Yasin Ssentumbwe Munnagomba the head of Ideology at Uganda Law Society has confirmed that controversial Buganda Road Chief Magistrate Ritah Kidasa Wanyama has accepted to recuse herself and transfer city maverick lawyer Male Mabirizi’s criminal case file to another Court.
He explained that Kidasa made the decision after meeting with Uganda Law Society delegation led by their vice president Anthony Asiimwe where they agreed that the file be transferred to Law Development Court (LDC).
Sources told Ono Bwino that the file was allocated to LDC Chief Magistrate Timothy Lumunye.
However, it is not clear whether the magistrate is going to hear the entire criminal file or whether he is only going to deal with the application filed by Uganda Law Society challenging the charge sheet.
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Ssentumbwe, a blue-eyed boy to Uganda Law Society president Isaac Ssemakadde said that months back, the law society filed an application seeking a Court declaration that the charge sheet where Mabirizi is accused of broadcasting without a license is incompetent before the laws and should be declared illegal.
Since his first appearance before Kidasa in February 2026, Mabirizi has been protesting her actions of presiding over her trial accusing her of being incompetent and bias.
Among the grounds Mabirizi based on to apply for Kidasa’s recusal include the petition he filed at the Judicial Service Commission seeking her removal from the office of the judicial officer.
He also instituted a number of private criminal proceedings against her at the Criminal Division of the High Court and also dragged her through the Attorney General to the East African Court of Justice.
At the East African Court of Justice, Kidasa through her evidence affidavit denied all the allegation including violating Mabirizi’s basic human rights by subjecting him to persecution.
She defended herself by narrating to the regional court that all of Mabirizi’s recusal applications have been dismissed on grounds of incompetence since they did not raise any serious grounds.
The development comes at a time when Mabirizi has applied for a mandatory bail after spending more than 180 days on remand without his criminal trial kicking off.
This is the third time when Kidasa was dismissing Mabirizi’s application for bail as he awaits his trial in the case where Chief Justice Dr Flavian Zeija and Justice Musa Ssekaana of the Court of Appeal accuse him of making malicious allegation touching their personalities.
