The republic of uganda in the supreme court of uganda at kampala

10. That Hon. Major Rwaboni Okwir was never charged with any offence or produced in any Court but has since fled into exile. I have talked to him several times since.”
The affidavit of Maj. Gen. Odong (Jeje), the Army Commander is indicated in the Chart to have rebutted the Petitioner’s affidavit. He deponed in his affidavit dated 28-03-2001 that as the Army Commander, his duty included overall command and direction of the UPDF. As such he is a member of the National Security Council (NSC), which is enjoined by the Constitution to oversee and advise the President on matters relating to National security.
Sometime in January, 2001, at one of its routine meetings, the NSC noted that there were indications that election related crimes were on the increase. Intelligence Reports he received from various parts of the Country pointed to the same trend. On that basis, he briefed the Commander in Chief (President of the Country) and indicated to him the need to put a mechanism to handle the situation. About the same time, the Minister of Internal Affairs pointed out to him the inadequacies of the Police Force in relation to the task ahead and requested that Police be augmented by the UPDF. He further briefed the Commander — in — Chief and suggested the formation of a joint security task force to oversee, handle, and ensure peace and security during the electoral process.
Such a joint task force was formed, comprising of the Police, the Army, the LDUs and the Intelligence agencies under the Chairmanship of the Army Commander, deputised by the Inspector General of Police and the Director General of Internal Security Organization. The joint security task force constituted a joint command structure whereby in each District, the District Police Commander was the overall in charge of security in the District, and armed forces were put on alert for assistance as and when need arose. The formation of such a joint security task force was not a new phenomena in this Country as the same course of action had always been resorted to whenever need arose. For examples, are the 1987, currency exchange exercise; the 1989 expansion of the NRC elections; the 1992 Local Council elections; the 1996 Presidential elections; the 200 Referendum exercise; and the visit of the United States President, Bill Clinton.
For the foregoing reasons, Maj. Gen. Odong said, it was not true to state in paragraph 3(20(c) of the Petition that the 1st Respondent appointed the deponent and other Senior Officers to take charge of the election process for partisan purposes. It was also not true that the army was deployed all over the country and that such deployment resulted into many voters voting the 1st Respondent under coercion or fear or that abstained from voting. To the best of his knowledge, save where they were registered to vote, members of the Armed Forces never went to any Polling Station for the alleged purposes or at all. It was not true that the 1st Respondent organized groups under the PPU to use force or violence against the Petitioner as alleged fl paragraph 3(2) of the Petition. He wished to state that members of the PPU which was a specialised unit for the protection of the President were deployed in Rukungiri in advance to his visit to the area sometime in January 2001 and their stay was necessitated by his planned return to the area, having taken into consideration the safety of the person of the President and the general peace and security in the area. The allegations about members of the PPU harassing, intimidating, or in any way misbehaving against the Petitioner and/or his supporters contained in paragraphs 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 29 and 40 of the Petitioner’s affidavit are not true.
In response to paragraphs 18 — 29 of the Petitioner’s affidavit, Jeje stated that there was a clash between groups of people in Rukungiri after the Petitioner had addressed a public rally and in the process, some members of the groups pelted stones, bottles and sticks at the soldiers and in the process of self- defence, one person was fatally wounded by a stray bullet.
Jeje further deponed that is not true that he or any other official of the UPDF was partisan or that he or any official of the UPDF carried out their duties in such a manner as to promote the candidature of the 1st Respondent as alleged or at all. Regarding Rwaboni’s affidavit Jeje said that it was not true that Rwaboni had ever been forced by anybody to make or write any statement denouncing the Petitioner in his presence.
Without saying so, the affidavit of John Kisembo dated 28-03-2001, in effect, rebutted the Petitioner’s affidavit. His affidavit is similar to that of Odongo Jeje in matters concerning the Joint Security Task Force. Repetition of what he said is, therefore, unnecessary except, what he said differently.
He said that it was the requirement of the law that the Electoral Commission ensured that the Police and other relevant organs of the State provided adequate security for the conduct of the elections and the protection of the candidates. Given the magnitude of the electoral process of the Presidential Elections of 2001, it was found that the Uganda Police which comprises about 15,000 personnel were not going to be adequate to Police about 18,000 Polling Stations and the related election activities in addition to its ordinary day to day duties.
Although there was a joint security task force at District level under the command of the District Police Commander, policing of the Polling Stations and tallying Centres during the electoral process was only under the Uganda Police, save for the army barracks for which the Electoral Commission had made other arrangements. It was not true that the Uganda Police abdicated its duties or that the policing of the electoral process was taken over by the UPDF.
There were no security related incidents reported during the whole period of the electoral process save for a few electoral malpractices which are under investigations or in the courts of law and he has not received any reports involving the 1st Respondent.
The affidavit of Major Gen. David Tinyefuza dated 4-4-2001, rebuts the affidavits of the Petitioner, Rwaboni and Hon. Winnie Byanyima, M.R, about Rwaboni’s arrest in considerable detail. This is what he said:
“1. THAT I am a male adult Ugandan of sound mind serving at the rank of Major General in the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces.