UHRC Awards Sh160 Million to Victims in Mbarara Rulings

The Uganda Human Rights Commission, or UHRC, Tribunal in Mbarara City awarded a total of Sh160 million to victims of severe human rights violations in two separate rulings delivered this week.

The details of the second ruling were not immediately available, but the first decision, read by UHRC Chairperson Mariam Wangadya, ordered the payment of Sh80 million to Visensio Mucunguzi, a farmer from Mitooma District. The award follows the death of his son, Serestino Tumwijukye.

Tumwijukye, a boda boda rider at Omukabanda Trading Center, was fatally shot on March 1, 2015, by then Officer-in-Charge of Kashongororo Police Post, Sergeant Bagambireryo Apulinali.

According to evidence presented before the commission, Sergeant Bagambireryo fired three shots into a busy trading center around 8 p.m., where several boda boda riders were gathered.

“He shot three times in the direction of a boda boda stage,” Wangadya ruled. “It was a busy time with many cyclists waiting for passengers. As a trained police officer, and more so one in charge of the area, he knew or ought to have known that his actions would most probably result in death.”

The tribunal based its finding on a letter from then Mitooma District Police Commander Adam Kakaire Mulondo, which confirmed a murder case had been opened against Sergeant Bagambireryo, who was subsequently remanded to Bushenyi Government Prison.

“The fact that the Police preferred a charge of murder rather than manslaughter shows that they too believed the killing was intentional,” the tribunal noted in its ruling.

Of the Sh80 million award, Sh5 million each will be paid to Tumwijukye’s mother, Leticia Birungi, and his widow, Scovia Twikyirize. The remaining Sh70 million will be managed by Mucunguzi for the benefit of Tumwijukye’s two children, Isaiah Taremwa and Victor Nabasa.