Besigye in court for bail

Retired Col. Kizza Besigye

The High Court in Kampala is today expected to hear the bail application filed by remanded former presidential candidate Kizza Besigye.
Dr Besigye, who is currently on remand at Luzira prison, faces charges of treason that are only triable by the High Court. The head of the Criminal Division of the High Court, justice Wilson Masalu Musene will hear this bail application. The hearing of Dr Besigye’s bail application had been scheduled for Wednesday last week but was deferred to today 9.30am because it coincided with Idd-el-Fitr. This bail application arose on June 7 when Dr Besigye through the prison authorities, applied to be released on bail pending hearing of the treason case whose date has not yet been fixed.

The former Luweero bush war fighter cited several grounds for his release on bail. Some of the grounds that he cited are being of advanced age of 60 years, uncertainty of when his treason trial will commence, having substantial sureties, non-interference with investigations and being ready to abide by the court’s bail terms. Read more

Judiciary moves to end prison congestion

To decongest East Africa’s most congested prisons in Uganda; the judiciary has sought and secured Shs 4bn.

According to deputy Chief Justice Steven Kavuma, the money will help the cash-strapped judiciary run the limping criminal court sessions and reduce on the case backlog.

“Each quarter, the judiciary will handle at least twenty criminal sessions to tackle case backlog in criminal trials. The judiciary leadership is working with the government to increase the number of judges and magistrates to ease and hasten the adjudication of cases,” Kavuma said on Wednesday at the annual plea bargaining conference held at Kabira country club in Kampala.

Kavuma’s remarks come on the coat-tails of recent reports which suggested that Uganda has more than 38,000 inmates instead of the recommended 15,000, which makes its prisons the most congested in the East African region. In his speech, Justice Kavuma urged the Principal Judge Yorokamu Bawmine to market, sensitize and roll out plea bargaining throughout Uganda.

“More than 2,500 cases have been disposed of since 2014. Plea bargaining has taken root and possesses great potential to improve on the landscape for criminal justice in Uganda,” Kavuma said. 

Plea bargain is an alternative dispute resolution mechanism. Under plea bargain, a criminal suspect agrees to plead guilty to a particular charge in return for either a lenient penalty or some deal from the prosecutor. The programme has been instituted ostensibly to reduce on the case backlog and at times it has promoted reconciliation between the victims and accused persons.

Justice Kavuma, who  stood in for Chief Justice Bart Katureebe, warned that more resources are needed if plea bargain is to succeed. Read more

Law Society boss: rule of law in steady decline in Uganda

Since FRANCIS GIMARA took over as president Uganda Law Society, three months ago, he has steered the professional association to regaining its activist approach to the rule of law.

From condemning court orders on the defiance campaign to writing to the chief justice about Dr Kizza Besigye's trial. Sulaiman Kakaire asked Gimara about his new leadership and how he intends to redefine the new path for ULS.

Of recent you have been very vocal on the rule of law; what would you say to skeptics who think this ‘activism’ of yours will disappear as you firmly take charge of your new office?

Well, I take over at a time when the five-year strategic plan of Uganda Law Society came to an end. And as of now we are engaged in the design of the new strategic plan, which will prioritize rule of law.

And, by the way, this is part of the statutory mandate of the Uganda Law Society as stipulated in the Uganda Law Society Act. We shall pursue it through our leadership, it is not any other stunt; there is much good will from members and everything has been thought about.

Well, the previous leadership came with the same promise, but soon we saw ULS rushing to nominate a member to have the lord mayor impeached or disown statements!

Well, I am not here to assess the previous leadership but I think that they have their strengths. How are we going to be different? I have proposed to have a proactive approach to the issues of rule of law that will involve consistent engagement until the culture of rule of law is entrenched by all the stakeholders in the country. To this end, we are finalizing the final aspects of the Rule of Law Project.

Under this project, we will have a Rule of Law Advisory Committee composed of eminent members of the ULS. This committee will routinely advise on matters of rule of law in the country and will work with the ULS Council and the Committee on Rule of Law and Strategic Litigation to advance the rule of law agenda in the country.

Secondly, we will work with all the stakeholders to ensure that we build a strong judiciary that will be able to effectively perform its role as a custodian of law and of justice.  The importance of a strong judiciary in advancing the rule of law cannot be [overstated].

So, we are to play an important role to ensure there is independence of the judiciary, particularly on the appointment of judicial officers and respect of the court process. We have been receiving briefs on the work of the Judicial Service Commission and we intend to raise concerns about its work. Read more