|
Uganda is one of 43 African countries that have the
death penalty in their laws. South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique,
Djibouti, Guinea Bisau, Mauritius and Ivory Coast have abolished
it.
Within
a week of the signing of their death warrants by the president,
prison warders go from cell to cell calling out the condemned
prisoners destined for execution.
This is normally done early
in the morning, as they are forcefully ordered out to prepare to
face the hangman.
They are handcuffed and clamped with leg-irons.
Usually they are allowed a moment to say farewell to their fellow
condemned prisoners.
Some of them kick and scream in a futile
attempt to resist the gallows; and many soil themselves in the
process.
The officer-in-charge of the Prison Condemned
Section (OC) reminds each of the prisoners of the crime one was
convicted of, the sentence imposed upon each one of them and the
time left for him to be hanged.
The countdown to the end of their
life begins, as the hanging is normally carried out in three days.
Prison authorities get in touch with the prisonersâ
relatives and the condemned are given the opportunity to make their
wills and make peace with God too.
âMost of the prisoners
collapse, wail and start praying to God. The prisoners are then
taken to the death chambers/gallows in Section E of the prison and
locked up in individual cells,â witnesses have
revealed.
While the born-again prisoners confess their guilt
and express readiness to meet their creator, others insist that they
are innocent and they had found peace in God and forgiveness for the
people that had maliciously caused all that misery upon their lives.
At this time, the priests and imams are present to give them
solace and comfort.
The prisonersâ heights and weights are
recorded to measure how far one will drop when the lever of the
execution table is released.
The formula is supposed to help the
condemned prisoners to drop without their heads being plucked off,
and helps in determining their coffin sizes.
In the meantime,
the OC ensures that the execution equipment is ready to crack and
the gallows are clean. He restricts the prisonersâ movements and
orders for coffins coffins.
![]() |
| THE BATTLEGROUND: The countryâs top legal
brains are fighting one of the most controversial issues in
Uganda - the death
penalty. |
Prison
authorities normally assign prison warders outside the condemned
section to execute the work because those in the death section
normally have close links with the inmates and wouldnât freely help
in their execution.
The team is normally paid special
allowances in advance.
Prison warders, the executioner, the
prison medical doctors and religious leaders witness the hanging
process.
Only the remaining prisoners are kept away to avoid
terrifying them before their time.
On the execution day,
prisoners are dressed in unusual overall-like outfits and are
covered from head to toe without any openings for the hands or feet.
They are also handcuffed and shackled to check any violent
resistance. Black hoods are put on their heads to prevent them from
seeing how they are going to be executed and those witnessing their
execution.
At the execution chambers, the prisonersâ legs
are tied-up and a noose placed around their necks.
The noose is
tightened at the back of their heads, cutting off their breathing.
Prisoners who are not certifiably dead are killed by hitting the
back of their heads with a hammer or a crowbar.
Their bodies are
buried in a mass grave at the prison and their names are added to
the Black Book, which is kept under lock and key by the OC Upper
Prison.
Uganda is one of 43 African countries that have the
death penalty in their laws. South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique,
Djibouti, Guinea Bisau, Mauritius and Ivory Coast have abolished
it.
At least 417 condemned prisoners in Ugandaâs main prisons of
Luzira and Kirinya, Jinja petitioned the Court, to scrap the death
penalty.
The Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI)
developed the idea and is sponsoring the petition.
A UK-based
pathologist, Dr Albert C. Hunt, who has examined the executions,
says there is always fracture dislocation of the neck with wide
separation at the sight of dislocation.
âIn all cases there was
obvious spinal code damage or tearing of the medulla from the pons,â
he says, adding that the description of death from judicial hanging
as is not justifiable must be seriously questioned.
Anthony
Okwonga, 68, a retired senior assistant commissioner of prisons who
retired after 21 years in prison service, says he witnessed a number
of executions but they âare horrifyingâ.
Okwonga, who last
acted as Nebbi district boss was arrest for murder, tried and
convicted by the High Court sitting in Arua (1999). The Supreme
Court has already confirmed him on the death row and he is currently
incarcerated at the Luzira Condemned Section.
He says in his
affidavit to the Constitutional Court that some prison warders
suffer psychological problems and mental illnesses, leading many of
them to resign from the service.
âSome seek treatment from
witch doctors and increase their alcohol consumption to deal with
the mental disorientation,â he says, adding that he is also yet to
recover from âthe horrifying experience of witnessing
executionsâ.
Ben Ogwang, 50, the longest surviving death row
prisoner since 1983, says lives in imminent fear of execution. âI
and my fellow death row inmates tend to live each day as if it is
our last. This makes us sick most of the time, it tortures us
mentally and we are tormented in a manner beyond description,â he
says.
To Katende, Sempebwa and Co Advocates, representing
the 417 petitioners, the death penalty violates fundamental rights
and freedom of a person, which renders it unconstitutional.
The petitioners challenged the legality of various sections
of the Penal Code, the Anti-Terrorism Acts, the Trial on Indictments
Decree and other sections and provisions of the Prison Act. They
claim the provisions are inconsistent with the 1995
Constitution.
They
claim the death sentence constitutes a torturous, cruel, inhuman or
degrading form of punishment that is illegal.
The petitioners
say that even the process, mode and manner of implementing the
sentence from the time of conviction to the time hanging, is
degrading.
Petitionersâ lawyers describe hanging in Uganda as a
slow cruel and brutal process.
They say victims are at a
high risk of victims suffering unnecessary painful and torturous
death coupled with other effects like the eyes puling off from the
socket in the process of being hanged which he said is so
painful.
The Attorney General assigned Principal State Attorney,
Mr Mike Chibita, Senior State Attorney, Mr Sam Sserwanga, State
Attorneys Benjamin Wamambe and Freda Kabatsi to ensure that the
Court upholds Ugandaâs top punishment.
Chibita argues that
it was a general peopleâs view that Uganda should have a death
sentence in place; it should be them to decide or the legislators,
not courts.
He said even if it is to be removed, the removal
should be gradual.
Wamambe told the Court âit is hypocritical
for the petitioners to argue that every human being has a right to
life, when they themselves ignored pleas for mercy by their victims
and killed them in cold blood.â
Uganda Prisonsâ Commissioner
General, Joseph Etima, his deputy, David Byabashaija, assistant
Commissioners of Prisons, Moses Wagaba and David Nsalasatta, fully
support the removal of the sentence.
Also on board are Ms
Margaret Mungherera, a forensic psychiatrist, Mr Robert Okuyait, a
clinical psychiatrist; and a spiritual counsellor, Rev. Fr. Tarcisio
Agostoni.
However, on the other hand, families and friends
of the victims of the actions of the capital offenders swore a
number of affidavits to court, saying no to the removal of the death
penalty.
The Constitutional Courtâs Justices Galdino Okello
(chairing), Elizabeth Alice Mpagi Bahigeine, Amos Twinomujoni,
Constance Byamugisha and Stephen Kavuma are yet to pronounce
themselves on the
matter. |
