Criminal charges against the incarcerated Rwenzururu cultural leader, Omusinga Charles Wesley Mumbere, are coming in a trickle.
On November 29, Mumbere was charged with a murder allegedly committed in March this year. Two weeks later, on December 13, he was further charged with terrorism, murder, attempted murder and aggravated robbery. The next day, December 14, Mumbere was further charged with treason, among other charges, alongside 138 other suspects.
This points to one thing: Kasese is a political, not a law and order, problem. And it should be handled as such. If last month’s events that resulted in the death of more than one hundred people had been an entirely law and order problem, the state wouldn’t be fidgeting with the charges the way it appears to be doing.
The murder of a policeman eight months ago would have been investigated then, and the perpetrator(s) arrested immediately, regardless of their profile. It now appears that the state has resorted to criminal prosecution of the king and his alleged accomplices after failing to resolve its political and other differences with the Rwenzururu cultural institution.
The problem with turning a political problem into a law and order issue is that one side will forever feel a sense of injustice, even as the other declares justice is being done. That is a recipe for instability in a volatile region.
The fact that no one on the state side has so far been charged with any offence, despite the widespread view that security officers used excessive and unreasonable force, leading to so many deaths, means the judicial process will be perceived to be one-sided.
It will essentially be seen as justice imposed by the victors (the state) on the vanquished (king and his subjects).
For justice to not only be done but also be seen to be done, there is need for an independent inquest into what happened in Kasese last month. The outcome would then form a basis for prosecutions and hence real justice.
In the absence of such an inquiry, the state is using the judicial process to show off its might, and that is very dangerous.