David Lewis Rubongoya, the Secretary General of NUP said the close to four years their supporters have spent in prison has had a great impact not only on their lives but also on their loved ones.
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The National Unity Platform-NUP has said although it was disappointed that 19 of its supporters who have been in prison for close to four years pleaded guilty, they nonetheless understand why they took that tough decision.
Speaking to Uganda Radio Network-URN in an exclusive interview, David Lewis Rubongoya, the Secretary General of NUP said the close to four years their supporters have spent in prison has had a great impact not only on their lives but also on their loved ones.
//Cue in… “instead of judging
Cue out… to have freed them,”//
On Monday, 16 members of NUP who have been in prison since 2020, pleaded guilty. The 16 who also included Olivia Lutaaya the sole woman among the 32 prisoners, joined three others who last week were sentenced to four months and one day in prison after also pleading guilty. The three include; Muganza Joseph, Muwanguzi Paul and Siraj Obarayi.
The sentencing of the three to only four months perhaps led the 16 to plead guilty to get light sentences.
According to a source familiar with the matter, those who pleaded guilty were told by state operatives who reached out to them that the only way out for them was to accept a deal from the government. “They were also promised money, jobs and houses when they get out of prison,” the source said.
This claim was also made by Rubongoya who said the prisoners told him that the State minister for youth and children affairs Balaam Barugahare had visited them in Luzira and Kitalya prisons to convince them to accept the deal. “When I was there, they were telling me they were doing this because they were tired of prison. As NUP, we have done everything possible to see that they are released. We have hired the best lawyers, we have met their welfare, we have supported their families but, as you can see, the state is telling them to plead guilty or rot in jail. We all wanted them out but we wanted them out from a justice point of view. When you plead guilty you have a criminal record hanging on your head for all your life. These people are pleading guilty to very serious charges, yet there has been no evidence that has been brought against them,” Rubongoya said.
It is also important to note that the idea that they have been on remand for such a long time without an end in sight, also broke others including Olivia Lutaaya who has been the face of the political prisoners.
In the interview, Rubongoya said as a party, they would have loved the state to prosecute this matter up to its conclusion so that these people are vindicated that they have been prisoners of conscience. He expressed hope that when they are finally released, they will continue doing the work they were doing of openly opposing President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s government.
He was also however alive to the fact that part of their release could be that they denounce opposition politics.
Speaking to the media on Monday, Barugahara said when these people are finally released, they will be reoriented to dissociate themselves from acts that he said hurt the country. But Rubongoya said this is the very reason they didn’t want these people to accept culpability.
//Cue in… “so you can
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Rubongoya also noted that as a party they had accepted that these people enter a pre-bargain but one which is structured between lawyers of the prisoners and those of the state. However, this was rejected by the state. “We reached a point to say, let our lawyers meet with the state lawyers and agree to a pre-bargain because that is a legal process. The state refused. They were forced to change lawyers, to state lawyers. How can that be just?” Rubongoya said.
Asked whether they had any illusions that these people whom he insists are political prisoners could be released legally without political manoeuvrings, Rubongoya said in the past, many of their supporters have been released by court especially after the state lost interest in their incarceration. This he said is not anywhere near the fact that the justice system has been taken over by politics.
//Cue in… “enkola ya bannakyemalira
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Those who pleaded guilty yesterday include; Olivia Lutaaya, Rashid Ssegujja, David Mafabi, Robert Christopher Rugumayo, Muhydin Kakooza, Abdul Matovu, Mesearch Kiwanuka, Simon Kijambu, Ibrahim Wandera, Stanley Lwanga, Steven Musaakaru, Ronald Kijjambu, Asubat Nagwere, Livingstone Katushabe, Matovu Sharif and Swaibu Katabi.