Send killers to death, Museveni tells judges
Chief Justice Bart Katureebe (L) with President Museveni (C) last year. PHOTO BY MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI
Kampala- President Museveni has asked judges to sentence killers to death upon conviction.
The President made the remarks while addressing all judges at the Annual Judges Conference at Speke Resort Munyonyo in Kampala yesterday.
He warned the judges not to be confused by their unknown concepts and refuse to mete out the ultimate punishment of a death sentence to murderers.
Mr Museveni was reiterating a similar call he made last week during the passing out of 706 prison warders and wardresses at Luzira when he promised to sign executions of some of the convicts on death row as a means of curbing the rising spate of murders in the country.
He also vowed to advocate for imposition of a death sentence until he retires from leadership.
“I saw today (yesterday) in the papers, some NGOs agitating against the death sentence that they don’t want it. I don’t know what reason they are giving and I cannot follow their logic,” Mr Museveni said.
“However, here in our society which is a pre-industrial society, in your confusion as judges, you refuse to give a death sentence when it should be given that oba…..it’s what and what….because of some confused concept,” he added.
Justification
In justifying his call to judges to sentence murderers to death, he said: “For us in our society, we believe in the mosaic law of Moses of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. If you interfere with that, you will see the instability you will cause. In fact, I have been making a mistake not to sign the death sentences. I now repent completely from that mistake.”
At the pass out ceremony last week, Mr Museveni said he has not sanctioned execution of condemned prisoners for a long time because of his Christian values.
“I believe that this lenience is becoming a problem. I am going to revise this and hang a few. We must hang some of these people because if you see how they kill people, they deserve to be killed,” he said.
Prison statistics show that there are 278 convicts on death row with 78 whose sentences have been confirmed by the Supreme Court, the last court of appeal.
The week-long judges’ conference is running under the theme: “An Inclusive Judiciary for Sustainable Development”.
President regrets
President Museveni regretted the eight months-jail sentence the courts handed out to six butchers who were found guilty of spraying chemicals on beef and fish in the city markets as a preservative, a fortnight ago.
Mr Museveni, who described the practice by the butcher as “embarrassing”, suggested to the judges that at least a 20-year jail term would have been sufficient.
Also at the same conference, the Chief Justice Bart Katureebe appealed to the President to invest extra resources in the judiciary to revamp the administration of justice.
The President told the judges that it is not possible to spread out the meagre resources because of the huge wastage in government that is protected by the Constitution and escalated by corruption.
He also cited low tax collections as another impediment.
Justice Katureebe also called upon the President to lift the recruitment ban on the Judiciary to address the justice needs of 95 per cent of the population that lacks access to justice services.
The President promised to increase the judges’ pay and those of scientists.
Background
In Uganda, following the landmark Susan Kigula ruling on death penalty, the death sentence has since been maintained but is no longer mandatory and judges sentence criminals to death in rare cases.
Following the Kigula case judgement, a death sentence is no longer mandatory for convicts on murder and aggravated robbery.
The sentence is now dependent on the discretion of the judges. Most sentences on these grave offences now vary from life imprisonment or to a dozen years in jail.
