Bantariza remarks are very disturbing
Many people have, over the years, been arrested by security operatives attached to the numerous security organs in Uganda only to be kept in detention for years, without being charged in courts of law.
More often than not, the persons responsible for their arrest never see the need to have them charged because they are not bothered about abusing their rights.
It is, therefore, very disturbing when the Army Spokesman, Maj Shaban Bantariza, says that if the jailed Rwandans âare in a hurry, they can hire a lawyer and raise the matter in court. Court will order a habeas corpus (production order), then we will definitely produce them as orderedâ (See: The Monitor, February 13).
Now major, if you know why you are arresting someone, why do you have to wait for a court order to produce the individual in court? Would you be looking (or cooking?) for what you intend to charge them with? I thought the abuse of human rights by our security bodies ended when the NRM âushered us into an era of law and order?â
Frank Mutagubya,
Kampala.
"The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the state."
- Dr. Joseph M. Goebbels - Hitler's propaganda minister
