CJ Katureebe intervenes in MP Kahonda's bail case

KAMPALA.

A directive by Chief Justice Bart Katureebe is behind the fast-tracking of the bail application hearing for Ruhinda County MP Dononzio Kahonda.
Jinja Chief Magistrate John Francis Kaggwa on June 7 convicted the embattled legislator and sentenced him to nine months in jail for forgery.
Kahonda later applied for bail and court fixed the hearing on August 16, a date he was not comfortable with.
Kahonda's lawyer Caleb Mwesigwa says that before the MP moved to formally contest the August 16 date, his constituents petitioned the Chief Justice Bart Katureebe seeking his intervention in the matter. 
Mwesigwa revealed that this petition prompted the Chief Justice to write to the Principal Judge Yorokamu Bamwine who later wrote to the resident Judge Jinja High Court, Justice Eva Luswata for action.
In a July 5 letter from the Chief Justice's Chambers, his personal assistant, Aloysius Natwijuka, wrote to the Ruhinda Constituency petitioners explaining to them the actions taken so far. 
"We refer to your petition to the Chief Justice regarding incarceration of your Member of Parliament, Captain Dononzio Kahonda. The Chief Justice received your petition and acted upon it by writing to the Principal Judge who is the Head of the High Court to intervene." reads in part, Natwijuka's letter.
This administrative intervention comes at a time when supporters of the jailed MP continue to accuse Justice Minister Kahinda Otafiire, a political rival in Ruhinda County in Mitooma District, of using his office to harass Kahonda. They recently camped at State House Entebbe demanding for Kahonda's freedom. Kahonda trounced Kahinda in the 2016 parliamentary elections.  
A trail of correspondence can be traced from Chief Justice Katureebe's office to that of the Principal Judge and on to Jinja High Court Judge.   
"I have been instructed by the Chief Justice to advise you to liaise with your lawyers to have the bail application fixed before the Judge in Jinja on the date to be given by her or any other Judge in the circumstance." further reads Natwijuka's letter.  
Natwijuka's letter to the petitioners came five days after Chief Justice Bart Katureebe wrote to the Principal Judge Yorokamu Bamwine in a letter dated June 29, 2017 concerning the incarceration of MP Dononzio Kahonda.

"He has applied for bail. Unfortunately, the Judge who should hear the application has taken leave to write judgments and has given a date in August to hear the application," reads part of Katureebe's letter.   
In the letter Katureebe directs that in the interest of Justice, Justice Bamwine identifies another Judge to hear the application as soon as possible saying it was not fair to put off a bail application for two months. 
"Alternatively, the Judge on leave can be requested to come and hear this matter and then resume the leave," Katureebe said. 
With this directive, Principal Judge Yorokamu Bamwine wrote to the Jinja Resident Judge Eva Luswata on 30 June, 2017.  
"It is not fair to put off a bail application for two months on account of writing judgments in other cases at a time when the judiciary lacks spare Judges to hear cases before their colleagues who are within jurisdiction," Bamwine partly wrote.  
The Principal Judge then requested Justice Luswata to either set aside time off her busy schedule to hear the bail application before August or get another Judge at the station to handle the matter soonest. 
Acting on the Principal Judge's letter, Justice Eva Luswata fixed MP Kahonda's bail hearing last week on July 13, 2017.  
In her letter dated July 11, Justice Luswata wrote to the Jinja Resident Senior State Attorney, Annette Namatovu Ddungu, requiring her to arrange for a prosecutor to be available at the July 13th hearing.  
"I am unable to make yet another adjournment (back to 16/8/17 as suggested) which may solicit fresh complaints from the applicant and his advocates. This, I believe is the most fair position in the circumstances," said Luswata in her letter.  
With this date fixed, Kahonda appeared before Court on Thursday last week for his bail hearing but this could not proceed due to the absence of a prosecutor to challenge his release as all state attorneys countrywide were on strike over low pay. 
In the circumstances, Justice Luswata declined to preside over Kahonda's bail application explaining that proceeding in the absence of a prosecutor would be a miscarriage of justice. 
MP Kahonda's bail application hearing was then adjourned to Monday July 24, 2017.