“He’s in my basement…” Uganda’s military chief and President Museveni’s son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, openly admits to torturing opposition leader Bobi Wine’s bodyguard, yet faces no legal consequences. Where is justice when the law shields the powerful?
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00:00Edward Cebufu alias Eddie Mutwe, the bodyguard of Uganda's opposition leader Bobby Wine,
00:05had been missing for five days.
00:07Then came a trace on social media platform X.
00:10General Muhosi Kanyrugaba, the country's military chief and son of longtime President Museveni,
00:15openly posted that he was keeping Cebufu in his basement and warned that he would torture him.
00:20What is being done by Museveni's son is a trajectory that is leading our country into a terrible, terrible place.
00:28Cebufu's lawyer confirmed that he had indeed been tortured.
00:32Meanwhile, Uganda's Human Rights Commission called for his immediate release.
00:36Despite Muhosi openly admitting to kidnapping and torture, he faces no legal consequences.
00:43Where are Uganda's courts and why is no one holding Muhosi accountable?
00:47The law does not work in Uganda. The ruling family is literally above the law.
00:51Welcome to the flip side.
00:52If these institutions are to rise up and do what they are supposed to do,
00:56then actually all these people can be held accountable.
01:00Well, that does not seem to apply to Muhosi, who is known for his provocative social media behavior.
01:05He once called for the execution of opposition figures Bobby Wine and Kizabi Sije.
01:10We do what we are ordered to do and do it well.
01:13He also threatened military action against neighboring Kenya, forcing his father to apologize.
01:18Regional lawyers are pushing for legal actions against Muhosi at the East African Court of Justice,
01:24citing violations of Ugandan law.
01:26Yet President Museveni continues to defend him, emphasizing his right to free expression.
01:32But is threatening torture practicing freedom of expression?
01:36The government has a way, in Uganda has a way, of making you think there is freedom when there is no freedom,
01:44of making you think you can say or express yourself when actually you cannot express yourself.
01:52So they try to create an equality that is not equal, a freedom that is not free.
01:58While Muhosi uses social media with impunity, Ugandans face severe limitations on free expression.
02:04However, they remain hopeful.
02:07In Uganda, we don't see a lot of independence in the institutions, for example, the judiciary, the electoral commission.
02:13But if we have independent institutions, we can be able to have fairer outcomes of the elections, for example.
02:21Now the entire essence is to uphold stronger systems that are way bigger than individuals.
02:26Now that comes in place when the law is non-discriminatory, when the law is equal, it applies equally, irrespective of status, irrespective of race, irrespective of gender.
02:36I don't see democracy happening in Uganda unless there is a total overhaul of the whole system, a democratic and peaceful transition of power.
02:48We are more than 45 million people. If we stand together, we can overcome this impunity.
02:53Recent legislation, such as the 2022 amendments to the Computer Misuse Act, imposes harsh penalties, including fines and imprisonment for broadly defined offenses like hate speech and unsolicited information,
03:07which are often used to silence critics and restrict online expression.
03:11We have laws virtually on anything here in this country, but how they are implemented.
03:19The implementation is selective and some people, it's possible for one to think that some of them are above the law.
03:29While General Muhosi wields social media as a platform for intimidation without any accountability,
03:35Ugandans have to navigate a fraught landscape of repression and censorship.
03:39Their last resort, the courts, remain loyal to the powerful, not to finding justice.
03:45But even with such conditions, civil society and the opposition keep pushing for Uganda, which abides by the law.
03:52And that is the flip side.