LoP wants Kasese Killings report debated in parliament

Leader of Opposition in Parliament and Kasese woman member of parliament is demanding debate of the defence and internal affairs committee report on the 2016 killings in Kasese.

With their petition to the ICC and most of the people who were arrested still in court with no clear timelines on trial, Winnie says it’s high time the report is discussed so that the members of parliament can know what was found on ground.

Winnie says the president’s argument that the reports should not be debated for fear of abuse of the sub-judice rule doesn’t hold since the speaker has presided over numerous matters that were in court arguing that the sub-judice argument is only applicable if a matter is up for ruling.

“Something else we are going to do as we get to parliament is demand for report by defence and internal affairs committee in respect to Kasese matters. Because the issue of subjudice is only when there is a ruling then a matter can come before parliament and it can be discussed because in the Kasese matter there is no ruling and in fact hearing has not yet started. So we want it as soon as possible so we can know what the parliamentary committee found,” she said.

Kizza also passed her call to the judiciary to have hundreds of her people who were arrested and charged over the murders expeditiously tried so that they can know their fate without being kept in jail too long.

She threatens that if courts delay the leaders will be tempted to lead the people to demand for justice.

“Next issue is for us to ask people of Kasese to come to courts of law and demand justice for their people. Whether they will be killed after all even when they never attacked government they were killed,” she added.

The Kasese woman MP is frustrated that the delays by parliament and the judiciary are casting her community into more decades of hopeless generation.

She says most of the victims and suspects families are nursing problems such as child headed households, closed households, school drop outs among others.

“Sometimes some of us feel personal about certain matters because as a leader these issues affect me. When I go to my community I see hungry children, see child led homes, I see graves including mass graves and ask myself what did we do to deserve this,” she said.

A heated backlash between government forces and the royal guards of the Rwenzururu in November 2016 left over a hundred including royal guards, police officers and children.