By Sheila C. Kulubya
May 2, 2004
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KAMPALA - Just last Monday, Joseph Mbalire, 33, like any average man, was struggling to provide a good life for his wife and four children. By the end of the day he was lying dead, his bloodied body dumped in the city mortuary at Mulago. Mbalire, bled to death after being tortured by security agents of the Violent Crimes Crack Unit, a unit set up at the close of Operation Wembley to fight violent crime and terrorism. Mbalire�s wife, Florence Namande 43, told Sunday Monitor, yesterday that her husband was picked up at around 9.00 p.m. on Monday night as the couple was enjoying a night out in a bar at Mukwano Shopping Arcade, opposite the old taxi park. They were together with a friend, Jimmy Kyagaba. �We just saw men walk up to us, and asked him to go with them,� recounted Namande, the mother of Mbalire�s two youngest children. �When he did not come back, I asked Jimmy to go and check on him and later I followed and found them (operatives) beating Joseph and shoving him into the car�. She says the trio resisted but were overpowered by the operatives, who continuously beat them with sticks as well as with the barrels of their guns. By 5.00 am that morning, they had been to Ndeeba, then taken to Kireka, then back to Ndeeba where they spent a night on the floor of a dingy lodge, and then transferred back to Kireka. By then Mbalire had breathed his last. Police sources told The Monitor that the security operatives, including their leader, one Kiwana had been arrested and were under police custody awaiting investigations by CID. CID chief, Ms Elizabeth Kuteesa neither confirmed nor denied the said arrest. �We are handling the matter and we will get to the bottom of it. As you know, when someone dies in custody, is a very serious thing and its our duty to ensure we get to the bottom of the matter,� she said in a telephone interview. By press time yesterday, police had not released Mbalire�s body which had been tentatively scheduled for burial at 4.00 pm. |
� 2004 The Monitor Publications
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