The US Embassy in Kampala is investigating the circumstances under which its citizen, Eric Nkusi, died while in police custody at Entebbe police station.
Nkusi, who also has roots in Burundi, was arrested last Friday for overstaying his visa after reportedly living in Uganda for several weeks without valid immigration documents. Police sources allege that Nkusi, believed to have been a drug addict, began shivering while in detention and demanded access to heroin, the substance he was reportedly dependent on.
Officers, however, dismissed his requests, telling him to wait until he returned to his home country to access the illegal drugs.
“Nkusi insisted he would die without the drugs, but officers thought he was pretending. To their shock, he was found dead the following day in his cell,” one source said.
His death has triggered finger-pointing among officers at the station, with some accusing colleagues of negligence. The US Embassy has reportedly tasked Kampala Metropolitan Police leadership to provide detailed answers about the incident.
Police personnel who were on duty during Nkusi’s detention are now under interrogation and could face the force’s disciplinary court at Naguru police headquarters. Nkusi’s body was taken to the Kampala City Mortuary for a postmortem examination. Statements have been recorded from both police officers and civilians who were present during his arrest.
There may well be laws of that lead to detention of overstay visitors, however, what does it cost to let a visitor return to his/her home country even if he/she overstayed beyond allotted time of visit? Most of the western countries, US in particular, usually burn one for a certain period or fined or both, if one overstayed their allotted time of visit. Overstaying is not a crime to warrant jail or prison time.
Such a tragic incident in a Police custody is one of the very many cases of the abuse of Human Rights by the Ugandan Police and/or other security agencies.
In other words, probably the guy had not only ran out of cash to buy another kick of heroin, but also pay his way out of the shithole.
But for Heaven’s shake when shall we become the least corrupt in Africa/world?
As a country, instead of being known for being one of the worst; when shall we ever be known/proud for being one of the the best observer, defender and protector of Human rights and/or Justice?
The police may just have been ignorant of or not equipped to recognise and manage acute opioid withdrawal symptoms because we do not have many such cases in our country.
That said, acute heroine withdrawal rarely causes death except where there are other existing (underlying) medical conditions, or if the person vomits a lot (a common withdrawal symptom) and becomes severely dehydrated.
I am not a lawyer and, therefore, do not know if ignorance, or not being equipped, to recognise a medical condition equates to negligence and a crime! Yes, given what has been reported, the police should have sought medical advice.