The Officer In Charge of Luzira Upper Maximum-Security prisons Bryn Mbaziira has assured Justice Emmanuel Baguma of the Criminal Division of the High Court and lawyers that his decisions on how to manage opposition strongman Dr Kizza Besigye in the prison are guided by superiors above him because of his status in the country.
Justice Baguma who is presiding over the trial of Besigye and his co-accused summoned Mbaziira to answer to allegations made by Besigye’s lawyers which include violating their client’s basic human rights of denying him privacy when discussing his case with his lawyers, being in solitary confinement and not allowing his lawyers to go with their law books when visiting him.
In a four-hour meeting in Justice Baguma’s chambers, a number of issues were discussed and according to several sources who attended the meeting, top on the agenda was why Besigye is not allowed to associate with other inmates and why he is in solitary confinement.
In his response, Mbaziira told Court that it is true Besigye is not allowed to associate with other inmates.
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He explained that the directive was issued by his bosses when he was away on training therefore, he has no option apart from executing it.
He however explained that Besigye looks not bothered insisting that other high-profile inmates who are neighbours to his prison cell like Julius Chelimo the former Bukwo district chairperson have praised being put under solitary confinement arguing that it gives them time to think and reflect on their lives and he thinks Besigye is also in the same situation.
However, when he was placed on wall by Besigye’s lawyers led by senior counsel Ernest Kalibala who contended that whatever he is doing was violating Besigye’s rights and cannot be practiced in a modern society, he said that he will consult his bosses because they are the ones to take the final decision.
He promised that once he gets feedback from his bosses, he will report back to Court.
However, Besigye’s wife Winnie Byanyima wrote on her X handle that it was agreed that Besigye will be allowed to associate with other inmates for three hours every day. But sources some of who attended the meeting said that she was misinformed.
Another issue was confiscating Besigye’s open letters to Ugandans, members of his political party the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) and religious councils of Uganda including the one he wrote in the presence of his lawyers led by Kampala Lord Mayor Ssalongo Erias Lukwago who he had tasked to read it to Ugandans.
Lukwago claimed that when he presented the letter to Mbaziira for approval, he gave it to another prisons officer a one Kwikiriza to photocopy and have a prison’s copy on Besigye’s file but he never returned Lukwago his copy.
Mbaziira insisted that he was not aware why Kwekiriza never returned the copy.
He was grilled but serial city litigant Male Mabirizi who was imprisoned in Upper Prison for eighteen months who accused him of lying to the judge and other people in the chambers.
Mabirizi divulged that Mbaziira is a very complicated man who plays a lot of tricks. He insisted that it was Mbaziira who signalled Kwekiriza not to come back.
“I asked Besigye to be specific on who the letter was addressed to because Ugandans are many until we agreed to address it to his lawyer Lukwago. After writing the letter, I read it openly to Lukwago who it was addressed to, so he had received the message and there was no need of him going with the copy of the letter,” a source quoted Mbaziira later telling the meeting.
He added that on the issue of other letters he addressed to Ugandans and religious leaders, he forwarded them to the headquarters to the Commissioner General Dr Johnson Byabashaija for approval and he is the one to answer for the whereabouts of the said letters
On the issue on allowing lawyers to have a private conversation in prison with Besigye, he said that he will allow them but pleaded with them to only to come with normal pens like Bic claiming that he is scared other modernised pens might be weapons, a camera or a recording device.
Justice Baguma was happy with the way the discussion progressed and wondered why lawyers turn radical in the courtroom and make demeaning statements in the media and on social media against him even though he is also a human being.
In response, Mabirizi told him that Besigye, his co-accused and their supporters don’t want him in their case because he is biased and he will not give them justice because he is working on orders from people above like his counterpart Mbaziira.
Justice Baguma told lawyers that he is also not interested in the case because it places him in bad light and endangers his family.
He however advised them to look for another alternative for him to recusal himself like engaging his superiors like the Chief Justice, the Deputy Chief Justice or the Principal Judge otherwise he has nothing to do apart from presiding over the matter.
He further advised them to engage other stakeholders in the case like the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) a move which was welcomed by Richard Birivumbuka who was there on behalf of the DPP.
Birivumbuka noted that he is ready to help them secure Besigye’s bail.
However, sources said that the only way the DPP can entertain Besigye’s bail discussion is for his lawyers to first advise him to take plea of the charges.
Justice Baguma also assured them that he is ready to preside over another Besigye and co-accused bail application once they take plea which Besigye’s lawyers are protesting.
This website has exclusively learnt that Besigye’s lawyers are finishing a Constitutional petition challenging their client’s trial but highly placed sources told this website that it is only president Museveni and his son also the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) who can order for Besigye’s release before the trial concluded.
Sources divulged that Museveni and Muhoozi want Besigye to be prosecuted, convicted and sentenced then he will be given a presidential pardon.
Besigye’s lawyers are vowing to fight on insisting that their clients are not being given a fair trial and the entire process is being politicised.
Sources added that a number of elders from Rukungiri, Byanyima family and other stakeholders engaged Museveni on releasing Besigye but the man is very solid insisting that Besigye wanted to kill him that is why Ugandans and the entire world should themselves listen to the evidence collected by intelligence in Court.
Besigye was kidnapped in Nairobi Kenya in 2024 with his apolitical assistant Hajji Obed Lutale and charged together with UPDF Soldier Denis Oola with attempting to assassinate the president, poison top government officials and overthrow Museveni’s government illegally, charges the trio denied.
