Opposition Responds to Ministerial Statement on Disappearances

Opposition Leader Hon. Mathias Mpuuga is presenting a response to the government’s statement regarding alleged enforced disappearances.

1. This comes after the government dismissed human rights abuse claims raised by the opposition, calling them fictitious.
3. Speaker Anita Among postponed the debate on the government’s statement until this Tuesday, December 05, 2023, allowing the opposition to provide a rejoinder.
5. Parliament will make a decision on the report after considering the opposition’s response.
6. Opposition Leader Mpuuga, requesting time for the response, stressed the importance of specific answers to the allegations.
8. The government’s report had previously been criticized for dismissing concerns without addressing them directly. Gen. David Muhoozi, the Minister of State for Internal Affairs, presented the government’s stance, stating that many alleged missing persons were not officially reported to the police.
10. He cited specific cases, like Kasumba George and Kisembo Godfrey, where disappearances were reported as unwitnessed.
11. Muhoozi pointed out inconsistencies in the numbers and testimonies provided by different sources, including the Uganda Human Rights Commission and the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights.
13. He also mentioned that the next of kin of the missing persons declined to cooperate with the police, making investigations challenging.
15. The minister refuted accusations of victimizing Muslims, presenting statistics from the Uganda Prisons Service. The data showed that Muslims constitute only 16.4 percent of inmates, with higher percentages for Catholics and Protestants.