Angela Kateemu

It’s exciting to see work that @PublicSquareEA has been a part of, be presented at an internationally acclaimed gathering like The 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31)! Massive gratitude to everyone who’s been part of the journey to improving the quality of air we breathe! Thanks to Buganda Kingdom for showing massive leadership on this journey to a healthier community. #EmpewoBweBulamu

Here’s a courtroom video in which Mr Andrew Mubiru essentially admitting to having no evidence linking Mrs Katanga to firing that gun. It’s 2 years gone from the time he showed up in court and said his DNA evidence couldn’t be relied upon to say she even touched, let alone operated that gun. She remains in jail to this day.

Domestic Violence and the Law It’s only in Uganda where justice officials will meet with people from the west, accept millions of Euros/Dollars to apparently fight Gender-Based Violence, while the same country’s courts have very senior @PoliceUg officers like The Director of Forensic Services, Mr Andrew K. Mubiru, downplaying the suffering of GBV victims and getting them jailed. See Frame 1 The State acknowledges that a woman was beaten to near death. The aforementioned ACP Andrew Mubiru said her blood was found allover the room, including bloody hair on a door edge where her head was likely banged. But when asked to speak to how her blood might have gotten there if not for domestic violence, he said he didn’t know…..“she might have urinated there”. Asked if a woman can urinate on a ceiling, his answer was : “I don’t know, I’m not a woman….ask women”. The then presiding Judge had to remind him to “stop making outlandish statements”. Frame 2 That’s an excerpt from a court report by @DailyMonitor from when the very highly skilled and experienced Director of Health Services in Uganda Police gave testimony in that case. He essentially said this lady could have died if there was no urgent medical intervention to manage her wounds suffered due to domestic violence. Frame 3 That’s an excerpt from a Dutch funded study that found that while women form 5% of Uganda’s prison population, 87% of them are in prison on domestic violence related charges. Many of those are victims of a police to prison pipeline built in attracting donor funding only to not solve the problem. We desperately need #DPPReforms #EmptyTheJails

Call for freedom of Jailed EACOP Activists. Last week, we had a few prison visits; among which were visits to 11 young men and women, currently locked up in Luzira Prisons for protesting what is essentially a done deal; EACOP. Some of these kids are university students whose parents think they’re in school whereas not. Most of them have been on remand for about a month now and have a court appearance today at Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s Court where it’s hoped they’ll get bail. A lot of them seem like truly committed environmental justice warriors. A few seem to have gone for the vibes. It’s hard to tell whether they understand the machine they’re up against; both from the pro-oil and anti-oil lobby. What’s clear though is that they need some major help. The boys especially were in dire condition. 3 of them had an eye infection that’s failed to abate. 4 of them have been on remand longer than the period within which mandatory bail is supposed to kick in. They don’t seem to know what to do. @ODPPUGANDA seems bent on ignoring that constitutional provision and continues to oppose bail and keep kids in jail. One girl has a weeks old baby. She doesn’t know when she will be out of the prison walls. It appears the communication between them and their US paid lawyers doesn’t go beyond “I’ll see you in court”. Perhaps the lawyers are overwhelmed. Perhaps the non-profit that pays their legal bills only covers certain aspects (Frame 2). The lawyers, from what I gather, are paid by a US based non-profit to defend any protestors jailed over environmental causes. It’s a mini-economy built on pain. Something has to give. These kids don’t deserve to be in jail for their honest beliefs and convictions about the need to protect the environment. But I feel like someone in the state structures also needs to put their arm around them and give them an education on why the state will go ahead and run its oil projects no matter what. They’re the pawns on a massive international chessboard. It’s unclear as to how much longer this game is gonna be played. The state can’t run away from the Hosea 4:6 obligations. Educate your people; don’t just jail them!! #FreeEACOPActivists

Minister @BalaamBarugahar’s policy of jailing teachers might be misguided. It’s also selective. At the risk of sounding sectarian, this policy seems to mainly be done in communities whose political muscle at national level is considerably weak. Take an example of Bugisu where despite clearly showing proper accounting for monies gotten from parents to subsidize the minuscule amounts from government, Head Teacher Mutyaba was arrested, over protests from his students. Several other education officials are languishing in jails up and down the eastern sub-region, with instructions not to be offered police bond unless the minister intervenes. Now, lots of people, myself included, like Min. Balaam and admire the enthusiasm he brings to the anti-corruption fight. He has managed to tap into a visceral public anger against misuse of government resources by the fat-cats that pass for government officials up and down the country. But now, there’s a risk that his national anti-corruption crusade might be hamstrung by unnecessary theatrics, political undertones that seem to be driven towards re-litigating the last election (only that the jostling is in 2 yellow camps; NRM and PLU) and obvious failure to understand the intricacies of the system he’s looking to correct. Fighting corruption isn’t the problem. Trying to fight it without a clear formula and clearly defined outcomes is. The selective application of the same is also just wrong. I’ll use @MODVA_UPDF as an example Last we checked, the Ministry of Defense runs 53 formal education institutions in and around military installations where they house thousands of servicemen. Of these institutions, 37 are primary schools and 11 are secondary schools. Bombo SS and Mbarara Army SS might be the most famous. These institutions serve more than just servicemen. They’re, oftentimes, the bedrock of community education and a pathway to upward social mobility for people in usually poor communities in and around these military installations. It’s the army’s way of giving back to the communities that house their troops. A good example is Bombo SS, which has served a huge role in educating communities ravaged by the 1980s war and for this, they deserve credit. Their catchment area spans districts. One of my big brothers actually went there briefly. He still speaks highly of them. But I digress. The issue here is while those military education facilities are heavily subsidized, with servicemen and their children getting free rides (thanks to a presidential directive), other parents are expected to chip in a little to help top up the budgetary shortfall because as we all know, there’s no education institution in Uganda for which the government’s budgetary allocation has risen up to meet the demands of daily school operations. In fact, even military parents are asked to contribute towards scholastic materials. This is just the reality of it. But one doesn’t have to posses any special political analytical skills to know that Minister @BalaamBarugahar and his loudspeaker carrying buddies (see frame 2) will not be caught dead in a military school dragging head teachers for daring ask parents to contribute. Reason? They fear for the almighty backlash that will bring. It’s that selective “justice” that’s getting most people in eastern Uganda riled up. And it’s not like the issue started yesterday with Minister Balaam. If you recall, back in 2024, the Minister of Education and First Lady of Uganda faced this very problem. Citing a high number of school dropouts due to lunch shortage etc, she advised mothers to pack warm meals for their kids and try to feed them on milk and eggs. She drew major backlash for that but you could see that she was faced with an impossible choice; either tell her husband to his face (he was standing next to her, btw) to up the schools budget or blame the parents. She chose the latter. But at least, she didn’t arrest teachers. They’re victims too