spent Mayor Geoffrey
at Nalufenya was Geoffrey Byamukama, the mayor of
the western town of Kamwenge. Byamukama who is Byamukama
accused of being one of the architects of former Police
Spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesis assassination on
narrates ordeal
March 17 explained to the MPs in a 29-minute interview
how he ended up at Nalufenya, writes Ronald Musoke.

B
yamukamas anguish began in the least let him call his loved ones but his plea time to explain to the men who I am and
afternoon of April 5 inside the Min-  
- three more men and a van were waiting. barked; Dont talk unless you say yes.
tary Avenue in Kampala. He was Byamukama was roughed up and bundled I thought what I was experiencing was
approached by two men who said they were a joke (but) two men seated at the back of

 the van started slapping me. I also heard

tried to protest but they assured him he was you now.
in safe hands. We dont want anything. We only want Luganda to do their work. Tomorrow your
The men grabbed him and yanked away you to confess that you were part of the peo- bull will be there. I was totally confused.
ple who killed Kaweesi and you were there If you answer yes and you point us to
make a call. He pleaded with the men to at physically, so we want that gun. I asked for that money, we shall leave you and we shall

10 June 02 - 08 , 2017

even take you somewhere. I was confused
by what was going on. I told the men that
rather than damage me, and since you
have guns, you should instead shoot me
dead.
My head was then covered with a black
polythene bag (kaveera). Two men seated at
 amongst themselves what they should do
I had stopped breathing. The second slap
made me feel like my eardrums had burst. I
realised things were now serious when they
removed the kaveera.
I was then taken to a building in Kampala
that I cannot remember. Here, I met another
 in uniform, and two in civilian clothes were
over to me and said: If you want to survive,
say you participated in the killing of Kaw-
eesi and two; that you sold a chunk of land
and you know where the money is.
I asked the men to give me time to
explain (but there was no time). Two men
 screamed but the men
could hardly move. Then another two men
came with batons and an iron bar. Some-
one who looked like their superior com-
 up. My heart felt like it
ankles. I screamed but the men continued

could not cry anymore. I started sweating
lost consciousness.
ankles. They could stop after a time and
then start beating me again. And I was
crying all the time. My heart felt like it was
hanging. I urinated in my clothes. Then I
lost consciousness.
When I regained consciousness, I heard
one of the men shouting that I was about
to die. Another man said I should be given
some water. But another disagreed, saying I
would die if I was given water. I was still in
 ried to the reception area. From the recep-
They did not resume the torture. Instead,
after sometime, they came back and started
asking me questions; if I knew a man called
Hassan. I said I know him. I remembered
that Hassan had deserted the Allied Demo-
cratic Forces (ADF) and handed himself
over in Kamwenge at the peak of the ADF
insurgency.
But before I could explain exactly how
I
I knew Hassan, he was brought to where
I was. He was asked whether he knew me
and he answered, Yes, he is the mayor of
Kamwenge.
I told the men that the last time I had talk-
ed to Hassan; he had told me that he knew
who was behind the killing of the sheikhs
around the country.
These sheikhs who are dying, we know
them because they are former rebel partici-
pants, Hassan had told me a few years ago.
I then told the men to call the Minister of

- medi- cine to the wounds

heard Tumukundes name, they said: Stop
that nonsense; there is no Tumukunde, there
is no who (sic). Stop that nonsense, you are
COVER STORY
all murderers. and I was also given an injection. But my
I later found out that Hassan had told his condition only deteriorated and I was
tormentors that whoever they found in his referred to Jinja Regional Referral Hospital.
phone book is his accomplice. That is how The doctors examined me but declined
 to treat me. They referred me to Mulago
again the beatings resumed. Hospital in Kampala. I could not talk, stand
Shortly afterwards, the men discussed or sit. I could also not eat. The policemen

next and one of them said they should take
me to Jinja. -
 
was another facility in Jinja, he says, My Hospital in Kampala. I had deep holes in
mobile phone, IDs and about Shs 260,000 my knees. The holes were full of pus and
were removed from me. Four men, two there was dead skin around the wounds. I
was immediately referred to the theatre.
 Inside the theatre, the nurses removed
the dead skin and sucked out the pus. As
the nurses cleaned the wounds, I overheard
The men started hitting the doctor tell his colleagues that if the
worst comes to the worst, they will remove
my knees and ankles. I (amputate) my legs.

Byamukama started crying).
continued hitting me. I I felt sorry and said to myself, I am going
cried until tears dried to die. In my mind, I remembered the time I
have served the government. I recently lost
was hanging. I urinated at Makerere University, joined the Uganda
Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) as a cadet
in my clothes. Then I and was posted to Somalia from where he
died.
(Byamukama continues to cry).
I am now dying innocently when I am
a government servant. Why did they not
give me the chance to explain? Before I

 some good news. I was told that my legs
 will, after all, not be amputated because
 the wounds are recovering well. The doc-
 tor told me it will take me six to 12 months
night and I could not walk. I was just car- to walk and stabilise. I was due another
assessment today (May 19, the day the MPs
tion, inmates were called to carry me to the visited him). I would probably be dead, if
cells. 
The next day, the inmates carried me 
outside to be counted. I was shown to the concerned about my health and made sure
 that I regain my life.
suspects who had been brought in the pre- 
vious night. I introduced myself to the com- -
mandant when he asked me to introduce 
myself. He immediately protested saying,
This man is in a terrible state. Who brought am not aware of any political problems or
him here? By this time, my legs had got rivalry back home. I am also not diabetic,
swollen and were as big as my upper body. he says.
I was taken back to the cells and it was The only medical condition I have
not until the following morn- -
ing that a nurse came and tion for which even President Museveni
examined me. But there knows about and at one time paid my
- 
nyas in-house dispensary. 
The commandant immedi- contradicts some information that The
ately ordered for drugs to be Independent received and might have
bought. The nurse applied

IGP Kale
Kayihura
June 02 - 08 , 2017 11