Currently, Uganda’s Prisons Service has 127 people on death row. Of these, one male and another female qualify for hanging because they have completed their appeal process while the rest are still on trial. Uganda has not had an execution since 1999 when Nankya narrowly survived being hanged.
She is among the beneficiaries of the 2009 Supreme court ruling in Attorney General v Susan Kigula and 417 others, Constitutional Appeal No.3 of 2006. In this case, it was affirmed by the Supreme court that a delay of more than three years in carrying out a death sentence was unconstitutional due to the mental suffering inflicted on the condemned prisoner.
By the time of the Supreme court judgment, the numbers of prisoners on death row had grown and it was estimated that there were around 900 prisoners who would benefit from the decision. Susan Kigula and others who had been on death sentence for more that three years had their cases retried and commuted to either life imprisonment or serving 20 years without remission.
ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY
While Nankya commended the prison officers for taking good care of her throughout the 23 years in jail, she urged government to abolish the death penalty as it does not deter crime effectively in the country.
“I strongly condemn the death penalty because you are not God to permit the taking away of one’s life. In my case, there was no evidence pinning me yet the person who committed the offense also denied ever working with me to rob people. When I appealed in the Supreme court, I thought judges would be on my side but the state attorney, now Electoral Commission chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama, insisted that: “Let her go and die’.”
She added that the presiding judge, the late lady Justice M Kireju, agreed with Byabakama to justify the death sentence on grounds that her cousin brother had also disappeared with the gun that was used in the 1992 robbery. She has since forgiven Byabakama but his words unraveled her life. To be told, at every court session, that she didn’t deserve to live was enough to destroy her slowly.
Nankya recalled around 1998 when state attorneys visited inmates on death row in the condemned section.
“The attorneys were six but when Byabakama asked who sentenced us to death, the women angrily shouted at him in unison, “You are the one”.
When he asked me, I told him point blank that you are the one suffocating my freedom and making my children live miserably. He asked for forgiveness from me and the other women. I don’t know why he had come to see us; was he feeling guilty or what?” she asked.
Beyond serving the sentence, she said that one of the saddest realities of women on death row is abandonment as most inmates spend their time in isolation and this proved to be psychologically debilitating. Her views resonate well with those of the Uganda Prisons Service spokesman, Frank Baine, in an interview with The Observer last week.
He advised women to avoid prison at all costs.
“Prison is bad, but worse for a woman. Out of 10 who are locked up, only one gets a visitor, unlike men who are frequently visited. Even when women are pregnant and have babies, the men rarely visit them. Women should be more careful; tame their anger and avoid coming to prison because the majority are single mothers and don’t have money for bail or property to sell to access justice,” Baine said.
Nankya was lucky that her children and a few relatives occasionally visited her. But many women, especially those who had been on death sentence for more that 10 years, were abandoned by children and relatives. Many of these prisoners end up depressed.
LIFE AFTER PRISON
Eight years after her release, Nankya is still struggling to adjust to life on the outside. In the 23 years spent in prison, she lost her husband [1997], biological father [1999], and maternal grandmother who was taking care of her children in 2004. Her uncle Serwanga Naluswa also a lawyer who worked tirelessly in her case didn’t see her regain freedom once again. He died in 2014 while Nankya was released in 2015.
Nankya’s initial lawyer, a one Mugisha, sent by the state, represented her twice and abandoned her after she failed to pay any monies to him as demanded. She said several lawyers have since approached her to sue the government for the death sentence and maybe, get some compensation but she has declined “that money can’t replace what I lost”.
“If it wasn’t for prison, I would be one of the prominent businesswomen. I would be owning a decent house and live happily with my children. While in Nateete, I was a hardworking and successful business woman but prison imposed many setbacks on me”.
On her release, she received a heroic welcome at her brother’s home in Kamwokya where she stayed briefly until 2020 when she relocated to Masaka, where she runs a small kiosk with stock worth Shs 150,000. She also learned how to make crafts from prison, which she continued with casually due to lack of funds to buy raw materials. She is now raising money to construct a two-bedroom house at a plot she secured last year at Shs 4m – thanks to well-wishers who raised the money.
The Observer saw bricks and sand that have been stocked since 2021 and are now held back with labor fees and cement. Meanwhile, Nankya has never met her cousin [in his 40s] who led her to prison although she got reports that he fled the country during the trial and now living “happily” in Kampala. Ironically, the two are not related by blood. His family and that of Nankya only signed a traditional pact (omukago) as elders staying in Masaka.
Asked what she misses most about prison, she had this to say.
“I miss taking care of inmates in the mental ward because they loved me so much. A doctor from Butabika hospital trained me on how to care for them. One time, I showered and padded those who were on their periods, and out of the blue, they threw stained pads on my face. I just went for a shower, fed them, and life continued. I would eat, drink and spend the day with them. All they need is counseling, love, and care.”
Nankya observed that whereas prisons rehabilitate people, prolonged imprisonment on remand has the poor suffering at the expense of the rich who bribe their way out. She decided to end the interview with a quote: “If God returned to earth today, all prisoners would go straight to heaven because the rate at which people pray in prisons is too high. All denominations pray to God to see them out of jail. As a Born Again, I believe in miracles.”
FRANK BAINE ON NANKYA’S CASE
Nankya is entitled to her opinion about being innocent. However, the truth is she was found at the crime scene. Fortunately, she got a chance to go to court which made its decision. Even when her sentence was commuted, it was not that she was found innocent.
I understand she stayed on remand for long but that is a constitutional matter. It says that when you are on a capital offense, you are supposed to stay on remand for six months and if the trial has not kicked off, you are entitled to mandatory bail. However, the same constitution is silent about how long one should stay if you have been committed to the High court.
This is why we have people who have finished three years in prison after being committed and awaiting trial. You are supposed to wait for the next convenient court session; which convenience, I also don’t know.
nangonzi@observer.ug
This project was sponsored by The WAN-IFRA WIN Social Impact Reporting Initiative (SIRI) grant.
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