Okoler Opio February 1, 2022
Egumire

City House, 01st. 02.2022

Rwanda Opens Border Points

I wish to communicate that the Democratic Party appreciates the decision taken by the Republic of Rwanda to open her border points with Uganda which had been closed for three years. The closure of border points between the two countries has made our country lose a lot of revenue therefore DP has been advocating for the opening of these border points.

That said, we wish to advise heads of government in these two countries that the new arrangement should be anchored on trust and goodwill the absence of which may cause a similar occurrence in future. The two heads of state should focus on resolving the primary cause of their conflict which in our opinion as inferred from the subsisting accusations and counter-accusations is distrust.

Continued Violation Of Human Rights

The Democratic Party notes with concern the blatant violation of human rights by the government of Uganda, many people continue to be detained incommunicado, many people have never been produced before any court but rather arrested and taken to prison and yet they are not remanded, these have never seen the gates of courts. Several people are on remand and have been kept in prison beyond their remand time. These categories of people as mentioned above are persecuted for political reasons.

There is an insurmountable gravity of torture metted against Ugandans, in recent times we have seen the Hon. Ssegirinya’s feet, we have observed Kakwenza body and just yesterday we watched Masereka’s legs and back tainted with footprints of canes, fresh wounds on swollen legs, this is terrible! Our constitution allows for no time whatsoever that a person will be subjected to torture, freedom from torture is absolute, none derogabe and can be qualified. It is a fundamental right, nobody should violate it, not even states but here in Uganda, rather, unfortunately, the constitution is merely a bunch of papers that can be dismantled and/or subjected to any manner of serpentine just to serve the desires of the sovereign that is above the Constitution Of The Republic Of Uganda that is supposed to be supreme, superior and sovereign over all things and humans resident in Uganda.

We wish to remind the government that the cardinal reason for the collapse of the past regimes was the violation of human rights, therefore the government should be put on notice that they have degenerated to a level that their predecessors were at the time they were ousted out of power. We speak with authority because we have been around for over 67years now, we have seen all regimes, we have opposed them and guided them in matters of policy as such we can accurately compare and contrast the past and present.

As the Democratic Party, we commit de novo our resolve to fight for violation of human rights, we do aver to fight all manner of injustice that may be visited on the citizenry.

We are prepared to go to court and defend the rights of any Ugandan that has been infringed

DP To Meet Minister of Labour, Gender & Social Development Over Mistreatment Of Ugandans In UAE

Democratic Party has heard several voices of anguish and pain from many of our children taken to UAE as domestic workers, many have died under mysterious circumstances, several have had their internal body organs removed ipso facto causing permanent disabilities to them.

Unfortunately, even in the abundance and glaring of evidence, the government has not demonstrated agility in holding to account the agencies through which the victims got employed abroad. We are aware that most of these agencies are owned by “big boys & girls” in government so they can kill whatever manner of investigations but for the sake of the lives of our children, stop trading them as slaves, take the initiative to establish and ensure the safety of our children, don’t only focus on making humongous sums of money.

Since it is the responsibility of government to protect her citizens and their properties, the government has a duty to protect our children that are exported as domestic workers to the UAE therefore the Democratic Party is going to write to the Ministry of Labour, Gender and Social Development seeking a meeting with the Minister where we shall table a number of recommendations in regard to addressing the challenge of mistreatment of Ugandans in UAE. We shall accord the minister ample time to implement the recommendations the failure of which shall animate the party machinery to take further action.

Lastly, we demand that the government of Uganda establishes a legal framework with sharp sanctions to directly or otherwise curtail Human organ trafficking, a business that many labour export agencies are engaged in.

Thank you

Okoler Opio Lo Amanu
Spokesperson DP
0700727704 / 0775107003