Africa : Uganda’s Betty Nambooze MP crippled by security forces narrates ordeal

I sit in agony and pain after facing so many incidents of bizzare torture by the State security apparatus that has eventually brought me down in a wheel chair.With a permanently injured Spine,a shuttered cartilage of the left leg, deep and unhealing wounds at different points of my body,swollen feet and a life of ever looking in the face of danger as I continuously get to depend on an assortment of medicine to survive.

With a big family to look after and a spouse who left work because of my poor health mine has become a very challenging life. Only about a dozen of colleagues have stood by me in this time of trial among them, my brother, friend and lawyer Erias Lukwago,Dr.Besigye,Maama Ssebugwawo and of course my family that remains the biggest pillar of support and love. I will also always remain in debt with the people of Mukono who elevated me to this position and have supported me amidst intimidation by the State.

Am only lucky that an international human rights activist whom I have never had the opportunity to meet got to know about my case through my brother in USA and took great interest in it. This amazing lady went to the extent of petitioning the Common wealth through the British Parliament and MP Paul Williams in particular about my fate. Am grateful that my case has started attracting international attention.

Most probably this great lady has been everywhere because of me,trying to secure for me justice and also to use my case to show the western world that Museveni changed the guns they equipped him with to protect their interests in the Great Lakes region into an instrument of coercion and torture onto Ugandans.

Soon the Government apologists and spokespersons will label me a Lesbian and or an agent of foreign imperialists after all this seems to be their new line of approach to opposition politicians who are crying out for freedom. Yesterday I was honoured by a visit to my home by the BCC editor for Africa with a complete film crew….to our brothers and sisters in big democracies my case is an absurdity to the maximam…they can’t imagine that a legislator and a woman for that matter was dragged out of Parliament and tortured to near death and no one was reprimanded and citizens didn’t find that abominable and even others including the elite are so insensitive to the extent of pouring scorn on the victim.

Suprising as this might be to a Muzungu ,back home, I was denied by the Speaker even the opportunity to make a personal statement about my condition in Parliament. No Member of Parliament even among my friends has ever pushed for an explanation from government on what happened to me. When court summoned me to testify in the Constitutional petition on age limit after Government attorney Kahwa insensitively invited court to doubt that I was ever tortured,the only matter that interested their Lordships is that I had written a cheque to the Parliamentary commission in an attempt to return the 29 millions dished out to MPs in the Togikwatako period.

His Lordship Kakuru took the drama a notch higher when he found this to be one of the “constitutional questions” to settle in his ruling and hence found me a liar…it’s now a decision of the Ugandan court of appeal that a cheque is not a legal tender in Uganda and that a person who issues a cheque to another is motivated by just an intention to defraud the recipient! His Lordship Kakuru never bothered to know my current state,wether the cheque was honoured or not,why Parliament refused to bank the cheque…he just used his privillaged position to worsen my situation… as a victim of torture to this magnitude I expected a little sympathy from Court; I received non.

The trophy for indifference against me however goes to my political party DP and it’s dear leaders plus their new found pal Dr.Bwaniika ….they didn’t only fail to raise this matter at any of their forums but they used my period of suffering to make a grand gathering in my constituency,say all bad things against me that could come to their mind and also installed my political heir. In addition the party official social media platforms are used by some members to torment me as a comedian,politician who has fallen from grace now surving on feigning sickness, But why should this suprise me,isnt DP not a victim of political torture by Museveni itself?

At a time like this,one would turn to our spiritual leaders ,yes…how do you continue preaching that all leadership comes from God…Can God have sent to his people in Uganda this group of corrupt, decitful and barbaric rulers ? It’s true that some brave priests have been to pray for me but the voice I hear from Rubaga and the mighty Catholic church as an institution has became so faint for me to comprehend what they are exactly saying about Uganda’s present state. Yet maybe I need not be disappointed…when the other day the Archibishop himself was crying out over harassment by Security Agencies to his person.

So in this situation,what does my country expect me to tell BBC….Am I still expected to have Uganda at heart,be patriotic and smile at the world cameras to invite tourists to Uganda? It’s so cruel to demand from me silence or even pretence;we have no one else to turn to apart from facing the West without blinking an eye and demand that we can’t anymore continue to pay the price for your interest in a Museveni Presidency,stop funding a regime that is killing and maiming Ugandans…we shall continue enlisting support of kind souls in the western world to make our voice louder…if this is championing the foreign agenda and embracing homosexuality so be it