#Congolese residents in #Uganda should deliver #Mugumya's message to #Kabila

Sam Mugumya is a Ugandan who has been in DRC's military detention without trial since late 2014.  Recently he desperately protested his illegal detention by writing to the DRC Minister of Justice where he suggested that he should be killed instead if he can't be subjected to the due process of the law.  Some Ugandans have reacted by blaming the Museveni regime for not doing enough to address the plight of Mugumya.  Others have initiated a fundraising drive for Lawyers to advocate for Sam Mugumya.   With due respect, we beg to submit that both moves won't help in the circumstances.

Having been an aide to the Ugandan opposition leader, Dr. Kizza Besigye, the Museveni regime considers Sam Mugumya as an enemy who deserved no justice and state protection.  The Uganda Embassy in Kinshasha is manned by the regime military cadres in Maj. James Kinobe and Brig. Dick Olum.  Since the latter hails from Nebbi in West Nile, his deployment to Kinshasa was a strategic move to monitor events in the neighbouring DRC’s Ituri region from where Sam Mugumya was allegedly arrested from.  Therefore, on top of former M.P Nsubuga Kipoi, Sam Mugumya and group are considered a bunch of "enemies who are well contained" by the Kinshasha regime.  Just is the case with the Museveni regime, private Lawyers can't do much in regard to the circumstances of Mugumya's illegal detention.

When he had just mysteriously disappeared and allegedly resurfaced in the custody of the Congolese army in the eastern DRC around late 2014, we wrote a piece titled; "RESOLVING THE MYSTERY OF SAM MUGUMYA - 19th November 2014."  We rightly argued that the Museveni regime embassy in Kinshasha would not be of help to Mugumya.  We instead suggested that engaging the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) would not only ensure that Mugumya and group would not fall victim of forced disappearance but would also maintain a sure line of communication.  It is now three years and the good news is that at least information about Mugumya is able to filter out of Ndolo Military detention to the outside world.  The link for that for our first suggestion of how to help Mugumya is at the bottom of this article. 

The money being fundraised could be put to better use if it was used to facilitate a small delegation of visitors from Uganda to Kinshasa to visit Mugumya and group.  Such a delegation could be comprised by a family member, an activist and a human rights Lawyer.  Such a visit would give Mugumya a lasting memory and the moral boost to endure the detention hardships in a foreign land.  Ugandans are more than willing to generously contribute towards this noble cause.

Mugumya and group will obviously get out not through diplomatic channels but political pressure on Kinshasha not by the Museveni regime but by Ugandans.  Just send a message directly to DRC's Joseph Kabila through the tens of thousands of Congolese who are residing in Uganda.  The Congolese Embassy in Kampala and the Consulate in Kasese, the refugees, the immigrants, the business community who transact business between Uganda and Congo through the border posts of Entebbe Airport, Bunagana, Lake Albert, Arua, and Ishasha which is even a stone throw from Mugumya's home, are all well suited to deliver such a message to President Kabila.  If well drafted, such Congolese are in a better position to directly, reliably and timely deliver the message to the Kinshasha regime.  Who has the organizational capacity to deliver such a message????

INFORMATION IS POWER AND DEFIANCE IS THE WAY TO GO 

RESOLVING THE MYSTERY OF SAM MUGUMYA

Sam Mugumya is a young man who has been an active opposition activist and who also doubles as an aide to leading opposition politician Col (rtd) Dr.Kiiza Besigye. Early this month the Uganda army spokesman broke the news of his mysterious disappearance when he stated that "Finally we have him."