374
Amnesty International Report 2017/18
academic Stella Nyanzi from boarding a flight
to the Netherlands to attend a conference.
This followed her criticism of the President
and his wife, the Education Minister, for the
government’s failure to fulfil a 2015
commitment to provide sanitary towels in
girls’ schools.
On 8 April, police arrested Stella Nyanzi for
insulting President Museveni on social
media. She was charged under the Computer
Misuse Act of 2011 and detained for 33 days
in Luzira Maximum Security Prison in the
capital, Kampala, before being released on
bail. The charges against her were later
dropped.
On 8 April, Nation TV journalist Gertrude
Tumusiime Uwitware was abducted,
blindfolded and interrogated by unknown
assailants for several hours, after she had
posted her support for Stella Nyanzi on social
media. The spokesperson for the Kampala
Metropolitan Police promised to investigate
the incident but there was no further
information on its progress by the end of the
year.
On 27 September, the Ugandan
Communications Commission threatened to
revoke or suspend licences of media outlets
which broadcast live parliamentary debates
on a proposed constitutional amendment to
remove the presidential age limit of 75 which
was passed by Parliament in December and,
according to the government, became law in
the same month. The Commission said that
such broadcasts promoted a “culture of
violence”. The opposition viewed the
amendment as a means to enable President
Museveni to stand for re-election in 2021. He
had already been in power for 31 years.
On 10 October, the police summoned
editors Arinaitwe Rugyendo of the Red
Pepper newspaper and the online Daily
Monitor, and Charles Bichachi of the Nation
Media Group which owns the Daily Monitor,
about stories they published on the age limit
debate. Police questioned them after an MP,
who was leading on moves to remove the age
limit, filed a complaint claiming that the
stories tarnished his reputation. They were
charged in connection with these allegations
under Section 27A of the Police Act.
On 24 November, after Red Pepper
published an article alleging that the
President was involved in a plot to overthrow
Rwanda’s President, the police searched the
newspaper’s office including computers and
mobile phones, and closed it down. At the
same time, they arrested Arinaitwe Rugyendo
and other members of staff Richard Kintu,
James Mujuni, Patrick Mugumya, Richard
Tusiime, Johnson Musinguzi, Ben Byarabaha
and Francis Tumusiime. They remained in
detention at the end of the year.
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION
On 2 and 20 September, approximately 20
police officers and security officials raided
ActionAid Uganda’s offices in Kansanga, an
area of Kampala, preventing staff from
leaving the premises for several hours. The
police warrant stated that ActionAid was
being investigated for “illicit transfers of funds
to support unlawful activities”. The police
removed documents and confiscated the
organization’s laptops and mobile phones
belonging to staff members. On 9 October,
the Bank of Uganda froze ActionAid’s bank
accounts. On 13 October, the NGO Bureau,
under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, sent a
letter to 25 development NGOs demanding
their bank account details.
On 20 September, police raided the Great
Lakes Institute for Strategic Studies offices
with a warrant to search computers and
mobile phones as well as financial and
banking documents. The raid came after the
organization’s executive director, Godber
Tumushabe, spoke against the proposal to lift
the presidential age limit.
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS
According to the police, 28 women were
killed in Entebbe town in Wakiso District. The
media reported that a man had confessed to
killing eight of the women on the orders of a
local businessman. In a public statement on
3 September the police spokesperson said
that four categories of murder had been
identified and that 13 people had been
Amnesty International Report 2017/18
375
arrested and charged in connection with the
28 killings. Twelve of the victims had been
raped or sexually assaulted before they were
killed; four of them were killed by their
husbands or partners; one woman was killed
by her two brothers in what the police
classified as a revenge killing; the other cases
were described as “ritual murders”.
The body of one of the victims, Rose
Nakimuli, was discovered on 24 July in a
banana plantation in Wakiso District.
RIGHT TO HOUSING AND FORCED
EVICTIONS
In July, the government tabled a bill to
amend Article 26(2) of the Constitution. This
would allow compulsory acquisition by the
government of private land for infrastructure
projects without providing prompt, prior and
fair compensation to the owners, and
potentially while negotiations on
compensation were pending.
Under existing law, the government can
acquire private land only after the payment of
“fair and adequate” compensation has been
made. If the owner disputes the
compensation amount, a High Court can
block the government from acquiring the
land until a resolution is reached. If passed,
the new law would increase the risk of forced
evictions and undermine the ability of those
facing eviction to participate in consultations
over acquisitions. It would also frustrate
transparent and fair negotiations on
compensation, and the possibility of appeal.
Marginalized groups, including people living
in poverty, and in rural areas, would be
particularly affected.
RIGHT TO HEALTH
On 10 October, the doctors’ union Uganda
Medical Association (UMA) declared an
indefinite strike protesting against low salaries
and shortages of essential supplies. However,
they continued to provide services to
children, pregnant women and emergency
accident victims.
President Museveni said the strike was
illegal and ordered the doctors to return to
work or face disciplinary action. The
government said it would increase doctors’
salaries only after the outcome of a salary
review conducted by a commission set up by
the President to review salaries of all civil
servants.
REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS
As of 10 November, Uganda hosted around
1,379,768 refugees and asylum-seekers.
Some 1,037,359 were from South Sudan,
348,782 having arrived between January and
September; 61% of them were children,
mostly unaccompanied or separated from
their parents. Around 236,572 of the
refugees were from the Democratic Republic
of the Congo (DRC); 39,041 were from
Burundi (see Burundi entry); 35,373 were
from Somalia; and the rest were from various
other countries.
Asylum-seekers from South Sudan and the
DRC were granted prima facie refugee status,
and those of other nationalities underwent an
individual refugee status determination
process conducted by the Refugee Eligibility
Committee. The government had revoked the
automatic refugee status for Burundian
asylum-seekers in June.
Under the 2006 Refugee Act and the 2010
Refugee Regulations, refugees were allowed
relative freedom of movement, equal access
to basic services, such as primary education
and health care, and the right to work and
establish a business.
In May, the World Food Programme was
forced to cut cereal rations by half for over
800,000 South Sudanese refugees.
Appeals for funding from international
donors to address the regional refugee crisis
failed to secure adequate funds. This proved
to be the most significant challenge to
Uganda’s refugee response. In June, the
Uganda Solidarity Summit on Refugees had
rallied for international support, but as of
November 2017, the South Sudan Refugee
Response Plan (a joint government/UNHCR
initiative) secured only 68% of the funds
needed; and the Burundi Refugee Response
Plan secured only 20%.
In October, there was a temporary 50%
reduction in food assistance to refugees due