Court to decide on Gen Tumukunde bail today
Presidential aspirant. Former security minister Henry Tumukunde (left) is escorted by prison warders to board a prisons vehicle after appearing before Grade One Magistrate Court in Kampala last month. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- Tumukunde’s bail application will be delivered via video conferencing because the accused cannot physically appear in court.
- Since the lockdown, courts have closed hearings of cases and only handle special cases, where suspects appear in court via video-conferencing as they remain in the confines of their prison cells.
Despite the ongoing lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19, High Court judge Wilson Kwesiga is today expected to deliver the ruling on whether to release former security minister, Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde, on bail.
Gen Tumukunde is on remand at Luzira prison on charges of treason and unlawful possession of guns and ammunition.
Speaking to this newspaper by telephone yesterday, Mr Solomon Muyita, the Judiciary’s principal communications officer, said the ruling on Gen Tumukunde’s bail application will be delivered via video conferencing because the accused cannot physically appear in court.
Since the lockdown, courts have closed hearings of cases and only handle special cases, where suspects appear in court via video-conferencing as they remain in the confines of their prison cells.
This arrangement will see Justice Kwesiga move to the nearby Buganda Road Court, which is connected to the video conferencinglink.
Mr Muyita said there are also plans to live-stream the reading of the ruling given the current lockdown.
This, he said, would give an opportunity to those interested in following the proceedings to watch them on TV and other media.
Grounds for bail
Gen Tumukunde applied for bail about two weeks ago seeking release to attend trial while coming from home. He pledged not to interfere with investigations and said he is a presidential candidate, who needs to traverse the country to consult the electorate on his presidential bid. He said he has a fixed place of abode on Plot 34 in Upper Kololo Terrance in Kampala and is therefore unlikely to jump bail.
The state attorney objected to his bail request, saying the charges Gen Tumukunde is facing are critical to national security as they involve the diplomatic relations between Uganda and Rwanda. He argued that the investigations are still in infancy yet the case will require interviewing witnesses, visiting scenes and collecting physical evidence across the entire country.
The state attorney argued that releasing the general at this stage of the investigations, given his influential nature, would be detrimental to the progress of the investigations.
Charges
Under the charge of treason, prosecution alleges that while appearing on NBS TV during the morning Breeze show on March 5 this year, Gen Henry Tumukunde said: “If I was Rwandan, I would support those who want to cause change in Uganda. According to prosecution, the aforementioned utterances were aimed at instigating Rwanda to attack Uganda to cause unlawful change of regime.”
It is further alleged that later, he was found in unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition, the charges Gen Tumukunde has denied.
Last month, Gen Tumukunde, wrote to the Electoral Commission, seeking permission to consult the people in furtherance of his presidential bid in which he wants to oust his Luweero bush war comrade, President Museveni in the 2021 General Election.
