The High Court in Kampala has awarded 10 million shillings to Malcolm Lukwiya after finding that he was unlawfully detained at Nalufenya Police Station in Jinja for about 16 days without being produced before a court.
In a judgment delivered electronically, Justice Bernard Namanya of the Civil Division of the High Court has ruled that Lukwiya’s right to personal liberty was violated when he was held beyond the 48 hours permitted under Article 23 of the Constitution. However, the court has dismissed Lukwiya’s claims of torture and extra-judicial rendition, saying they were not sufficiently proved.
Lukwiya had sued the Attorney General, accusing Ugandan security agencies of unlawfully arresting, detaining, torturing and transferring him between Kenya and Uganda in 2015.
The 17-year-old at that time, told court that on July 1, 2015, he was arrested at Wangige Taxi Stage in Nairobi by a team of armed security operatives whom he described as both Ugandan and Kenyan officers. He said he was taken to the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit headquarters in Kenya before being detained alongside his brother Oneka Emmanuel, while waiting to meet Sadat Ssenabulya.
According to his testimony, he was later transported to Uganda on July 3, handcuffed, hooded and placed in the boot of a vehicle before ending up at the notorious Nalufenya Police Station. While there, he said he was held in a dark room, denied access to relatives and interrogated about alleged links to Islamic terrorist groups operating in Somalia, South Sudan and Tanzania.
Lukwiya further alleged that he was assaulted during interrogation, including being punched and threatened by security personnel and wrongly accused to be the murderer of a one Sheikh Hassan Kirya. According to Lukwiya, Kenya’s Sgt. Ezekiel Luley covered his head with a black hood and later gave him food which he believed had been drugged, causing him to fall asleep until he arrived at Nalufenya Police Station in Jinja, Uganda. He said he was returned to Kenya on July 19, 2015, without undergoing immigration procedures and was later released on September 11th, 2025, after terrorism-related charges against him were dropped.
His father, Webster Lukwiya, testified that he struggled to establish his son’s whereabouts after the arrest and was initially unable to obtain information from security agencies. He told court that after his son’s release, he observed bruises and signs of psychological distress which he believed resulted from his detention. The Attorney General denied all allegations and arguing that Lukwiya’s transfer from Kenya to Uganda did not amount to extra-judicial rendition.
Government called Omoding Wilson Otuna, the former officer in charge of Nalufenya Police Station. Otuna testified that he never received any complaint from Lukwiya alleging torture while in detention.He also stated that no complaint regarding torture was lodged during his time at the facility.
Otuna further told court that Kenyan police officers picked up Lukwiya from Nalufenya on July 19, 2015. He disputed some aspects of Lukwaiya’s account, including claims involving officers whom Lukwiya alleged had tortured him. In his judgement, Justice Namanya found that the torture allegations were not supported by medical evidence. The judge noted that no medical reports, treatment records or testimony from medical personnel were presented to corroborate claims of physical abuse.
“Although the plaintiff/Lukwiya alleged that he was tortured while in police detention, he did not adduce medical evidence in support of that allegation,” the judge held. The court has also declined to find that Lukwiya had been subjected to extra-judicial rendition, saying the available evidence was insufficient to conclusively establish that he had been unlawfully transferred from Kenya to Uganda outside established legal processes.
However, the judge found that both Lukwiya ‘s evidence and the respondent’s testimony confirmed that he was detained at Nalufenya from July 3 to July 19, 2015, without being produced before a court in Uganda. Justice Namanya observed that the detention far exceeded the constitutional 48-hour limit and that government had offered no legal justification for holding him for such a prolonged period. “The defendant adduced no evidence to proove such detention or show that the plaintiff was held pursuant to any recognized judicial order or legal process in Uganda,” he ruled.
As such, the court has held the Attorney General vicariously liable for the actions of police officers involved in the unlawful detention and awarded Lukwiya 10 million in compensation. Government was also ordered to pay the costs of the suit to the man who was represented by Lawyer Stella Nakamya from Ladislaus Rwakafuuzi law firm of Rwakafuuzi and Company Advocates-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
