Hon. Justice Owiny-Dollo the Deputy Chief Justice
KAMPALA: Over time, the Judiciary has noted with concern the increased and persistent cases of interference in the administration of justice by security agencies.
The recent incident being September 11, 2019 where four murder suspects were wantonly, crudely and brutally re-arrested at the precincts of the International Crimes Division of the High Court in Kololo, which had just released them on bail.
The suspects: Mr. Yusuf Nyanzi, Mr. Jibril Kalyango, Mr. Joshua Kyambadde and Mr. Yusuf Mugerwa, are on trial before ICD for the March 2017 murder of Assistant Inspector General of Police, Andrew Felix Kaweesi.
The security agents, some in plain clothes, took charge of the main gate of the Court and blocked the accused persons from leaving the Court precincts; and then arrested them. They later whisked away the accused persons to an unknown destination, together with their attorney, Mr. James Mubiru.
This high-handedness in the re-arrest of persons released by Courts is a direct affront to the much-cherished rule of law in Uganda. An advocate is an officer of Court and must be accorded protection when he or she is executing professional services to accused persons or litigants in Courts of law.
Such blatant actions, as this one, sadly leads to people's loss of faith in the Courts of Judicature, which can only result in grave ramifications where people choose not to come to the Courts of law; but to take the law into their hands.
Furthermore,the continued rearrests of suspects in the precincts of the Court, yet again,by security agencies is a sad reminder that more still needs to be done to instill the importance of the rule of law in the institutions charged with keeping law and order.
Even where Courts have made decisions considered wrong, the proper course of action is to seek redress within the law.
We therefore, condemn in the strongest language this wanton disregard to the independence of the Judiciary, which is contrary to the protection of the Judiciary enshrined under Article 128 of the Constitution.
We call upon security agencies to refrain from flagrant abuse of the law and hope the perpetrators of such acts are brought to book as a clear and unmistakable statement that actions such as this one cannot be tolerable.
The Courts of Judicature will continue to pursue the due process and ensure that persons accused before Courts of law are accorded a fair trial to establish their guilt or innocence.
Posted 13th, September 2019
