Speaker Kadaga loses ‘pig case’
Speaker Rebecca Kadaga. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- In February, Court deferred the ruling to March 19, prompting the two to vow never to return to Court claiming their case had dragged on for three years yet they were spending money.
JINJA- The Jinja Magistrate’s Court has dismissed a case in which the national coordinator of Jobless Brotherhood, Mr Augustine Ojobile and his co-defendant, Mr Robert Mayanja, are accused of calling Parliament Speaker, Ms Rebecca Kadaga ‘a female pig’.
Jobless Brotherhood is a group of youths who gained notoriety for allegedly dumping piglets at Parliament to express their dissatisfaction at rising cost of living and unemployment in the country.
Prosecution had alleged that the duo, while appearing on a radio talk show on September 24, 2016, incited the public to rise up against Ms Kadaga for her ‘self-centeredness’ and ‘greed’ which they said was akin to ‘swine’.
However, in her ruling on Tuesday, the Grade One Magistrate, Ms Happy Anne Kyomuhangi, said the State had failed to produce substantive evidence to convict the accused persons.
“Court finds no evidence against the duo on grounds that the State relied on hearsay. Prosecution should have produced the recordings of the programme on which the accused persons were being hosted,” the magistrate said.
Mr Ojobile, a resident of Walukuba Village, Walukuba -Masese Division in Jinja municipality and Mr Mayanja, a resident of Nakawa Division, were on September 24, 2016 arrested on orders of the Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Mr Eric Sakwa.
Mr Ojobile said the ruling was a clear manifestation that the freedom of speech and press in the country should be respected.
“Everybody has lost hope in the judiciary and I thought we were heading to Kirinya prison which did not happen. We are, however, going to continue with the (liberation) journey,” he said.
In February, Court deferred the ruling to March 19, prompting the two to vow never to return to Court claiming their case had dragged on for three years yet they were spending money.
Mr Sakwa, in an interview after the ruling, asked the Jobless Brotherhood to respect the law on public gatherings and warned that they risk facing the full wrath of the law if they continue.
