Police forensic officers comb the scene where AIGP Felix Kaweesi was gunned down by unknown assailants in 2017. The Auditor General’s report says performance of the chemical, biological and radiology laboratories is less than 50 percent. PHOTO/FILE
President Museveni yesterday joined the controversial debate on the legality of trying civilians before the General Court Martial by defending the creation of the court in 2005.
He reasons that the court was primarily created to deal with the criminal activities of gun-wielding goons at the time by trying them quickly.
The commander-in-chief explained that the civilian courts were clogged with many cases ranging from murder, rape, assaults, robbery, land conflicts, and divorce, hence couldn’t quickly deal with the gun welding issue that was distabilising the country.
“I want to affirm that, the move was correct and useful and it has contributed to the stabilisation of Uganda. Why? It is the NRM that in the year 2005 enacted this law through Parliament. This was because of the rampant activities of criminals and terrorists that were using guns to kill people indiscriminately,” Mr Museveni wrote in a letter released yesterday.
He added: “The civilian courts were clogged with many cases; murder, rape, assault, robbery, land matters, divorce, etc, they could therefore, not handle these gun-wielding criminals quickly, yet, for stabilisation, you needed speed. Moreover, these individuals, although not soldiers, voluntarily and with evil intentions acquired killing instruments that should be the monopoly of the armed forces.”
In trying to understand this new development on why some suspects, arrested while in possession of guns, are not taken to the General Court Martial, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Jane Frances Abodo, declined to explain, reasoning that she had not read the contents of Mr Museveni’s letter.
“It would be irresponsible for me to comment without first reading the contents of the letter. I also need to establish its authenticity. So get back to me later,” the DPP said in a brief phone interview last evening.
Some of the cases in which suspects are arrested with guns include aggravated robbery, murder, and terrorism, treason, cattle rustling, among others.
In most cases, this category of suspects has always been charged before the civilian courts, whose trial ends up before the High Court Criminal Division or the International Crimes Division.
Do civilian courts send files of those arrested with guns to court martial?
Mr James Ereemye Mawanda, the public relations officer of the Judiciary, said the institution does not in any way send cases that involve gun violence to the General Court Martial but it is not a prosecuting body but rather, an adjudicating one.
“I have not read the letter you are referring to. I will need to internalise to know what the fountain of honour is saying but we don’t send cases involving gun violence to the General Court Martial because we are not prosecutors, for us cases that are prosecuted by international crimes court are sent there by the prosecuting bodies like the office of the DPP,” Mr Ereemye explained.
He added: “The judiciary is an adjudication body, we are on the receiving end. So it’s the prosecuting bodies that determine which appropriate court to take cases to for prosecution that is why there are some cases before the International Crimes Division of the High Court and others before the Criminal Division. The Judiciary does not send cases at all”
While presenting the state of the Judiciary report about two months ago in Kampala, Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo said there was a pending caseload of 161,838 cases of which 42,588, were backlogged, accounting for 26.32 percent.
A case becomes backlog when it has been in the court for more than two years without being determined.
CASES INVOLVING GUNS BUT ARE BEING PROSECUTED IN CIVILIAN COURTS
• Former Lord Resistance Army commander Thomas Kwoyelo who is currently serving a 40- year jail term after he was found guilty of having played a key role in the mass killing of hundreds of people during the two-decade war in northern Uganda led by Joseph Kony. His trial was conducted before the International Crimes Division of the High Court which is a civilian court.
• ADF rebel leader Jamil Mukulu along with 37 others is accused of launching a rebellion and terrorising people in the Rwenzori sub-region with a base in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. His case is pending before the International Crimes Division of the High Court, which is a civilian court.
• Felix Kaweesi murder suspects: Eight people were arrested in connection with the brutal killing of former police spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesi in March 2017. Kaweesi was gunned down near his Kulambiro home near Kampala’s Capital as he left for his routine duties. He was cornered and killed while in his official vehicle alongside his drIver and bodyguard. The eight suspects were charged before civilian courts despite guns allegedly being used.
• 2010 Kampala bombing: Following the twin bombing at Kyadondo Rugby Club and at Ethiopian Village in Kabalagala that left more than 70 soccer fans dead, about a dozen full of suspects were arrested and charged with terrorism-related charges before the Criminal Division of the High Court which is a civilian court.
• Joan Kagezi killing: Joan Kagezi, then Assistant DPP, was in 2015 gunned down in Najjera near Kampala on her way home after work. Ms Kagezi who was at the time prosecuting the 2010 Kampala twin bomb suspects, had stopped at a fruit stall when an unknown gun med riding on a boda boda struck and killed her. After close eight years of wait, four people were arrested for allegedly being behind the alleged murder. The case is now pending before the International Crimes Division of the High Court which is a civilian court.
