The National Vice President of the Democratic Party (DP) and also a seasoned city lawyer Fred Mukasa Mbidde has warned his boss Norbert Mao the minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to be very careful when dealing with the issues concerning the hundreds of Ugandans rotting in prison after the Supreme Court declared that Court Martial has no powers to prosecute civilians.
Mbidde explained that Minister Mao who also doubles as the president general of the DP together with the Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka are the ones responsible for advising President Museveni and the entire government on how to deal with legal issues and if anything happens out of their negligence, they will be the ones responsible personally.
“My boss was given a very difficult task to guide this government on legal issues. Now the Supreme Court which is the highest court on the land directed that civilians in the Court martial were illegally prosecuted, but now it is almost three months since the delivering of the landmark judgement, people are still rotting in prison, this means that my boss and Kiwanuka are sleeping on the job,” Mbidde said.
He added that if Dr. Kizza Besigye the four times presidential candidate who was also charged in the Court martial but his file together with his co-accused Hajji Obed Kamulegeya Lutale was transferred to the civilian court dies in prison when he applied for bail and passed all the qualifications but it was denied to him by the High Court Criminal Division on unsatisfactory explanation; or if supporters of the National Unity Platform (NUP) principal Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (Bobi Wine) commonly known as Foot Soldiers die in prison, their blood will be on Mao or Kiwanuka’s hands because they are they ones who slept on the job.
More Read
He explained that it was reckless for Mao to tell parliament that out of the 423 criminals files which were in the possession of the military court, Justice Jane Frances Abodo had received only 45 files which were under investigation.
Mao claimed that much of the evidence against the accused persons before the Court martial could not be found anywhere.
Mbidde wondered why then are the accussed people still in prison.
“What hurts me so much is that for a long time, me and my boss have been in the trenches fighting for a rule of law governance in our country but right now he is the one leading the violation of the rule of law principals. Unfortunately his name is going to be written in the bad books of history,” Mbidde said.
He added that he doesn’t know how Mao and Kiwanuka are going to table on the floor of parliament the UPDF Amendment bill with the aim of defeating the Supreme Court judgement by making sure that civilians are taken back to the Court martial.
He predicted that Ugandans will again petition the Constitutional Court challenging the new amendments and chances are high that they will win.
Mbidde insists that it is impossible legally to charge Dr Besigye and NUP Foot Soldiers in the Court martial based on the coming UPDF Act amendments explaining that laws don’t have eyes to punish offenders on committing the offences before the establishment of the said laws.
He advised Mao and Kiwanuka to plead with the President and tell him that there is no option of taking civilians back to Court Martial.
Instead, he should look for another alternative of dealing with opposition youths who are against his government without embarrassing themselves.
President Museveni promised that they will use the Supreme Court judgement to guide on amending the UPDF Act so that civilians found in possession of military hardware be prosecuted in the military court.
