Kampala — THE Director of Public Prosecution has dropped defilement charges against the disaster preparedness state minister, Musa Ecweru, because the victim could not be traced.
The minister was accused of impregnating a 17-year-old girl, a serious charge that carries a death penalty. The matter came up when Steven Okiror, said to be the girl's father, lodged a case in court as a private prosecution.
Ecweru vehemently denied the charges and blamed his political enemies of framing him.
Initially it looked like a genuine complaint - a father seeking legal redress for an abused daughter. The Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) joined, saying it was seeking justice for the young girl.
With cases of defilement being covered up, this one was to set a precedent for punishing big men who commit sex crimes and are never reported - either out of fear or they pay the victims to keep quiet.
FIDA vowed to purse the case. Officials of the institution known to fight for women's rights told the media that FIDA was in contact with the alleged victim who was being kept in a safe place. But it now seems this was not true, unless FIDA comes up with an explanation for her disappearance.
Before the DPP took over the prosecution, FIDA had failed to produce the complainant and the victim on October 3 when the case came up in court. Now it has been dropped because Police could not trace the two, raising questions that FIDA has to answer or risk losing credibility.
Did the girl and father exist? Did FIDA talk to them? What happened?
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When and where will it end ? NRM, National Rats Movement, and their leader Museveni have just exonerated two cabinet minsters who were caught ripping off Ugandan workers, it is outrageous that this child molester, Ecweru is still serving as a minister and representing the people whose children he is molesting. This felony rat has no business representing Soroti. Museveni and his NRMers don't deserve, as they have never deserved to lead Uganda. They are criminal rats.