----- Original Message -----
From: Elum aniap Godfrey Ayoo
To: [log in to unmask] ; Edward Mulindwa
Cc: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2003 11:00 PM
Subject: MP Ogwal to sue Museveni
MP Ogwal to sue Museveni
By Badru D. Mulumba & Emmanuel Mugarura
Oct 1, 2003
Protests tapping her phone
KAMPALA - Outspoken Lira Municipality MP, Cecilia Ogwal, plans to sue President Yoweri Museveni for listening in on her phone conservations.
Ogwal also says she will sue her mobile telephone provider, MTN for not informing her that her phone had been tapped. She does not however, say when she plans to initiate the legal proceedings.
"MTN should also explain to me how a third party got access to my conversation. They must explain before the courts of law," an angry Ogwal said on Monday.
The warning comes weeks after Museveni told Parliament, on September 8, that he listened in on a conversation between Ogwal and a rebel commander of the Lord's Resistance Army, Mr Vincent Otti.
But yesterday, The Solicitor General, Lucien Tibaruha said that under the Ugandan law, Ogwal, or any one else, can't sue a president. She could however, sue government, he said.
"Let her try," Tibaruha said over telephone, adding: "we will be waiting."
And, MTN's Chief Marketing Officer, Mr Erik Van Veen said it is impossible in Uganda at the moment to tap an MTN to MTN phone call. He challenged any one with evidence to produce it.
Lt. Gen. David Tinyefuza was possibly the first high profile government official to complain about phone tapping after his failed bid to resign from the army in 1997.
At the time, Celtel Uganda was the only cellular phone provider in the country.
Let her sue
Mr Mike Chibita, the president's legal officer, said Ogwal can go ahead and sue.
He said: "What she needs to know is that there is a law that allows security organs to monitor phone calls".
"May be the president was not listening in on her [conversation], but to the rebels. What proof does she have that it was her phone being tapped?"
Chibita said that Ogwal would have to deduce such evidence to support her suit. She would also have to prove that she was aggrieved, Chibita said.
"Of course any one can sue, but the courts would sort them out," he said.
Capacity to tap
Security sources told The Monitor on Monday that the State and security agencies have capacity to tap phones.
The source said the first such phone tapping equipment was located at the Parliamentary buildings. The source however, would not say if the machine is still at the buildings.
The machine could only tap five phone lines at a time, the source said.
The Parliamentary buildings, also house the offices of the president and vice president. There is however an anti-bugging device, the source said.
"There is a group that had imported that device from South Africa, but we learnt of it and bought a counter [device]," the source said.
"Once someone is bugging your phone, he gets access to what you are saying and what the party on the other end of the line is saying. You can choose to record the proceedings, but there are hi tech machines that do self-recording," the source said.
In June last year, exiled former presidential candidate, Dr Kiiza Besigye also said that Military Intelligence personnel were tapping MTN phone calls.
Later, the Chief of Military Intelligence, Col. Noble Mayombo admitted on a Monitor FM talk show that he had recordings of Besigye's conversations. When contacted yesterday, Mayombo was elusive.
"You sue the attorney general. We work for government," he said, laughing. "Do you have the evidence?"
Pressed on how he would respond to the case, if at all it comes up, Mayombo added: "I am a lawyer, I know how to respond to that [in court]."
Uphill task
Samia Bugwe North MP, Aggrey Awori, who sits on the Presidential and Foreign Affairs Committee said it is hard suing government for phone tapping.
In this case, one would have to prove that government does not have permission from the judiciary to tap the phone, Awori said.
"It is a long process, of course," he said. "The way government works, [suing] it is close to impossible."
The Suppression of Terrorism Act allows a minister to authorise any one to intercept phone calls, letters, postal packages, faxes, e-mails.
The law, passed by Parliament in 2001, also grants access to bank accounts.
This authority must however be followed by an order from a magistrate, the law says. There is however, a provision in the law that allows a magistrate or any "person who claims to be aggrieved" by the surveillance to have it lifted.
"If you are a business man, you can win billions of shillings by showing that you lost a lot of business," Awori said.
"Otherwise, she [Ogwal] could reason that it [tapping] violates her human rights."
The law gives a seemingly broad category of areas in which ministers can obtain an order to intercept communication.
The law points out "safeguarding public interest," prevention of the violation of the fundamental and other human rights and freedoms of any person, preventing or detecting commission of any offence, and "safe guarding the national economy."
"And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, 'When will you be satisfied?' We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities (.) No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream". (Martin Luther King, 1964 Nobel Peace prize laureate, assassinated for his struggle)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
