Ugandan prison officers urged the government to abolish...

Ugandan prison officers urged the government to abolish the death penalty and forwarded their proposals to end capital punishment to a commission reviewing the East African nation's constitution, a prisons service spokeswoman said.
The Prisons Department, in its recommendations to the Constitutional Review Commission, argued that it would be better to rehabilitate prisoners instead of executing them, Mary Kaddu said.
"We are proposing life imprisonment instead of executions. It's a very traumatizing job (carrying out executions)," she said. "You have been with someone for 17 years and you have created a relationship with him or her. When that person is executed, you become affected mentally and morally."
There are 354 people on death row in Uganda, and 38 people have been executed ? by hanging ? in the last 10 years, Kaddu said. The last executions took place in 1999 when 12 people were hanged.
Those convicted of murder, rape, treason or armed robbery with violence can be sentenced to death in the East African nation.
President Yoweri Museveni, who seized power in 1986 after leading a five-year bush war, set up the Constitutional Review Commission in 2001 to see what changes were needed in the current constitution which was introduced in 1989.
The review commission is supposed to gather opinions on the constitution from individuals, non-governmental groups and state institutions such as the Prisons Department. It is supposed to draft a report on its findings which will be presented to parliament to debate later in 2003.