Thursday, March 21, 2024, appeared to be like any other ordinary working day for Susan Mwogelerwa.
She woke up as usual and went to her workplace, Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL), along Hannington Road in Nakasero, Kampala.
At 9.00 am, she went into a meeting with colleagues and put forward her ideas like she normally did.
However, after the meeting, two colleagues, Edith Mukama and Christine Ninsiima, approached her. Mukama is a senior administration officer at UETCL, while Ninsiima is a human resources officer at the organisation.
The two told her to accompany them to some place.
“Where are you taking me?” Mwogelerwa asked Mukama and Nansiima. “Just near here. We want to have a small chat, but we don’t want to hold it in the office. You can’t trust anybody,” they assured her.
Mwogelerwa says that shortly after agreeing to move with them, the situation changed. Mukama and Ninsiima became forceful.
Once outside in the parking lot, they forced her into a vehicle, which drove away. Mwogelerwa knew Mukama and Ninsiima as colleagues and did not suspect they would harm her.
After a short while, the vehicle entered Nakasero Hospital. She was confused. At first, she thought that perhaps one of her relatives had been admitted to the hospital in a critical condition and that Mukama and Ninsiima did not want to alert her.
Shortly, she found out that she was the patient.
By her nature, Mwogelerwa admits that she is very argumentative, the kind of person who can start a quarrel in an empty room.
Because of her quarrelsome nature, some of Mwogelerwa’s colleagues had quietly concluded that she had a mental problem which needed to be urgently treated.
Back to the story. At Nakasero Hospital, she claims she was overpowered by medical staff, dragged to a room, and injected with a substance that made her lose consciousness.
Mwogelerwa insists she had no prior knowledge of these arrangements and had not agreed to them, and strongly objected to being treated as mentally ill.
Once she regained consciousness, Mwogelerwa found herself admitted under medical care. She says her phones had been taken, so there was no way she could communicate with her friends and relatives.
She pleaded with medical staff and her two workmates to take her to Butabika Hospital to confirm whether she was indeed mentally ill.
Her request was granted, but she says she was transferred under degrading and inhumane conditions. Her hands were tied like a thief.
At Butabika, she was examined by a psychiatrist and found not to have any mental illness, to the disbelief of Mukama and Ninsiima.
At this point, Mwogelerwa decided to sue Mukama, Ninsiima, and Nakasero Hospital for the physical, psychological, and medical harm she underwent.
She told the court that Mukama, Ninsiima, and Nakasero Hospital had violated her fundamental rights, including her dignity and personal liberty.
“They used force and administered unknown substances without my consent,” Mwogelerwa said, which in her view amounted to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.
But Mukama and Ninsiima gave a very different version of events.
They did not deny taking her to the hospital, but they rejected the claim that their actions were malicious or unlawful.
Ninsiima told the court that Mwogelerwa’s behaviour at work had raised serious concerns about her mental state.
From their perspective, the decision to take her to the hospital was necessary.
“The steps taken to have Mwogelerwa assessed at a medical facility were undertaken in good faith and in the interest of her health and safety,” they told the court.
Mukama also maintained that Mwogelerwa had shown behaviour that warranted medical attention and that taking her to the hospital was justified under the circumstances.
In its defence, Nakasero Hospital maintained that it acted lawfully and professionally at all times. They said Mwogelerwa was “lawfully received, admitted, and managed in accordance with professional medical standards and applicable law.”
The hospital rejected allegations of torture or degrading treatment.
Mwogelerwa pushed back strongly, arguing that her forced removal from the workplace and treatment without consent were clear violations of her rights.
Her lawyers challenged Nakasero Hospital’s legal filings, saying some affidavits were filed late and without proper authority.
In a brief ruling, Justice Collins Acellam said the issues raised by all parties required evidence and could not be decided at the preliminary stage like Mwogelerwa had wanted.
Justice Acellam ruled that the case should proceed to a full hearing.
Good