ULS' Ssemakadde accuses Museveni of contempt of court
Combo: President Museveni and Uganda Law Society (ULS) president, Mr Isaac Ssemakadde. PHOTOS/ FILE
What you need to know:
- The development comes amid growing public concern of the military court, which many human rights activists have described as a tribunal, trying political dissidents and sometimes handing them unfair sentences.
Uganda Law Society (ULS) president, Mr Isaac Ssemakadde has said President Museveni’s statement defending the continued trial of his political opponents and other civilians in the military court was in contempt of court.
According to Mr Museveni, trying civilians, especially political opponents and their supporters in the military courts has contributed to the stabilization of Uganda which has since 1962 when it gained independence never seen peaceful transfer of power from one president to another.
“I want to affirm that, that move was correct and useful, and it has contributed to the stabilization 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,” said Mr Museveni who has been in power since 1986 when he shot his way to State House following a five-year guerrilla warfare.
However, Mr Ssemakadde argues that Mr Museveni’s defence of his military courts is a blatant assault on the rule of law.
“It also jeopardizes the achievement of the objectives of the Jumuiya treaty, whose 25th anniversary you celebrated last month in Arusha. With great respect, your position disregards at least two judgments of the Ugandan Constitutional Court and an excruciatingly delayed constitutional appeal in the Supreme Court. Articles 99 and 128 of the 1995 Constitution require you to use the Presidential pulpit to promote respect for court orders and processes, especially those that conflict with NRM policy, ideology, or laws,” Mr Ssemakadde said.
According to him, Mr Museveni using the Presidential pulpit to treat court orders and processes with contempt will only exacerbate our current rule of law crisis, rendering the NRM's aspirations of justice, peace and security mere chimeras.
“The cardinal importance of the rule of law was reiterated by the East African Court of Justice in Appeal 6 of 2014 Henry Kyarimpa vs Attorney General of Uganda, quoting a famous passage by American jurist Louis Brandeis: ‘Our Government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the Government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that, in the administration of the criminal law, the end justifies the means - to declare that the Government may commit crimes in order to secure the conviction of a private criminal - would bring terrible retribution” he said.
Mr Museveni, 80, argued in his statement that the civilian courts were clogged with the many cases of the whole country, such as murders, rape, assaults, robbery, land matters, divorce matters, among others and therefore, not handle the gun-wielding criminals quickly.
“Yet, for stabilization you need speed. Moreover, these individuals, although not soldiers, voluntarily and with evil intentions acquired killing instruments that should be the monopoly of the Armed Forces, governed by the relevant laws,” Mr Museveni justified.
But to Mr Ssemakadde, the justifications are transparent excuses to circumvent due process and undermine the integrity of Uganda's judiciary.
“Recourse to a referendum is no defence for an unconstitutional act: See article 92 of the Constitution. Twenty years ago, the courts nullified the Referendum Act through which you had sought to entrench the movement system. They will swiftly do the same to your attempts to validate this repugnant militarism. It is clear you have once again been misadvised by your incompetent Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka Nsumikambi Mugambe. Kindly take this as the statutory advice and assistance to your Government from the national bar association, in terms of Section 3(e) of the Uganda Law Society Act, Cap. 305,” Mr Ssemakadde said.
The development comes amid growing public concern of the military court, which many human rights activists have described as a tribunal, trying political dissidents and sometimes handing them unfair sentences.
The latest case of veteran opposition politician, Dr Kizza Besigye and his aide Hajj Obeid Lutale has stirred public debate with many opposition supporters and human rights activists questioning the motive of arraigning the two before the military court yet they are civilians.
Dr Besigye and Lutale were abducted in Nairobi on November 16, 2024 and driven back to Kampala overnight before they were three days later arraigned in the General Court Martial at Makindye, Kampala. They are charged with offences relating to security and unlawful possession of two pistols and eight rounds of ammunition in Nairobi where they had travelled to attend a book launch of Kenya’s former Justice Minister, Martha Karua. Prior to Dr Besigye’s case, several supporters of the National Unity Platform (NUP) led by former presidential contender, Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine have been arraigned in the military court on charges ranging from unlawful possession of explosives, treason to wearing red berets which UPDF says are a monopoly of the defence forces.
Hundreds of Karamojong youths have also been charged in the military court and handed different sentences in relation to cattle rustling in the mineral-rich, restive Karamoja sub region.
According to Mr Museveni, of the 2,000 inmates in Kitalya Prison, 900 of them are Karamojong youth.
“I now remembered one of the factors that caused the return of peace in Karamoja and the neighbouring areas. It was the efficient and focused work of the military courts that had supplemented the military operations, by legally putting away these confused youths from society for a given period. This was in contrast to the child play of producing these criminals in civilian courts, where they are granted bail or being kept on remand endlessly where they form part of the backlog of the general court system,” Mr Museveni said, before adding that he had directed his son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba who serves as the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and his army colleagues to audit the Karamojong youth who are incarcerated to “see the ones who can be pardoned separate from the hardcore criminals who should not be pardoned yet.”
