UGANDA; ABOLITE LA PENA DI MORTE 

IL DIPARTIMENTO DELLE PRIGIONI CHIEDE MODIFICA COSTITUZIONE

KAMPALA, 14 FEB - Il dipartimento delle prigioni ugandesi ha chiesto alla speciale commissione che sta rivedendo la Costituzione di abolire la pena di morte: ''Le prigioni - ha detto un loro portavoce - sono centri di riabilitazione, non anticamere di morte. Ed inoltre l'accompagnare condannati alla pena capitale al patibolo causa gravissimi traumi tra i nostri

operatori''.

   Dal 1938, almeno 377 persone sono state giustiziate in Uganda, mediante impiccagione. Da quando e' al potere - seconda meta' degli anni Ottanta - l'attuale presidente, Yoweri Musuveni, le esecuzioni sono state 51, l'ultima nel '99. 

Nella richiesta, si propone che le condanne a morte siano sostituite dal carcere a vita, senza possibilita' di rilascio. 

Attualmente l'equivalente ugandese dell'ergastolo consiste in una condanna a 20 anni, sulla quale pero' e' di fatto consuetudine appicare una riduzione di un terzo della pena.

Ugandan prison officers urge government to abolish death penalty

Feb 14, 2003 

By HENRY WASSWA, 

 KAMPALA, Uganda - Ugandan prison officers have urged the government to abolish the death penalty and have forwarded their proposals to end capital punishment to a commission reviewing the East African nation's constitution, a prisons service spokeswoman said Friday.

The Prisons Department handed its recommendations to the Constitutional Review Commission on Thursday, arguing that it would be better to rehabilitate prisoners instead of executing them, Mary Kaddu said.

 "We are proposing life imprisonment instead of executions. It's a very traumatizing job (carrying out executions)," she said. "You have been with someone for 17 years and you have created a relationship with him or her. When that person is executed, you become affected mentally and morally."

 There are 354 people on death row in Uganda, and 38 people have been executed � by hanging � in the last 10 years, Kaddu said. The last executions took place in 1999 when 12 people were hanged.

 Those convicted of murder, rape, treason or armed robbery with violence can be sentenced to death in the East African nation.

 President Yoweri Museveni set up the Constitutional Review Commission in 2001 to see what changes were needed in the current constitution which introduced by in 1989.

 Under the constitution, Uganda has a "no-party" political system in which political parties can exist but cannot carry out political activities, particularly fund-raising, recruiting and campaigning.

 Parliament passed a law relaxing the rules last May, but party activities will remain severely restricted until at least 2004.

 Museveni, who seized power in 1986 after leading a five-year bush war, blames party politics for fomenting ethnic and religious tensions that led to 20 years of war and chaos in Uganda.

 The review commission is supposed to gather opinions on the constitution from individuals, non-governmental groups and state institutions such as the Prisons Department. It is supposed to draft a report on its findings which will be presented to parliament to debate later this year.

 Many African countries still have the death penalty in their constitutions, a hangover from colonial rule.

  In neighboring Kenya, Justice Minister Kiraitu Murungi has said that country's new government hopes the death penalty will be abolished when Kenya adopts a new constitution later this year.

 More than 1,000 Kenyans are on death row, locked up in notoriously overcrowded maximum security prisons, but the penalty � by hanging � has not been carried out since 1984.

 Kenyans voted in a new government, led by President Mwai Kibaki, in Dec. 27 elections, ending the 39-year rule of the Kenya African National Union party.

 Kibaki's government has promised widespread reforms and said it hopes a new constitution will be introduced by the middle of the year.

Abolish Death Penalty, Prison Officials Advise

February 14, 2003

Charles Mpagi Mwanguhya

Kampala

 But children's body wants defilers hanged

 Uganda Prison Services (UPS) has recommended that the death penalty be abolished.

 Officials from UPS said that if the death penalty is maintained the execution of convicts should be privatised.

 Presenting recommendations to the Constitutional Review Commission at the International Conference Centre in Kampala yesterday, UPS officials argued that the process of executing convicts was traumatising to prison staff.

 "I know it [the proposal] is going to be discussed in Parliament and among other people, but if they want it then let them privatise the executions," said Assistant Commissioner David Nsalasata.

 Mr. Nsalasata added: "I have known of colleagues who have lost their heads after participating in these executions."

 Senior Assistant Commissioner Lawrence Emoruti- Ekirapo led the prisons delegation to the commission.

 He said the death penalty should be replaced by "imprisonment until death".

 "We live with these people, we get close to them and share a lot," said Dr Johnson Byabashaija, a senior assistant commissioner in UPS. "It is very traumatising to call this same person and tell him that he is going to die, help him write a will then lead him to the gallows, prove that he is the one and then wait to confirm that he is dead."

 The UPS proposed amendment of Article 23 (6) of the Constitution that spells out conditions for granting bail to criminal suspects, but is silent on relief of persons already committed to the High Court.

 "Our recommendation is that if after committal to High Court the state does not complete trial of a suspect within 360 days, the suspect should be released," UPS submitted.

 They also recommended a review of the law on defilement. They demanded representation in Parliament because they are a marginalised interest group; and recommended at least two seats.

 Prof. Frederick Sempebwa chairs the commission.

 Earlier the National Council for Children (NCC) had submitted that persons convicted of defiling children below 10 years should be hanged, but other penalties such as life imprisonment be handed defilers of children above 10.

 The chairman of NCC Rev. Fr. Louis Turyamureba and NCC Secretary Dr. Sam Okuonzi proposed that the Constitution should outlaw abortion and ensure "survival of a child from the time it is conceived until God decides to take the person".

 NCC also wants to increase working age of children from the current 16 to 18 years. 

 NEW VISION

UGANDA: Death Sentence Cruel - Prisons

 The Prisons Department has asked for the abolition of the death sentence, saying it traumatises prison's warders.

 The department also wants representation in Parliament.

 Senior officers of the department presented their memorandum to the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) yesterday.

 They said the warders suffer severe trauma after escorting inmates to death.

 The officers, led by Senior Assistant Commissioner Lawrence Emorut Ekirapa, said 38 condemned prisoners had been hanged in three execution sessions since 1990. Nine of them were hanged in 1993, 17 in 1996 and 12 in 1999.

 "Our work entails us to be with the prisoners for a long time and we develop a relationship. So we get so traumatised because at the end of the day, we have to lead the same person to the gallows then confirm that he is actually dead," Ekirapa said.

 Assistant Commissioner David Nsalasata said a number of prison warders "have gone off their heads" after witnessing executions.

 The officers said once a notice of execution is issued, it is hanged at the gate for everybody to see, then the warders inform the concerned condemned person, ask him to make a will and then on the appointed day, lead him to the gallows.

 "It is a very very traumatic experience," Dr. Byabashaija added.

 The officers said the death sentenced should be replaced by life imprisonment, but this time, the convict must never leave prison until their death. They explained that currently, a life sentence is 20 years and the inmate ends up serving 16 years after remission of a 3rd of the period.

 They said as at December 31, 2002, 354 prisoners were on death row after conviction.