Leave Kayihura issue to us – Army
Brig Richard Karemire
KAMPALA- The UPDF have said Ugandans should not worry about the fate of detained former Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, and leave the army to “appropriately” handle his case.
“Leave the matter of Gen Kayihura to the UPDF leadership. The leadership is handling it. It is a matter in our hands and is being handled appropriately,” said Brig Richard Karemire, the Army and Defence spokesperson.
He was responding to a question from this newspaper on why the general and his co-accused were, in violation of the constitutional provision, being held beyond the 48-hour threshold without being produced in court.
“The public will be informed of any developments,” noted Brig Karemire.
Thirteen days after the arrest and confinement of former Inspector General of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura on unspecified offenses, the government is still silent on the next move it will take against the four-star-general.
Art 23 (4) of Uganda’s Constitution provides that: “A person arrested, restricted or detained...shall, if not earlier released, be brought to court as soon as possible but in any case not later than forty-eight hours from the time of his or her arrest.” The army arrested Gen Kayihura on June 13, alongside almost half-a-dozen former senior police officers seen to be close to him, and have since held them at Makindye Military Barracks and other detention facilities.
Mr Elison Karuhanga, a lawyer at Kampala Associated Advocates that is representing Gen Kayihura, yesterday said the former IGP had not instructed them to file a habeas corpus application to compel the state to produce him in court.
“We shall keep reviewing the situation,” he said, declining to provide specifics on why Kayihura has chosen to stay put, saying such detail is a “confidential client-advocate relationship” information.
The general, said Mr Karuhanga, had recorded no charge-and-caution statement, meaning no charge has at present been preferred against him. “We maintain that 90 per cent of what is being discussed on social media and some of the mainstream media is false,” he said.
The Internal Affairs minister, Gen Jeje Odongo, without giving specifics, told a news conference last week that Gen Kayihura had a case to answer.
