NFA, security apologizes to victims of torture in Busia

The National Forestry Authority (NFA) and security have apologized to residents of Busia District who were reportedly tortured in the West Bugwe (Busitema) Forest Reserve.

The apology by the NFA Sector Manager for the Eastern Region, Mrs. Mildred Nafuna, comes after residents of Busitema, Bulumbi, Namungodi and Buyanga sub-counties in Busia District accused NFA officials of torture and gross human rights violations.

“We’re sorry, it was so bad and that’s not how the NFA works. As an organization we cannot allow this (torture) to continue,” Ms Nafuna said at a weekend meeting chaired by the Minister of State for Regional Affairs, John Mulimba, in Bulumbi sub-county.

Ms Nafuna stated that although the alleged harassment took place, NFA’s top management was unaware of it.

“As NFA, we are completely opposed to torture, illegal detention and the issues of extortion raised at this meeting,” she added.

Bulumbi district chairman Ismail Wesonga said the alleged inhumane treatment of residents in his district had become “intolerable”.

He said he had received several reports of torture, illegal detention and extortion, including from a pregnant woman who was reportedly arrested and detained at Bulumbi Police Station in connection with crimes committed by her husband.

Busia Police Station Acting Officer, Hakim Mugwana, has apologized for the incident, saying she should not have been detained. “The transfer of criminal responsibility is not allowed in the Police, for which we apologize,” he said.

He added that when NFA officers brought in the suspect, the police were responsible for deciding whether to detain the innocent woman or not.

Efurasi Acheng, 60, accused Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) soldiers guarding the forest of physically assaulting her.

However, Maj. Robert Baguma, head of enforcement for the NFA Eastern Region, representing the national army, apologized, saying: “No acts of torture or persecution of the suspects were allowed.”

Wilber Anjoga, LC2 chairman of Chawo Parish in Busitema County, said the herdsmen who found their livestock grazing near the forest reserve were arrested and tortured in the illegal NFA holding dungeons before parting with an unspecified amount of money to secure their release.

Nation Media Group-Uganda (NMG-U) reporter has seen some bills and agreements purportedly issued by the NFA in which its officials demanded up to N1 million from their victims.

While Ms Nafuna said that habitual offenders would be arraigned at the Buganda Traffic Court in Kampala, where an environmental court was established, she did not reveal what reprimand would be meted out to those found to have participated in the said torture and extortion.

Ernest Bwire, a resident of Habuleke Parish in Busitema County, alleged that some residents sold their land to secure relief from confinement in the forest, while those who failed to raise money were taken to Kampala and arraigned before a traffic court in Buganda.

Amosiah Ogatai, a resident of the same Habuleke Parish, said the harassment was reported to be in the form of torture, unlawful detention in unguarded places in the forest and extortion where residents pay colossal sums of money to buy their way out of detention.

Mulimba interrogated NFA officials over allegations of gross human rights violations and ordered those involved to be reprimanded and transferred from Busitema. “We have learned that the soldiers carrying out the alleged torture have their uniforms removed and their name tags on them,” he said.

According to his family, on July 19, 2018, Moses Oundo was allegedly shot dead in the West Bugwe Forest Reserve while collecting wild yams.

In June, Godfrey Wafula, a resident of Wamuswi village in Bulumbi County, said he was reportedly beaten by “men in uniforms” who “reduced his clothes to rags” and cut off his dreadlocks.

In July, this publication reported that Vincent Erima Kapanga and Dennis Bogere, both residents, were allegedly tortured and illegally detained in illegal detention centers by UPDF soldiers in full view of NFA officials and were only released after each of them paid Shs800,000.