The Deputy Solicitor General Christopher Gashirabake has been cleared of sexual harassment allegations.
This followed the accusation by Senior State Attorney, Samantha Mwesigye, of sexually harassing her for a period of 10 years that they have both worked at the justice and constitutional affairs ministry.
Mwesigye had claimed that
Gashirabake victimized her at the workplace by denying her travel opportunities
abroad and removing her from key contract committees in various government
agencies.
Mwesigye, among other issues, alleged that Gash had consistently sent her
unsolicited love notes while assigning her or on Whatsapp, which she ignored.
As a result of rejecting his advances.
However,
a committee that was instituted to investigate the claims is not convinced that
Mwesigye had no avenues to report the alleged harassment for a decade has not
found Gash as known by Many guilty.
The document released on 31st July states that, It is the
observation of the committee that the complainant had all avenues to report
sexual harassment but chose not to do so.
“For example from the year 2007, the office of the Solicitor General has been
held by five different solicitor generals, two of whom were female. They were
senior to and supervised the respondent. This was in addition to other ladies
who held positions as directors and were senior or at the same level of
seniority with the respondent” the committee stated in a July 31, 2019
report.
The committee found out that in 2007, Gash was a principal state attorney, and
therefore not wielding that much power which Mwesigye alluded to.
The committee also found no evidence that the complainant was denied travel
opportunities abroad as a form of victimization to seek sexual favours.
“Upon careful perusal (of Mwesigye’s complaint), the committee noted that
the statement was more of a demand for additional travels than a complaint of
sexual harassment,” the report stated.
“There was no evidence of implied or express promise of preferential
treatment or a threat of detrimental treatment. There was no evidence that the
bulk of nominations signed by the respondent were done in order to procure or
after receiving sexual favours, ” it added
The report further said that an internal probe in the ministry was carried out
to find out if Mwesigye had been deliberately withdrawn from various contract
committees as she alleged. It was discovered that she was a member of the
Privatisation Unit, Cotton Development Organization, Uganda National Cultural
Center and the Office of the Prime Minister.
“The committee accordingly finds no victimisation was occasioned and
found it strange for the complainant to use this allegation to insinuate sexual
harassment,” said the report.
“When a contracts committee has no work, one ceases to be a member,”
it added.
On Love messages, the committee said it
was not availed the original copy of the sticker note with words “with
love from Gash.” Mwesigye had alleged that Gash typically signed off as
such while assigning her.
“The committee finds no evidence to prove that the complainant was the
intended recipient of the sticker note since it was not directly addressed to
her. The committee was, however, unable to determine whether the sticker-note
was written by the respondent.”
On the alleged love WhatsApp messages, the report said it was “common
knowledge that since Whatsapp messages are encrypted, they could not be
verified by mobile networks.”
“The committee had resolved that during the hearing of both parties, the
complainant would be requested to prove whether the WhatsApp messages were
printed from her cellphone or otherwise. The respondent would also be required
to provide his cell phone for purposes of comparison. ..However, the
complainant declined to appear before the committee and when the
respondent appeared, he denied sending “love you ” message.”
It reiterates that ” the allegation of sexual harassment has not been
proved against the respondent accordingly.”
RECOMMENDATIONS
Besides the existence of the standing committee on sexual harassment where such
complaints can be channelled to, the report stressed that the justice ministry
now has a designated person in charge of sexual harassment, one Harriet Lwabi,
who is also the director first parliamentary counsel.
It calls for proVision of several avenues for reporting sexual harassment to
the committee which includes whistleblowing.
“This will give employees several options to report their complaints…The
ministry should develop anti-harassment policies and procedures and communicate
them to members of staff; as well as develop effective mechanisms for
reporting, investigating sexual harassment; and resolving related
complaints.”
The report also recommended that the ministry should spread all travel
opportunities abroad and assignments contracts committees of various
directorates and regional offices of the ministry.
“This will de-concentrate the activity from the directorate of legal
advisory services which seem to breed monopoly and infighting. It will also
equally benefit all State Attorney’s in the ministry and guarantee
efficiency,” it reads.
It also calls for the amendment of the law to provide adequate and resonance
time within which to carry out meaningful investigations.
The report adds that a rotational programme should be developed for deployment
of legal staff periodically to different directorates and departments,
including transfers to the six regional offices.
“This would break the monotony and routine nature of work and it will ane
bale crossbreed and multi-skilling of staff as a key input for career progress.
The report was signed by the administrator general and chairperson of the
committee Charles Kasibayo, secretary Law Council Margaret Apiny,
principal assistant secretary Paul Muzaale, and human resource assistant
commissioner Joan Natwenda.
Mwesigye’s position
The committee, which started its work in April accuses the complainant
(Mwesigye) of failing to physically appear before the probe even after being
summoned, numerous times.
It relied on an earlier complaint that Mwesigye had filed with the Solicitor
General and pieces of evidence she had forwarded to the committee to reach the
conclusion.
However, when contacted, yesterday, Mwesigye told New Vision that she only
received one invitation dated June 13, 2019.
“The report’s allegation of numerous invitations is false. However, my
lawyers Chapter Four Uganda, wrote to the committee on June 17, 2019, to ask if
they were aware of the of a letter we wrote to the Solicitor General dated May
29, 2019, raising concerns over the process of setting up the committee, to
guarantee fairness. I had also earlier written asking if the committee intended
to meet me. They did not respond,” Mwesigye told New Vision.
GASHIRABAKE’s STAND
Appearing before the committee on July 3, Gash denied ever having sexually
harassing or victimising Mwesigye.
He stated that he enjoyed a cordial working relationship with Mwesigye. That he
never sent her ‘love you’ messages as alleged and that this word appears once
in her entire submission, and wondered how it appeared in the middle of
official communication.
When pressed further, he said it is possible that a message can wrongly
be sent to an unintended recipient and that he does not remember ever sending
such words to Mwesigye.
