Journalist drags government to court for being beaten during Bobi Wine protests

James Akena, a photojournalist working with Reuters has dragged the Uganda government for being beaten during the Free Bobi Wine protests in 2018.

During the protests that sprouted after the arrest of Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi also known as Bobi Wine, a number of journalists including Akena were beaten in the city centre.

The photojournalist was beaten by soldiers and in the video, he was shown kneeling and putting up his arms as a way of surrendering but the soldiers continued lashing him from all sides of his body.

In a suit filed before the civil division of the High Court, Akena says he suffered psychologically and physically due to the beating by soldiers.

“The plaintiff contends that the assault, battery, arrest and imprisonment he suffered were at the hands of servants, employees or agents of the UPDF acting in the course of their employment and as such the defendant (government) is vicariously liable,” the court documents read.

He also avers that in the course of his beating, his camera was destroyed and money amounting to shs300, 000 was taken on top of the harm and damage caused onto the body during the fracas.

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The journalist is demanding for shs100 million in special damages, aggravated damages and general damages for injuries sustained during the arrest and resultant beating.

Following Akena’s debacle, President Museveni told an NRM Parliamentary Caucus at State House in Entebbe, that according to a brief he received from security, the photojournalist was mistaken for a petty thief before being pounced on and beaten.

Museveni added that he was also made aware Akena was not properly identified as a journalist and did not have a press kit to different him from rioters.

The President, however, acknowledged that the security agencies made some mistakes while quelling the protests, singling out a case in Mityana where people in a commuter taxi were shot at and one killed in due process while another succumbed to injuries at hospital moments later.

Museveni assured the caucus that the said officers had been arrested and awaiting prosecution, while a team from government has been dispatched to get in contact with the families of the deceased.