Paul Ssali recalls how he was kept hungry for 24 hours which made him develop a high fever and headache. Here, he was taken out for treatment and his wounds were also dressed.
Paul Ssali, 40, an ardent supporter of opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) left Uganda in fear of his life after countless times he nearly lost it at the hands of the men in uniform.
In the heat of the 2021 general elections, Ssali vehemently showed his support for the singer-cum-politician saying he resonated with Kyagulanyi’s passion for a change of leadership to break the monopoly of President Yoweri Museveni who has ruled the country since 1986.
“I happily supported his campaign trail team by mobilising and soliciting funds to support the team in the field with fuel, food and accommodation facilitation. Belonging to a legally existing political party is my right under our constitution and engaging in any of its activities is not unlawful anywhere in our laws,” he says.
His involvement did not sit well with the security agents who linked him to some of the campaign agents in the field by tracking his phone number that he used to send them mobile money all the time.
The dreadful day
On May 23, 2021, after picking groceries on his way from church, at Happy Shoppers Supermarket in Gayaza, men covered with masks moving in a numberless and tinted van (locally known as a ‘drone’) picked him up.
“They started hitting me with their boots and batons all over the body, injuring me in the back, and they kept on asking me where I get the money that I give to the opposition team. The moment of my abduction created so much fear in me, but my experience in the safe house’ is unthinkable,” he says.
Ssali recalls how he was kept hungry for 24 hours which made him develop a high fever and headache. Here, he was taken out for treatment and his wounds were also dressed.
While dressing his wound on the back, one the officers interrogating him marked on his abdomen around the kidney area with a red hot metal rod saying if he did not tell them the truth about what Bobi Wine was planning and where exactly he was getting the money, his kidney was going to be removed.
“At this moment, I had not talked to any of my family members nor did they know where I was. On the fifth day incommunicado, I was hooded and driven at very high speed to Kasangati police station and put in the cell that had criminals. I was very weak and ill, however, I talked to the officer in charge of the cells that I needed to talk to my family.”
Ssali added that the Police officer asked for money, I told him it do not have, but my family members will give him money if he agrees to help.
“I used his phone to call my wife and she was relieved and they came to see me. Because of COVID-19, the country was on a lockdown and transport means were limited but they arranged and visited me at the police station.”
Ms Caroline Ssali Bakyala, the wife of Ssali , narrates that her husband was abducted on May 23, 2021 around noon. She explains that they pray as a family but that day he went alone since she had a birthday party at her sister’s place.
“Two hours later when he did not reach my sister’s home in Gayaza for lunch, I started calling his phone and it was off. I called home and they said he had not reached there. I got worried and immediately left with the kids, on my way I saw his car at the grocery we normally use,”she recalls.
Ms Ssali shares that one of the workers at the grocery who witnessed what happened told her that her husband was blindfolded and driven in a silver van which had no number plates. The eye witness also recounted Mr Ssali being beaten as he yelled ‘please don’t kill me’
“We searched all mortuaries, hospitals and police stations for him and prisons but he was nowhere until the fifth day when he was dropped at the Kasangati Police. But one policeman said ‘but your husband supports NUP and I wondered how he knew.”
Ms Ssali reveals that she did not receive any letter, message or phone call requesting her to respond to the issues concerning her husband’s disappearance anywhere yet we they reported the matter.
Getting his partial freedom
The following day, Kasangati Police District Police Commander (DPC) granted him bail on police bond and he was let out for proper medical attention.
“I feared to be rearrested upon my release, so I used the back door at the police station, took off with a motorcycle which had been arranged by my sister. I stayed at my sister’s place for a week living in fear, trauma and depression,” he recounts.
When he reported to police for his bond to be extended, the officer in charge of his case told him that the State Attorney advised him to forward his file to court for prosecution.
This was done but whenever he appeared for mention, the Magistrate would always adjourn and the case has never been heard.
Looking for a way out
After realizing that a number of NUP supporters such as Bobi Young were being kidnapped and some were yet to be found after many months of searching.
Also, another key member of the legal team who used to bail out and fight for the release of party supporters from prison, Shamim Malende was out of the country on medication for months over a suspected poison attack.
Bobi Wine, also on a weekly basis, kept announcing a list of party members who had been abducted and taken to unknown locations.
“I got more worried. I went into hiding at our village Koko-Kalagala while waiting to find money to assist with my travel. At home, my family was constantly harassed by unknown people asking about my whereabouts. Some of the men would be dressed in army uniform and this caused my wife to fear and run away to her village Mityana with the children.”
He shares that he was leaving in fear of being rearrested again for life, the memories of the safe houses were emotionally draining him causing more depression and memory lapses, sleepless nights in thoughts, and fear of being away from his family.
“When our party head of the legal team and the lawyer who also fought for my release at the police station passed away, my fear heightened. I cannot talk about what I am going through with my family, you know when you speak, government agents come for you, but again even in silence they still come and find us, I decided to leave the country’’ he added.
Who is Ssali?
Born in Masaka District, central Uganda, Paul Ssali is a Ugandan citizen married with children, he is also a graduate of Automotive & Power Engineering from Kyambogo University.
His disappearance was also a subject of a recent probe by the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) whose chairperson, Mariam Wangadya, on May 12 revealed that files of 20 missing persons had been closed.
“It will be futile for us to keep these files open when the people provided to us as the next of kin are not interested in these cases, and we are still working on many others,” Ms Wangadya said.
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