A number of laws draw clear lines between military and civilian persons in Uganda among them the Uganda Peoples` Defence Forces (UPDF) act that ensures trial of civilian and military persons in different courts, the employment act to which military persons are not subject, the income tax act that exempts them from taxes and the succession act which lays down privileged and unprivileged wills.
With the officers and men of the UPDF being drawn from the civilian populous and their salaries and welfare bankrolled by taxes from civilians while civilians on the other hand count on them for their safety, a good relationship between the military and civilians in Uganda (as in any other country) is without a doubt very valuable and worth nurturing lest a revolution happens.
The UPDF act establishes the General Court Martial in section 197 with the purpose of enforcing military discipline but again goes on to subject civilians to it under section 119 by permitting it to try civilians charged with illegal possession of firearms. It is an unfortunate fact that this law has been misused to achieve the end of persecuting politicians opposed to the ruling party – The National Resistance Movement (NRM). In 2016, Michael Kabaziguruka, a member and activist of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party was arraigned in this court for offences relating to national security and the same was done to the country`s leading opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu of the National Unity Platform (NUP) party and his supporters in the heat of a by-election in Arua Municipality in 2018 and again several other opposition supporters were treated to this in the recently concluded 2021 general elections. In all these instances, the military is said to have subjected the suspects to untold torture in utter disregard of the presumption of innocence of suspects until proven guilty that is enshrined in Article 28 (3) (a) of the constitution. They would later be acquitted of all these charges, but not of the damage caused by the beatings.
Throughout history, militaries have always played fundamental roles in the success of states, many times directly involving themselves in shaping the politics of the day. Civilization of politics however calls for militaries to steer clear from engaging in partisan politics and rather subordinate to the authority of the populous as succinctly put by American philosopher John Rawls, “it is of first importance that the military be subordinate to civilian government”.
It is in the interest of civilized politics therefore that the UPDF should leave citizens to charter the path of their country`s politics without interference in a manner that tends to be partisan and it is my view that civilian courts have adequate capacity to try civilian suspects charged with illegal possession of arms to save them from the harsh and unjust treatment they are subjected to in the hands of the military. It is thus paramount that section 119 (h)(i) of the UPDF Act is revised in the pursuit of this end.
Samuel Bantebya is a Ugandan Lawyer. bantebyatebya@gmail.com 0782151128
