Nandala, Journalist Odeke to sue govt for 400million
By Our Reporter
4th July 2011: KAMPALA – Budadiri West MP and Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Hon. Nandala Mafabi together with a Journalist Julius Odeke have filed a suit against government seeking nearly 400million shillings in damages, following a shooting incident in which the two were injured during February’s presidential and parliamentary elections.
The lawyer representing the two – Gilbert Baguma has written to the Attorney General informing him of their intention to institute a suit against government in the High Court. Nandala and Odeke claim that UPDF soldiers allegedly acting under direct orders from the then Minister for the Presidency Dr Beatrice Wabudeya opened fire on a vehicle carrying them, injuring both of them on election day.
A copy of the letter obtained by Uganda Correspondent indicates that it was served on the Attorney General on 13th June 2011. It states that the First Plaintiff Julius Odeke, a freelance Journalist who was covering the election for Razor newspaper and the Chinese news agency Xinhua in Budadiri West, Sironko district was shot at by the UPDF and the Presidential Guard brigade resulting into grievous injuries to Odeke.
Hon. Nandala on the other hand, the letter says, sustained minor injuries. The letter however adds that, “…a number of vehicles belonging to Nandala Mafabi that formed part of his convoy on that day were extensively vandalized, damaged, and riddled with bullets by the intended defendant’s said agents”.
The plaintiffs also alleged in their notice of intention to sue that after the shooting, the UPDF soldiers who were acting on the orders of the said intended defendant abandoned them for the dead and they never bothered at all to ensure that the injured intended plaintiffs received medical attention.
“…It was the second plaintiff’s constituents who transported the injured duo to Mbale referral hospital for medical treatment before they resorted to a number of private medical facilities which the first intended plaintiff continues to receive at a fee to date”, the letter read in part.
A complaint was made by the intended plaintiffs at Sironko police station under reference CRB 214/2011. Hon. Nandala Mafabi contends that he has incurred colossal expenses replacing the shattered windscreens and other body parts of his vehicles which were also grounded for a long time denying him income and disrupting his movement schedules without the intended defendant offering a single penny in compensation or even an apology with the same prominence the shooting was effected.
Mr. Gilbert Baguma, the Lawyer for the two said, “…it shall be averred that at the time the First Plaintiff was shot, he was the sole bread earner of his extended family which has had to go without food and other necessaries owing to the highhanded and unprovoked attack on him which totally disrupted his life as he had to be admitted to a number of hospitals to extricate the several bullets lodged in his body and losing his tools of trade”.
Baguma adds that his clients were attacked by security agents as they were carrying out their constitutional obligations in a civil exercise and they were not aware of any declaration by the intended defendant turning the district of Sironko into a war zone necessitating deployment of heavy military hardware and transforming that district into an army garrison.
“…The plaintiff shall further prove that the actual perpetrators and the commanders who oversaw the shooting have walked away scot-free and have never been punished for their wanton and reckless acts thus implicitly sanctioning the impunity and brutality meted upon the unarmed intended plaintiffs by the intended defendant’s agents”, Baguma said in his letter.
The letter also revealed that the intended plaintiffs [Nandala and Odeke] have spent and or lost a liquidated sum of approximately Shs375,360,400 for which they seek a refund and also pray that judgment be entered against the intended defendant for punitive damages assessed by court to atone for the intended defendant’s agents highhanded and wanton shooting of the plaintiffs.
In his supporting medical report dated 16th June 2011, Dr Joseph Epodoi said Julius Odeke, a 33 year old male, sustained gunshot wounds on that fateful day as there was an extensive laceration on his right lateral chest wall, partial (about 60%) transaction of the belly of latissimus dorsi muscle on right side was affected with haemtoma formation (massive) in wound about 300mls.
As a result, Dr. Joseph Epodoi recommended further treatment for Julius Odeke in his report. “…There is need for physiotherapy and post traumatic stress counseling”, the Doctor said. END. Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.
