Museveni wants return of death penalty in Uganda

The last time Uganda conducted an execution was 13 years ago but president Yoweri Museveni is expressing regret over failure to carry hang anyone as the “law of Moses” dictates.

The 73-year-old president posted an apologetic message on his official Twitter handle saying; “We believe in the Law of Moses; eye for an eye. I have been making the mistake of not sanctioning these death sentences, I am repenting,” read the tweet.

I saw some NGOs opposing the death sentence. In a pre-Industrial society like ours removing the death sentence is a recipe for chaos. We believe in the Law of Moses; eye for an eye. I have been making the mistake of not sanctioning these death sentences, I am repenting. pic.twitter.com/X8zzDjrzvW

— Yoweri K Museveni (@KagutaMuseveni) January 22, 2018

This is after some non-governmental organisations opposed Museveni’s move to enforce death penalties in the country after vowing at a warden’s graduation ceremony that; “Criminals think they have a right to kill people and keep their heads… I am going to revise a bit and hang a few.”

Mr. Museveni however dismissed their opposition saying a “pre-industrial” country like Uganda needs such penalties to avoid chaos.

Some critics say police put more effort into targeting President Museveni’s opponents than into catching criminals, BBC reports.

“In the face of a limited workforce, my advice to the Judiciary would be to prioritise the type of cases to expedite. Cases of murder, rape, homicides, commercial cases should be given priority. If we have a backlog, let it be for cases like divorce,” Museveni tweeted.

Most African and European countries that were embracing the death penalty have since dropped. If Uganda enforces the penalty it will join the list of the few African countries that have continued to push that pedal including Chad, Egypt, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan.