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Courts ordered not to retain sureties’ IDs
Flavian Zeija, Principal Judge. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- Dr Flavian Zeija says the identification documents are required for one to carry out other business yet cases take long to be disposed of.
The Principal Judge, Dr Flavian Zeija, has ordered all courts to release original national identification cards (IDs) to people who had stood surety to suspects with immediate effect.
The administrative head of the High Court explained that he had received numerous complaints that many courts were demanding original national IDs from sureties as one of the conditions to release suspects.
This, he said, was becoming hard for the sureties to go about their daily lives since the identification documents are required for one to carry out other business yet criminal cases take long to be disposed of.
“Most cases take more than a month to be disposed of yet national identification cards are required by all Ugandans to undertake day to day business,” Dr Zeija said in a July 3 circular.
“The attendant challenge is that sureties are unable to pursue their rights and undertake their obligations as citizens. By this circular, judicial officers ordering the retention of national identification cards of sureties are reminded to make bail orders that reflect a difference between the accused person (s) and their sureties,” he added.
Going forward, the Principal Judge guided that since the law does not demand for the retention of original national IDs of sureties, the courts can now retain photocopies.
“It also serves to direct all courts that are holding original national identification cards of sureties to review such orders in favour of release of the said and obtaining alternative security, and or documentation to ensure that the accused returns to court until final determination of the matter (s),” he added.
The Principal Judge also cautioned judicial officers to ensure compliance as soon as practicable in light of the ongoing directives governing court operations during the lockdown.
In May 2019, lawyer Hassan Male Mabirizi petitioned then Principal Judge Dr Yorokamu Bamwine about how Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s Court had, in an administrative meeting, resolved to only accept original national IDs as the only identification documents for sureties.
Mr Mabirizi further claimed that the same court had decided to retain the original national IDs and that as such, people would line up to beg the magistrates to release their cards in order to access bank loans, among other obligations.
“My lord, the implementation of the above resolutions, which is going on, is an outright abuse of authority intended to deny accused persons bail, a very big component of the right to liberty and the scaring away of sureties,” Mr Mabirizi wrote.
“Please prevail over the above conduct because although bail is discretionary, that discretion must be exercised independently and not through administrative meetings,” he added.
