‘I lost my manhood’
Friday, 17th October, 2008
E-mail article
Print article
Ngomya has no control over his urine flow
BY JUDE KAFUUMA
Enock Ngomya’s wife ran away after he lost his manhood. “I left him because of
constant teasing by other women.
They used to say: ‘you are two women in the house’. But I occasionally visit
him,” says Topista Namarome, who had two children with Ngomya. “The two
children we had are both girls. I wish to have a baby boy but how can I have
one with him?”
Ngomya, 38, lost his private parts as his bosses kicked him left and right. On
Tuesday the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) ruled that Government should
pay him sh31m in compensation for the damage.
Apart from losing his manhood Ngomya, who works at the army eastern region
headquarters in Mbale as a mortuary attendant, cannot do physical work.
“My situation is very bad. I have worked for 10 years in the army mortuary and
since the torture, I am working under a lot of pain. I beg to retire. I am too
weak to continue with this work.”
On March 27, 2004 at 7:00am, during a parade, two soldiers from the Field
Artillery section informed him that a child had died in a uniport. He was asked
to remove the body and take it to the mortuary.
Ngomya received two conflicting commands from his superiors. While one asked
him to go to the parade, another ordered him to attend to the body of a child
who had died.
“When I went to the medical office to get a coffin and a blanket for the body,
the four soldiers arrested me. The medical officer asked them to let me attend
to the body but they refused. They took me to the quarter guard where I was
beaten.”
“One of them stepped on my lower abdomen very hard and I fainted. I bled
heavily through the penis. My trousers were soaked with blood. They put me on a
stretcher and carried me to a dispensary.”
Ngomya spent 10 days in Kakiri dispensary from where he was referred to Mbuya
military hospital and later to Mulago hospital for an operation. But his
condition did not improve.
While making the ruling on Tuesday, the UHRC described the beating inflicted on
Ngomya as illegal, oppressive, highhanded, unprovoked, deliberate, malicious,
barbaric, savage, extremely cruel, gruesome and completely unjustifiable. The
Commission also described the incidence as an action of evil men, who are
sadists.
Ngomya was recruited in the army by army in 1998 and assigned to attend to the
mortuary. He was taken to Mulago for training and came out with a certificate.
This certificate, he said, is his only academic document on which his superiors
based his salary raise and elevated him to the level of first mortuary
attendant at the Mbale army division.
“After the dreadful incident, they wanted to transfer me to the records office,
but they found that I was illiterate. So now I direct people on how to treat
the bodies then I do the last part. But still I feel very uncomfortable because
every short while I have to empty the glove.”
He continues to get medical treatment and has to constantly pad himself to take
care of his endless flow of urine that is collected in a glove he wears with a
string tied around the waist.
Because he cannot do physical work, Ngomya pays for every service right from
bathing to dressing and eating. He also hires casual labourers to help
cultivate his land and grow cassava and yams which he sells to support his
family.
“I still get shillings 200,000 as my salary from the army. I use it all for my
medication and to pay people who help me. At least if they gave me sh50m, it
would have helped me and my family.”
“This is a ruling on the violation of my right to protection of my freedom and
from inhuman, degrading treatment. But how is it going to help me live a happy
life? My wife abandoned me. I am lonely. no woman can stand my situation.”
When he was still healthy, Ngomya started a fish farming project to support his
family on top of his salary. The project, however, is no more.
With such difficulties, Ngomya’s wish is that he gets retired from the army.
__________________________________________________________________
Instant Messaging, free SMS, sharing photos and more... Try the new Yahoo!
Canada Messenger at http://ca.beta.messenger.yahoo.com/_______________________________________________
Ugandanet mailing list
[email protected]
http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet
% UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including
attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way.
---------------------------------------
