KAMPALA – Opposition lynchpin Dr Kizza Besigye has said that Uganda is on the brink of being a failed state due to the rampant killings and human rights violations.
Addressing journalists in Kampala on Thursday, October 24, Dr Besigye said the ruling government has ursuped the powers of the people through the use of the military.
“The sanctity of the freedoms from torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment is underlined under the entrenched provisions of Article 44 of the Constitution which puts it in the cluster of non derogable rights,” he said.
“Regrettably, the Junta that usurped the people’s sovereign authority has jettisoned and abrogated the Constitution with reckless abandon consequent whereof pushing the country onto the cliff,” he added.
Dr Besigye was alluding to the rising cases of LDUs and the military taking over police operations.
See full statement below
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ARTICLE 3 CAMPAIGN
Fellow Country men and women, we assemble here to address you on the state of security and human rights in our country.
One of the core obligation of the state is to defend the lives and properties of its citizen as enshrined in the constitution and other instruments. Indeed this is the raison d’etre of the state, abdication of the same amounts to treason within the meaning of Article 3(2) of our constitution.
The sanctity of the freedoms from torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment is underlined under the entrenched provisions of Article 44 of the Constitution which puts it in the cluster of non derogable rights.
Article 20 of our Constitution states that these fundamental rights and freedoms are inherent, inalienable and not granted by the state. They are well entrenched in the Bill of Rights enshrined in Chapter 4 of the Constitution, International Conventions and Protocols which Uganda has ratified, as well as a plethora of domestic legislations.
Regrettably, the Junta that usurped the people’s sovereign authority has jettisoned and abrogated the Constitution with reckless abandon consequent whereof pushing the country onto the cliff.
Uganda is currently on the brink of becoming a Failed State, posting one of the worst human rights records in the world. Rule of law, Constitutionalism, Social Justice and respect for human dignity, have ceased being treasured values at the altar of consolidating a Personal Rule.
The state structure is without doubt in shambles, with a rubber stamp Parliament, a defanged Judiciary, dysfunctional Executive and a personalized state security apparatus. This dire state of affairs has inevitably occasioned a governance crisis characterized by despotism, impunity, intransigence, authoritarianism, oppression, repression, greed, exploitation and exclusion.
Consequently, the regime has institutionalized a reign of terror, committing crimes against humanity, subjecting the citizens to inhuman and degrading treatment, gross abuse of rights and freedoms, massacres, murders, kidnaps, illegal arrests and detentions, torture etc.
In the same vain, the nation is grappling with an escalating spate of mysterious killings, with no accountability or serious measures to address the same, the hefty budgetary allocations to security notwithstanding.
The list of Ugandans killed in cold blood is growing by the day;
Moslem clerics, Susan Magara, Victims of Kasese Masacres, AIGP Felix Kaweesi, Hon. Ibrahim Abiliga, Major. Kiggundu, ASP Muhammad Kirumira, Nagilinya, Boda boda riders, Joan Kagezi, Machete victims in Wakiso and Masaka, women killed in Entebbe, Wakiso, Edison Kakuru, to mention but a few.
At the root of this escalating insecurity and related abuses of human rights, are three main factors;
1) Injustice breeds insecurity
All forms of injustice have been escalating especially, the socioeconomic and political injustices.
These include;
– Land grabbing and eviction of people.
– Unfair taxes and seizure of property.
– Untenable cost of healthcare and education.
– Food insecurity
-Joblessness
– Human trafficking and Slavery
– Rigged elections
– Life Presidency etc
2) Injustice and mismanagement of security institutions.
3) Regional war mongering and adventurism.
The state security organs’ primary focus is regime protection; and as a result, the majority of Ugandans have been abandoned in the wilderness. According to the Police Crime Reports, on average, 21 people are reported killed every day.
There has been a proliferation of many security outfits and militias to wit; crime preventers, SPC, Flying Squad, Wembley, SFC, Commandos, Boda Boda 2010, etc which have bastardised and compromised the security system of the country.
Records show that the over 6,000 armed LDUs who were deployed in Kampala, Wakiso and Mukono are posing a very serious security threat, for they arrest, torture, rob and sometimes, have been accused of murdering people. Crimes attributed to these militias and Paramilitary outfits, are on the rise across the country.
Today, Ugandans are gripped with fear, unable to deal with growing insecurity in the absence of effective state security organs and they survive by the grace of their Lord.
THE CLARION CALL
The dictates of Article 3 of the Constitution, require that ALL Citizens of Uganda should rise to the occasion and confront the aforesaid monstrous situation.
Article 3 (4)(5) provides thus;
(4) All citizens of Uganda shall have the right and duty at all times-
(a) to defend this Constitution and, in particular, to resist any person or group of persons seeking to overthrow the established constitutional order; and
(b) to do all in their power to restore this Constitution after it has been suspended, overthrown, abrogated or amended contrary to its provisions.
(5) Any person or group of persons who, as required by clause (4) of this article, resists the suspension, overthrow, abrogation or amendment of this constitution commits no offence.
It is on the above premise that The People’s Government calls upon all Ugandans of different political persuasions, creed and social status to positively respond to the said constitutional command. We have accordingly organized a People’s National Convention to chart a way forward.
You will be informed of the venue and date soon.
ALL PEACE LOVING UGANDANS FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE ARE HEREBY INVITED.
Thank you
One Uganda One People
