Kampala, Uganda: The Uganda Law Society (ULS) has issued one of its strongest statements yet on Uganda’s human rights situation, alleging a fresh wave of abductions, home raids, and intimidation targeting lawyers, civil society activists, and media practitioners.
In a statement titled “No One Is Safe” released on Sunday, ULS President Isaac Ssemakadde said veteran politician and women’s rights activist Miria Matembe was abducted after armed men allegedly raided and ransacked her home, while lawyers Eunice Musiime and Sarah Bireete were also reportedly taken by armed men before later being released.
“We can confirm the abduction of Miria Matembe. As with others, her home was on Friday raided and ransacked. Her whereabouts remain unknown,” Ssemakadde’s statement reads.
The Law Society boss further claimed that armed personnel raided the premises of Nation Media Group Uganda, disrupting its television, radio, and newspaper operations and temporarily detaining three members of the night staff.
He also expressed concern over the safety of Nation Media Group Uganda Managing Director Susan Nsibirwa, saying she was unreachable amid what it described as unspecified threats, after the “Chief of Defence Forces had publicly claimed responsibility for both operations.”
‘No One Is Safe’
In a sharply worded assessment of the country’s governance, the radical Ssemakadde argued that Uganda had entered what it described as “a wholly new situation,” claiming constitutional protections had steadily eroded over the past two decades.
“Ugandans now need to understand that we are in a wholly new situation. This is not the era of the Constitution,” he said.
The Society also criticised what it termed the increasing use of security agencies to detain political opponents and government critics, arguing that such incidents should be described as kidnappings rather than lawful arrests.
“No one is being ‘arrested’; these are kidnappings. No one is ‘on remand’; these people are hostages,” the statement further reads.
Calls for Accountability
The legal body condemned what it described as the misuse of the armed forces and other state institutions, including the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Judiciary, and the Uganda Prisons Service.
The society called upon officers in the military, police, prisons, and the judiciary to reflect on the consequences of permitting what it described as abuses of power, and further urged the government to account for every allegedly missing person, disclose their whereabouts to relatives, and allow immediate access by family members and legal representatives.
The statement comes just two days after the Uganda Law Society organised a nationwide lawyers’ strike on June 26, coinciding with the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. That industrial action saw advocates across Uganda boycott court proceedings in protest against alleged torture, arbitrary detention and what the Society described as the declining rule of law.
ULS President Isaac Ssemakadde said the latest statement forms part of the Society’s mandate to defend constitutionalism and fundamental rights, urging citizens to document and expose alleged abuses.
The government had not officially responded to the Uganda Law Society’s latest allegations by press time on Sunday evening.
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