Uganda Law Society vice president Anthony Asiimwe and other lawyers representing maverick city lawyer Male Mabirizi Kiwanuka blasted ruthless State Prosecutor Richard Birivumbuka for valuing celebrating Valentine’s Day more than helping prisoners get justice and liberty.
The lawyers’ lost their patience after Birivumbuka told Buganda Road Chief Magistrate Ritah Kidasa Wanyama that the reason why him and other lawyers in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP) did not investigate Mabirizi’s documents which support his bail application was because of valentine’s day celebrations.
“Your worship, we received these documents on the 13th day of February 2026, on 14th we didn’t get time to examine their authenticity because it was a public holiday and people were celebrating valentine’s day,” Birivumbuka said.
He explained that they need two weeks to examine the said documents with other government agencies so as to come up with a serious response concerning Mabirizi’s bail application.
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Yasin Ssentumbwe Munnagomba was the first to blast Birivumbuka reminding him that the office that pays him millions of monies to enjoy with his loved ones during the Valentine’s Day gets the money from tax payers like Mabirizi adding that he is in the said office to offer services to Ugandans and he should not think that he is helping them.
“Birivumbuka, you should know that people like Mabirizi are the ones buying you those beautiful suits, those shoes and the internet in the public office to serve them, you should not abandon state duties because you are celebrating Valentine’s Day. It is betrayal,” Ssentumbwe said.
He added that Ugandans like Muhammad Ssegirinya the former Kawempe North Member of Parliament died because of reckless state officers who thought that by giving him the go ahead to get medication, they were helping him.
He noted that currently, opposition strongman Dr Kizza Besigye is on sick bed in Luzira prison as Birivumbuka and other prosecutors are moving around boasting that he should face the law without thinking about his life as a Ugandan.
Birivumbuka was the lead prosecutor in Ssegirinya case which was related to murder and terrorism, and he is also in Besigye’s case as a prosecutor.
Joan Keko, a long serving Buganda Road Chief State Attorney put up a spirit fight in defending his senior colleague insisting that he was quoted out of context because Valentine’s Day was celebrated over the weekend noting that being a public officers, it does not remove rights as Ugandans.
She insisted that they need two weeks’ time to respond to Mabirizi’s application which annoyed the accused person and he asked Birivumbuka and Keko if they have ever been in prison and if they understand the situation he is currently going through.
“Birivumbuka, you’re a bad person, we have always been here with you but now you want me to die in prison. I can assure you, you will pay,” a furious Mabirizi said.
The presiding magistrate Ritah Kidasa Wanyama saved the situation by giving Friday next week as the date when State will respond on Mabirizi’s bail application. She asked Mabirizi to stop issuing threatening statements against Birivumbuka.
Asiimwe pleaded with Birivumbuka not to use his official office to revenge and punish Mabirizi a fellow Ugandan.
Birivumbuka defended himself that whatever he was doing was in good faith not in bad faith as Mabirizi and his lawyers claim. He divulged that his client the Chief Justice Dr Flavian Zeija and Court of Appeal Judge Musa Ssekaana also want justice.
Mabirizi was charged with offences related to hate speech against the person of the Chief Justice and Justice Ssekaana.
This website understands that even though Mabirizi is fighting for bail, the operatives in the police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) are also cooking two other criminal files against him including one where the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Lino Anguzu is the complainant.
