Human Rights Commission investigating presidential adviser

Controversy surrounds Senior Presidential Adviser Major Roland Kakooza Mutale who is accused of "dumping" 20 people,including 17 children, from Gulu at the premises of the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) in Kampala. Local press reports quoted Mutale as saying he brought the children to Kampala to protect them from "revenge killings" by freed convicts who had reportedly murdered their parents in the Paicho sub-county area of the northern Gulu district. Mutale was involved in the arrest and prosecution of a group of 15 people charged with collaborating with the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)and gross human rights abuses. However, the UHRC accused Kakooza of "abducting" the children, in order to "prove his point" that the convicts should not have been freed. They were released by President Yoweri Museveni after an appeal by local people. Not only do the locals say the ex-convicts are innocent, but also that there were no killings in Paicho sub-county, media sources told IRIN on Thursday. Analysts say the claims and counter-claims have left the president confused as to who is telling the truth. "The greatest thing with the president is that he never panics," Senior Presidential Adviser for media and public relations John Nagenda told IRIN. "He is looking into the matter very carefully and I know a solution will be found." He said the government was awaiting the findings of the UHRC investigation. UHRC's public relations officer Marion Ndamulira told IRIN the issue was complex. "The contradictory facts will be sorted out," she said. She added that the commission had written to Mutale about the allegations against him "but he never replies to any of the letters".