Buganda princes remanded over defamation

Court will on August 6 rule on whether to grant bail to two Buganda Kingdom princes who allegedly cyber bullied a number of Kingdom officials through Facebook posts.

The accused princes are Joseph Jjuuko Kiyimba,43, an accountant and Richard Kayima,36, a Councillor at Nateete Parish in Rubaga Division in Kampala.

They are charged in connection to defaming the newly appointed chairman of the Buganda Land Board, Eng Martin Kasekende and his predecessor David Kyewalabye among others who they allegedly dubbed thieves in several posts.

In a session presided over by Magistrate, Stella Maris Amabilis, each of the accused presented two sureties as guarantee that they will honour bail once granted.

After the accused presenting their sureties, the prosecutor, Ms Miriam Njuki, objected to their bail application by presenting an affidavit deponed by the police investigating officer, ASP Sharon Najjengo, citing that the accused jumped police bond.

"An affidavit dated July 24, by ASP Najjengo a police officer attached to CID headquarters who is also the investigating officer in the matter states that when accused were granted bond at police they never returned so they may fail to honour court bail if granted,"Ms Njuki said.

"The investigating officer said police tried to trace the accused princes from the addresses they availed to police but, they did not find them. Until police used GPS to track and re-arrest them," she said.

She said the affidavit notes that the accused, once granted temporary freedom might frustrate investigations which are still ongoing, adding that if court is inclined to grant the duo bail, it should first give time to prosecution to verify the places of residence for the accused and court should retain the sureties National Identity Cards until conclusion of the trial.

In response, defence lawyer, Mr Fred Ogwal said that the accused were granted bond at a time when Covid-19 was still tense thus making it hard for them to report as the nation was under lockdown.

Mr Ogwal said that his clients responded to a call from police and that is when they were arrested so they did not hide. He explained that Mr Kayima is a councillor and there is no way he would be nominated in that position if he did have a fixed place of aboard and the allegations that the accused might interfere with the investigations are baseless.

The trial magistrate Amabilis further remanded the accused to Kitalya prison to allow the state make its verifications before court can rule on their bail application.

They accused princes denied six counts which include; three of libel and three of offensive communication.

Prosecution contends that Kiyimba and Kayima between October 2019 and June 2020 within Kampala District or thereabout using Facebook account 'Jjuuko Kiyimba' unlawfully published a defamatory matter against Eng Kasekende, claiming he is the brain behind the Kyapa Mungalo fraud, and that he should explain to his grandchildren how he got involved in selling the forged Lubowa Land title to National Social Security Fund(NSSF) at $8billion (over Shs29b).

In another count of libel it is alleged that the accused with intent to defame used Facebook to post that Buganda Land Board fraudster one, Kizito Bashir Juma is a staff surveyor at Wakiso, Ministry of Lands Housing and Urban Planning and that he led to the mess up of $21million Computerised State Lands Management Information System among other defamatory statements.

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