Chief Justice Bart Katureebe addresses journalists at his chambers in Kampala
Kampala. The Hon. Chief Justice Bart\r\nKatureebe condemned the raid on Makindye Chief Magistrate’s Court by a rowdy\r\nmob supporting Gen Kale Kayihura, which frustrated the scheduled on Wednesday\r\nAugust 10th, 2016, is unacceptable and it must not happen again,” Hon.\r\nJustice Katureebe said. "It strikes at the core of what the Constitution is all about; re-establishing\r\nthe rule of law in this country,” he told journalists at his chambers in\r\nKampala on Thursday August 11, 2016.
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The Chief Justice said the Judiciary is the third arm of\r\ngovernment and adjudicates cases between citizens and government, and other\r\nagencies."Let the institutions work. It’s really wrong for people to\r\ngo and mobilize mobs to come and prevent us from doing our work; to come and\r\nfrighten us from doing our work, and whoever is promoting them is really doing\r\na disservice to the country.”
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Gen Kayihura was expected to appear in Makindye Chief\r\nMagistrate’s Court on Wednesday August 10, 2016 to plead to torture charges\r\nthat arose from the police’s brutal beating of supporters of Opposition leader Dr.\r\nKiiza Besigye last month. The Chief Justice likened the Wednesday events to the infamous 2005 attack on\r\nthe High Court by heavily armed security operatives who besieged the temple of Justice.
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The armed Black Mamba operatives, as they are commonly\r\nknown, raided court to re-arrest Dr Besigye, then FDC president, after he had\r\nbeen granted bail in a case where he was accused of treason as a purported\r\nleader of the shadowy People’s Redemption Army. However, the Chief Justice was quick to draw lines between\r\nthe two incidents; describing the one in 2005 as an "organized security raid”\r\nand the Wednesday one as a "mob raid.” He said the raid on Makindye court\r\npoints to a possible derailment. "If one side is going to organize mobs to prevent the courts\r\nfrom doing their job, to prevent lawyers from presenting the cases of their\r\nclients, then there is something fundamentally wrong and we must address it as\r\na country and as citizens,” Hon. Justice Katureebe noted.
\r\n"And this applies to all leaders, political leaders regardless of which\r\npolitical party you subscribe to.”
\r\nThe Chief Justice wondered whether citizens would rather choose to be governed\r\nthrough mob justice or the rule of law.
\r\n"If we want to be governed by the rule of law, then we must allow the\r\ninstitutions to operate and that is why the Constitution provides for the\r\ncourts. The Constitution says they (courts) must be independent and are not\r\nsubject to the control of any authority.”
\r\nHon. Justice Katureebe’s remarks come on the backdrop of Gen Kayihura’s failure\r\nto appear before the Makindye Court where he had been summoned and other top\r\npolice commanders to answer charges of torture contrary to the Prevention and\r\nProhibition of Torture Act, 2012. The IGP snubbed court and no explanation was given. Instead,\r\npolice explained that it had cleared the protesters who raided the court\r\npremises in early morning with placards reading; Gen Kayihura Talina Musango (Gen Kayihura is innocent).
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The lawyers led by Mr Nicholas Opiyo, Mr Abdullah Kiwanuka\r\nand Mr Daniel Walyemera attempted to convince court to issue fresh criminal\r\nsummons against Gen Kayihura but presiding Chief Magistrate H/W Richard Mafabi\r\ndeclined, saying he will pronounce himself on the issue on August 29, 2016. The\r\ndemonstrators, who freely carried out their acts with police officers just\r\nlooking on, later attempted to lynch some of the lawyers for having instituted\r\nthe charges against Gen Kayihura. It took the intervention of the police to evacuate the\r\nlawyers who had taken refuge in the chambers of the Chief Magistrate.
\r\nWhen the case resumes on August 29, 2016 the DPP is expected to formally apply\r\nto take over the prosecution of the matter as mandated by Article 120 of the\r\nConstitution.
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The case against Kayihura
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The lawyers allege that Gen Kayihura and his fellow\r\nofficers, being superior officers of the Uganda Police Force, in various places\r\nin and around Kampala, between 2011 and 2016 but most notably on July 13, and\r\non July 14, are liable for the acts of torture committed against Mr. Joseph\r\nKaddu, Mr. Andrew Ssebitosi, Mr. Rogers Ddiba, and other members of the general\r\npublic, including boda boda riders and supporters of Dr Besigye. The brutality\r\ntook place under the command of Mr Andrew Kaggwa, former Kampala Metropolitan\r\nSouth Regional Police commander. They encircled Dr Besigye’s supporters at\r\nBusaabala Road junction off Entebbe Road and clobbered them.
This article was published in the daily monitor
Posted 12th, August 2016
