Africa-Press – Uganda. A Busoga cultural chief and six others filmed being beaten at the kingdom prime minister’s residence, have been charged with criminal trespass and malicious damage to property.
The septet was yesterday indicted at Kagoma Court in Buwenge Rural, Jinja District, and sent to Kagoma government prison. They will return to court next Tuesday.
Those remanded alongside chief Ayub Banamwita, include Alamanzani Waguma, Akim Ngobi, Siraje Waguma, Lukeman Mugabi, Abdul Rashid Tenywa, and Simon Muwesi.
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They were arrested on October 3, meaning their detention lasted beyond the constitutional 48-hour threshold within which they should have been arraigned in court or freed on bond.
Police did not explain the inordinate delay.
The plight of the accused came to light last week after they were captured in a video clip being clobbered by uniformed UPDF soldiers designated as royal escorts to guard Mr Joseph Muvawala, the Busoga Kingdom premier.
Police and the kingdom separately confirmed that the clobbering happened when they attempted to storm the residence of the premier ostensibly to retrieve a vehicle donated by President Museveni for Chief Banamwita’s use, but was confiscated by kingdom officials.
In an interview for a story ahead of yesterday court process, Kiira Region Police Spokesperson James Mubi identified the chief as the ringleader of the group.
Security reportedly intercepted them and led them inside the gated house, where the caning took place.
Mr Andrew Ntange, the kingdom spokesperson, blamed the victims for their woes.
“Where the incident happened was the private residence of the prime minister of Busoga, not the kingdom headquarters in Bugembe,” he said, adding: “Maybe they didn’t know that the home of the [premier], being the second top citizen in our context (after the king), is secured end-to-end by the UPDF royal guards,” he said.
He absolved Busoga Prime Minister Muvawala of any responsibility, saying he would not have approved of what “has been interpreted by many to mean torture” of the suspects whom he warned against taking official matters to private residences.
In the video, an unidentified person pours water to soak the victims before soldiers holding sticks administer swishing lashes on them.
The tormenters mockingly ask a subdued chief Banamwita to state the reason for his presence at the premier’s property and he responses: ‘to repossess a vehicle that President Museveni gave him’.
Chief Banamwita, a Muslim, is then slapped and referred to derogatorily as a “pig”.
One of the uniformed beaters can be heard telling him to go and reclaim the vehicle from the donor, in this case President Museveni, who doubles as the commander-in-chief of the soldiers who oversaw the clobbering. “The person who gave you the vehicle is the one from whom you should have sought it,” the chief is told in Lusoga.
At a point in the video clip, Chief Banamwita and his co-accused, whom the kingdom and police identify as his family members, can be seen holding their hands aloft in submission.
But the caning does not stop despite their pleas. More water is poured on them and they are beaten one more time. The soldiers then force the suspects to wear white-torn placards they came brandishing bearing Dr Muvawala’s names.
Police later took them into detention as suspects, but video and photo leaked from a holding cell at Budondo Sub-county headquarters showed bruises on the back of the chief.
Mr Faizal Waguma, a family member, said victims were in the evening of the fateful Monday taken for diagnosis and treatment at Almeca Hospital in Mafubira, Jinja North City Division.
“If their crime was to try and repossess a vehicle that was given to them by President Museveni, let them be produced in court other than being taken from cell-to-cell,” he said, ahead of yesterday’s arraignment.
According to Mr Mubi, Busoga Kingdom officials on January 22, removed a vehicle from Chief Banamwita, but his mistake was rallying a demonstration as a pretext to repossess the car.
He advised the cultural leader to peacefully engage Busoga Kingdom, or go to court to restore his rights.
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About Busoga kingdom fight
Busoga Kingdom founded in the 1930s, has 11 chiefdoms led by hereditary chiefs. They include Ntembe, Bugabula, Tabingwa, Bulamogi, Busiki, Bunha, Bukooli, Bugweri, Bukono, Bunhole and Kigulu. President Museveni in 2021 donated 10 new vehicles to Busoga Kingdom to help Kyabazinga William Nadiope and hereditary chiefs run the cultural institution’s activities at a function at State House, Entebbe.
Chief Banamwita was given double-cabin pick-up truck which was removed from him under unclear circumstances. However, the development came amid threats by Dr Muvawala to reign in the royal chiefs opposed to the Kyabazinga’s leadership. Six of the 11 royal chiefs in January held a meeting in Iganga to pass a vote of no confidence in Nadiope, who they accused of abrogating the constitution to continue serving as Kyabazinga despite expiry of the five-year term agreed upon during his election in 2014.
Dr Muvawala threatened to disown or banish the chiefs he described as “impostors” and replaced chief Ntembe with the United States-based Fredrick Mesach Walugembe.
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