On Monday, the FDC secretary for mobilisation, INGRID TURINAWE, was arrested by police and taken to what was hitherto an unknown destination.
Until yesterday, nobody knew her whereabouts. In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, she was returned to her home. Turinawe yesterday told Benon Herbert Oluka what she went through.
"After I was arrested [in Gayaza], I was driven up to Nakasongola. The first thing they did was to make sure that I didn't communicate with anyone. Nobody knew where I was. I was thrown into police cells in Nakasongola district.
The only defiance tool I had was to reject their food because [I felt that] that food was not safe for me. Considering their actions of driving me all the way from here up to Nakasongola without telling anybody, you would also suspect some sinister motive. I thought they were hiding me from my people in order to give me food that can kill me.
I told them: "I will not eat your food. I will only eat food at home."
So, for two nights I didn't eat. I was weakening. They could clearly see that my health was not good because I was not eating anything. I did not even take a spoonful of water.
After some time, the police in Nakasongola developed a disagreement with the people who had arrested me. The police officers were saying: 'We cannot keep someone here who is not eating because she is going to die from here.'
They tried to give me food but I refused. At first they thought I was rejecting posho so they improvised and said they will give me other food which is not posho. They even said they can give me a chicken which I can cook for myself, but I told them: 'I cannot eat. What I need is only food from home which would be a way that would connect me with people so they know where I am.'
My situation worsened. They [the police in Nakasongola] started exchanging with people who had arrested me. They said: 'You allow her to talk to her people so that they can bring her food. If not, we will release her.'
That is the situation that forced them to come and pick me at midnight [on Monday] and drive me up to Kireka. At around 3am in Kireka, they entered me on their register but with a backdated date, because even in Nakasongola they had not registered me as a suspect. After entering me in the register, they wanted me to sign out within that very minute.
I said: 'No. I will not sign out because I was not arrested [from] here.'
Finally, they signed a bond for me and instructed me to report today [Tuesday] at 10am. I said, 'No. I will not come back. If you want me tomorrow at 10am, please keep me around. I am not complaining.
They started calling and consulting and, after that, they put me back in the van and drove me home. We arrived home at 4am."
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